“As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet…” sang Dante Alighieri in the Canto XIV of the Inferno. And he makes reference to these very natural springs of warm, sulphurous water which have been popular since Etruscan times and are located just to the west of Viterbo. The landscape is quite striking, to say the least. Less than a kilometre away is the “TermedeiPapi”, or the “Thermal Spa of the Popes”, so called because the Popes once came here seeking its healing waters. In 1450, Pope Nicholas V built a palace with crenelated walls and lodgings for the time he spent here, thus establishing it as a spa destination that’s still popular today – even with those of us who are not Popes!
