I had a group of Canadians to take to visit their town of origin, Supino in Frosinone.  As part of the tour I decided to have them visit the archaeological remains of the Roman Thermal baths discovered in the 1960’s in Supino.

It is not well-known and not generally open to the public except by arrangement.  Never having visited myself I did not expect much but I was wrong.  This is one of the best preserved sites dating back to 100-200 AD.  It was the private spa of a very rich Roman family.  The remains of the villa have yet to be uncovered although it is doubtful that will ever happen but what can be seen of the ‘Terme’ is some of the best preserved examples of mosaic from that era.  The tunnels that lead to the fireplace where the slaves heated the air and water that served the terme are in incredible condition and we were able to safely walk through and view the underside of the baths.

The marble tile in the dressing room is found only in Persia and would have had to be imported.  Not a simple thing in those days, and you can still see the blue colouring on the plaster that lined the swimming pool.  Incredible.

One of the best ‘terme’ sites I have seen and to think it is almost never visited by tourists or locals.  In fact, several locals we asked for direction had no idea what we were asking to visit.  Our Canadian visitors were ‘wowed’ and so was I.