Already in the mid-nineteenth century our great grandparents Agostino and Stella Marcucci ran an inn with a food and post shop at Bagno Vignoni in the “piazza del Moretto” in ‘’the “palazzo del Marchese” or Marquis’s Building owned by the Chigi family. In those days only a handful of families, mainly farmers and travertine quarrymen, lived in the hamlet. Five water mills powered by the force of the spring water (which can still be visited today) milled the grain for the entire valley and in the summer season travellers came to take the waters at the Thermal Water Establishment in the square. Surrounding it was the still-to-be-drained Orcia valley, with dirt tracks and a rural landscape of stunning beauty.

Since then four generations have lived here and have battled stubbornly to build up our family’s adventure: grandma Cornelia and grandpa Checco, their three children Ione, Licia and our father Agostino with our mother Livia, all upright and hard-working people.

In the 1950s grandpa Checco, urged on by his children, decided to redeem the property from the Chigi family: he had one of his vineyards uprooted and work was started on building the central body of the current hotel. In the meantime the fame of grandma Cornelia's cooking was spreading throughout the area and attracting customers throughout the entire year: her game roasts and aunt Ione’s pasta tagliatelle were legendary! And that is how the still current tradition started of going to the Marcucci’s for important meals such as weddings, baptisms and first communions.

So we arrive at the beginning of the 1970s and the near visionary intuition of aunt Licia to create the thermal water “Val di Sole” swimming pool at the Posta Marcucci Hotel. My brother and I were both boys when the labourers began the hard task of digging into the travertine “sponge stone” in the ground behind the hotel. Seeing the hot water reach the large pool seemed to us to be a veritable wonder and we had no idea that from that day onwards our lives would change.

The swimming pool drew tourists all year round and the season gradually began to get longer. Related tourist activities gradually started up and allowed the various activities that are still to be found in Bagno Vignoni to flourish. Over the years, additional parts were added to the complex until the current hotel layout was reached.

The Marcucci family history and the family business is rooted in Val d’Orcia and draws its strength from this land.