Listed among "The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy" for its rich historical and cultural heritage, it is particularly known for its mineral waters, whose healing properties are owed to the natural environment of the Monti Martani, where they originate. Along the ancient Via Flaminia, on which the village of San Gemini stands, lies the splendid archaeological park of Carsulae.
ITS HISTORY
The village of San Gemini was founded in the Middle Ages on the site of a Roman villa dating back to the second half of the 1st century BC. The remains of the complex (visible inside a building on Via del Tribunale) are located a short distance from the ancient route of the Via Flaminia, in an elevated position. They consist of several rooms with richly decorated mosaic floors.
The village took the name San Gemini in the 9th century, when a monk named Gemine, who came from Syria, began preaching there. He taught and helped the local community so much that the village was eventually named the “city of Saint Gemine” in his honor.
Historical records mention devastation by the Saracens in the year 882 and a series of power struggles between the city of Narni and the Church. When the territory was definitively incorporated into the Papal States in the 16th century, San Gemini became a fief of various noble families (including the Orsini and Santacroce) until the Unification of Italy in 1861.
A JOURNEY THROUGH ITS ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL TREASURES
The medieval heart of the town preserves monuments of great historical and artistic value, symbols of both secular and religious power: the 13th-century church of San Francesco, located on the square of the same name and dedicated to the Saint who stayed in the city several times; the small Priory Church of San Carlo; the Church of Saint John the Baptist, rebuilt in the 6th century in a distinctive octagonal shape to recall its original function as a baptistery, featuring a remarkable Romanesque façade with the construction date (1199) engraved on it; the Palace of the Captain of the People, also known as Palazzo Vecchio, next to which stands the Esperia Tower, with its assembly bell cast in 1318 by Master Stefano from Orvieto.
Be sure to visit the church of San Gemine (the Cathedral), which houses the relics of the Saint, and the abbey of San Nicolò (11th century), whose original portal, sold to an antiquarian in the 1930s, is now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The perfect replica you’ll see there today was made in 1967.
Don’t miss the Geolab Earth Sciences Museum, a fascinating permanent exhibition space—almost a laboratory—where a series of interactive machines guide you through scientific observation and experimentation, and the Guido Calori Museum, which houses the artist's collection of paintings and sculptures, as well as his archives, drawings, sketches, and tools from his Roman studios.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN THE SURROUNDINGS
San Gemini is well known for its thermal baths and for the mineral water that bears its name, rich in mineral salts and famous since Roman times. Flowing from the slopes of Mount Torre Maggiore, it emerges from underground and gives rise to two springs: San Gemini and Fabia. The unique biochemical properties of these waters aid in calcium absorption and make them ideal for treating disorders of the musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, and skeletal systems, as well as liver diseases and metabolic disorders. A short distance from the village of San Gemini lies the Park of Mineral Waters, or Fonte Park, where fountains allow visitors to taste the Fabia and Sangemini waters. At the entrance to the park, the historic spring bears the year of the mineral water’s establishment, in 1889.
Also noteworthy, between Terni and San Gemini, is the Carsulae Archaeological Park, an ancient Roman municipium built along the Via Flaminia. Excavations have uncovered much of the Forum area, including the remains of the basilica, two twin temples, the theatre, the amphitheatre, and the Arch of San Damiano, which marked the exit of the Via Flaminia from the city. Beyond the arch are several interesting funerary monuments. Not far from the basilica stands the medieval church of San Damiano, built in the 11th century, largely reusing materials from Roman buildings.
