Photo by Kristina Schultheiß on Pexels
🇮🇹 Italy · Lazio
♨ Temperature
58°C
⛰ Altitude
—
⚗ pH
—
💧 TDS
—
🌊 Flow rate
—
📅 Established
Etruscan/Roman period (Bullicame spring known since 3rd century BC); named 'Terme dei Papi' after Pope Nicholas V's 15th-century palace
✓ Verified on 2026-07-28
Terme dei Papi draws on the Bullicame, a sulphurous spring near Viterbo known since Etruscan and Roman times and cited by Dante in the Divine Comedy. The water emerges at 58°C. Medieval popes, including Gregory IX from 1235 and Nicholas V, regularly stayed and took the waters here, giving the site its name, 'Baths of the Popes.' The facility's therapeutic mud is drawn from the nearby volcanic Bagnaccio lake.
Known since Etruscan and Roman antiquity, the Bullicame spring was one of three thermal areas (with Aquae Passeris and Paliano) documented near Viterbo. Pope Gregory IX began regularly staying here from 1235, and Pope Nicholas V had a palace built for his stays, giving the site the name 'Terme dei Papi.' Pope Boniface IX also sought treatment here for rheumatism in 1404.