The Pieve di Santa Maria dell'Aquila in Tuscany
Exactly at the centre of the village stands the old "Pieve" so called Santa Maria dell'Aquila, subjected of an accurate restoration by the Antiche Terme Acque di Sorano with the purpose to bring to light its historical and artistic value. It represents the heart of the residence. The interior is being restored to be a meeting, ceremony and event house. Close by, a little above the Pieve a hot water spring at 37 degrees celsius comes out from the ground and is called "bagno di Santa Maria dell'Aquila".The very first documented information of the Church of S. Maria Dell'Aquila is from the middle of the thirteen hundred century where it appears in the most ancient documents of the city of Sorano promulgated by the Count Orsini family. We know though that the devotion to the Virgin Maria of churches situated close to water springs constitute sign of a substitution of an antique pagan cult of waters. It cannot be excluded that this happened a few centuries before year thousand as a site object of cult as the men of the old days consider the physical world as an expression of divinity and the various form of nature were seen as being sacral; the top of mountains, rocks with particular forms, springs of rivers, curative waters. In detail these curative waters that were emerging from the deepness of the earth were tied to life, fecundity, purity and health.
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