Castel San Pietro Terme

Castel San Pietro Terme is a city in the metropolitan area of Bologna.

In Roman times it was a control post at the service of travelers who walked the via Emilia. Perhaps there was a small temple dedicated to the goddess Opi, protector of the crops.

Between the fifth and sixth centuries, at the time of the reign of the Ostrogoths, a Christian basilica was built with structural characteristics similar to the Ravenna churches of the Goth era, perhaps it was dedicated to the Aryan cult. In the 11th century, a small church with an adjoining cemetery dedicated to San Pietro was built on the site, at the service of the settlement that had remained on the road, the Borgo.

The castrum from which the city took its name was built in 1200. Frederick II of Swabia stayed there several times with his court between 1220 and 1222, conferring many privileges. The castrum of San Pietro was placed on the border with the territory of Imola, at the time a Ghibelline city, while Bologna was a Guelph city.

In the first quarter of the 15th century the town hosted the antipope Giovanni XXIII (1370-1419) and his papal court; during the late Middle Ages Castel San Pietro was chosen for two periods as the temporary seat of the University of Bologna, which remained closed, apparently, due to serious student intemperances.

In 1509 Bologna passed definitively under the Papal States, therefore Castel San Pietro lost its military function. In 1859 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which became, two years later, the Kingdom of Italy.

The symbol of Castel San Pietro Terme is the Cassero, a military fortification, which represented the main access to the town in the past. Today the building has been reinvented as a theatre.

Thanks to the presence of sources of sulphurous and salsobromoiodic water, Castel San Pietro Terme has been known for being a thermal locality from the Middle Age on. The thermal system started to work in 1870.