The Benetutti Hot Springs 0 Comments

The great attractions of the well-known tourist village of Benetutti, placed on the slopes of the Goceano plateau, in central-northern Sardinia, just 98 km away and 1h and 20m far from the Gabbiano Azzurro Hotel & Suites, are its thermal springs, Nuragic finds, enogastronomy and craftsmanship. Perhaps the name was given by the Pisans because its hot spring was "good for all diseases", or, given its protected position in the Valley, the roots of the name Benetutti could be in the Latin "bene tuttotus", i.e. "well protected."

The current Benetutti, today a beautiful village of about 2000 inhabitants, in the province of Sassari, surrounded by thousand-year-old forests, arose around 1100 but is an ancient town as its Neolithic settlements testify: the Monte Mannu menhir, the Monte Maone dolmen and the Luzzanas Domus de Janas, both dating back to 2500 BC, and the Giants' tombs Mandra e' Giosso, and the s'Aspru nuraghi. There are also many Roman finds, such as the thermal bath with marble steps and fragments of columns with some Latin inscriptions and a very particular "Taepidarium" inside the thermal establishment of San Saturnino.

These hot springs, which have free access, have an average temperature of 34°C (93°F), even though they can reach 41°C (105,8°F), and are considered sulphurous and salso-bromo-iodine. The Romans were the ones who made there a hot spring Resort, calling it Aquae Lesitanae. The famous astrologer and geographer Claudius Ptolemy, from the 2nd century, classified them, in one of his treatises, to be among the best waters of the Roman Empire. 

There are different natural pools, each with a different healing property: "Su Anzu'e Sos Nervios", treat muscle and joint pain; “Su Anzu’e Sos Dentes” cure toothache and gums; “Su Anzu’e Sa Gutta” heals gout; “Su Anzu’e S’Istomogo” to restore the stomach; “Su Anzu'e Su Ludu” has thermal muds for various physical pains and “Su Anzu'e Sos Beccos” is good for the scalp.

Immersing yourself in the warmth of the ancient waters of the San Saturnino hot spring is wonderfully magical. And this is why we ask the visitors for the utmost respect, leaving it clean and undamaged, so that the splendour and harmony that have inhabited this place for centuries is not corrupted and future generations can also benefit from it.

Near the San Saturnino Baths there is the church from which they took their name, founded in 1162 by the Camaldolese fathers, in blocks of red trachyte, built on the ruins of a nuraghe. The church of San Saturnino was built in thanks for the miraculous recoveries of health due to the thermal waters. It is a Romanesque style building, a small architectural jewel. On the roof there is a bell tower, off-centre. The light inside enters from five single-lancet windows, four on the sides and one in the semicircular apse. There is a trachyte altar, an elegant arch and a wooden statue of the saint.

“The reason why modern men are unable to understand the passion of the ancients for hot springs is that we do not know how to benefit from the bath all the advantages, the effects, the pleasure and well-being that can be obtained from it”. (Roberto Paribeni)

Written by Daniela Toti