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Hidden gem1st – 3rd c. ADTicketed

Baths of Fordongianus

Terme romane di Fordongianus, Terme di Forum Traiani, Aquae Ypsitanae

bath · Sardinia, Italy

What it is
The Baths of Fordongianus are the Roman spa of Forum Traiani, built over a hot spring on the bank of the river Tirso in west-central Sardinia, which the regional tourist board calls the Romans' principal baths on the island: a great stone pool, the spring that fed it still running at 54 °C, and an arcaded portico standing along one side.
What you’ll see
The heart of the site is the 1st-century building at its northern end.
Worth the trip?
Yes, if you are in central or western Sardinia. This is not a field of foundations: the pool holds water, the portico stands to its vault, and the spring that made the place still runs into it.
Getting there & cost
Fordongianus is about 20 km from Oristano and about 90 km from Cagliari (the operator).Ticketed · €6, a combined ticket with the Casa Aragonese in the village · checked 23 October 2026Hours, tickets and parking
A view from a wooded slope above the river Tirso across to the ruins of the baths, a row of grey stone arches beside a road with a few parked cars, and the houses of Fordongianus on the hillside behind.
The baths on the bank of the Tirso, below the village of Fordongianus. · Photo: OrsOrazio · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A row of round arches on heavy pillars of grey volcanic stone, the top of the wall broken and uneven, rising above stone steps that run down into a rectangular pool of still water.
The surviving portico along the natatio, the great pool of the 1st-century baths. · Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A stone altar with a moulded base and crown, its face cut with nine lines of Latin capitals, standing in an open wooden case against an excavated wall.
An altar vowed to the nymphs for the recovery of Quintus Baebius Modestus, governor of Sardinia. · Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What is there today

The heart of the site is the 1st-century building at its northern end. Its natatio, a rectangular pool 13 by 6.5 metres and 1.5 metres deep with steps down its sides, still holds water, and one of its porticoes still stands: a row of square pillars of volcanic stone carrying a barrel vault (SardegnaCultura). The hot spring water was cooled with cold water from reservoirs upstream, and it reached the pool through a spout carved as a panther’s head that still runs today (it.wikipedia). Around the pool are smaller basins, among them a nymphaeum, where an altar dedicated to the nymphs was found (it.wikipedia, SardegnaCultura).

South of it lies a second, 3rd-century bath building of 30 by 12 metres, heated artificially, with the usual sequence of changing room, cold, warm and hot rooms. It opens onto a paved square of about 690 m² (it.wikipedia), with an L-shaped building on one side, perhaps lodgings for bathers, one of whose rooms was frescoed around AD 200 (SardegnaCultura). Channels, wells and cisterns of the water system can be seen across the site (it.wikipedia).

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, if you are in central or western Sardinia. This is not a field of foundations: the pool holds water, the portico stands to its vault, and the spring that made the place still runs into it. A visit can be combined with the free hot-water pools in the river next to it, where the 54 °C spring mixes with the cold Tirso (the operator), and with the other sights the same ticket or office covers in the village. OpenStreetMap also maps the remains of the town’s amphitheatre about 500 m away.

Getting there

Fordongianus is about 20 km from Oristano and about 90 km from Cagliari (the operator). From Oristano take the SP 55 towards Silì, then the SS 388 through Simaxis and Ollastra to Fordongianus, and follow the road to the baths from the centre of the village (SardegnaTurismo; Via Terme on OpenStreetMap). The operator points drivers to free parking on the other side of the Tirso. No bus stop is mapped near the site, so plan on a car.

The baths are open every day, 09.30–13.00 and 15.00–18.00, except 25 December and 1 January. A ticket is €6 and also covers the Casa Aragonese in the village; children aged 6 to 14 pay €3, under-sixes go free, groups of twenty or more pay €5 each, and disabled visitors enter free. Tickets are sold at the site’s ticket office or online. Audio guides are available in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish and in sign language (forumtraiani.it, read 23 October 2026). The operator warns that the site is not easily accessible for wheelchair users, though the archaeological area can be seen from outside.

Visiting details

Opening hours
Daily, 09.30–13.00 and 15.00–18.00; closed on 25 December and 1 January.
Tickets
€6, a combined ticket with the Casa Aragonese in the village; €3 for children aged 6 to 14; free under 6; €5 each for groups of 20 or more. Free for disabled visitors.
Parking
Free parking on the far side of the Tirso (the operator); OSM maps a free surface car park about 100 m from the site.

Before you go

  • The operator says its sites are not easily accessible for wheelchair users; the archaeological area can be seen from outside.
  • No bus stop or railway station is mapped near the site; the directions published for it assume a car.

Hours and prices checked 23 October 2026 on the operator's own site. Confirm before travelling.

History

The town was known to Ptolemy, writing around AD 170, as Aquae Ypsitanae, and to the Antonine Itinerary as Forum Traiani, a name given to it under the emperor Trajan (it.wikipedia). SardegnaCultura describes it as a market town between the communities of the interior and the Romanised country behind the Gulf of Oristano. The modern name, Fordongianus, comes from Forum Traiani (SardegnaCultura).

No excavation records date the two bath buildings, so they are dated by their building techniques: the northern one, of large squared blocks laid without mortar (opus quadratum), to the 1st century AD, and the southern one, of concrete faced in opus vittatum mixtum, to the 3rd (it.wikipedia). The altar to the nymphs was set up by Servatus, a freedman of the emperors and procurator of the mines and imperial estates, for the recovery of Quintus Baebius Modestus, governor of Sardinia under the joint emperors Caracalla and Geta (AD 211–212; SardegnaCultura).

After the fall of the empire the baths were gradually abandoned, and in the Middle Ages they were dismantled to make way for churches, convents and other places of worship, though the parts used for bathing were spared (SardegnaTurismo). The historian Giuseppe Manno located Aquae Ypsitanae and Forum Traiani in 1825; the first excavations took place between 1899 and 1902, and the regional archaeological superintendency resumed systematic work in 1969 (it.wikipedia, SardegnaCultura).

More photographs

A rectangular pool lined with long stone blocks laid in steps, holding dark water, with ruined walls and loose blocks beyond it under a bright sky.
The natatio, 13 by 6.5 metres, with steps down into the water. · Photo: gian luca bucci · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A long barrel-vaulted passage built of large squared stone blocks, with openings along one side and daylight at the far end.
A vaulted passage in the 1st-century baths. · Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

  • Two fluted white columns stand among low stone walls, the left one topped by a Corinthian capital, with calm sea and a moored sailing boat behind them.

    Photo: GiorgioGaleotti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

    34 km · city · Sardinia

    Tharros

    The site is an open-air museum (it.wikipedia) on a narrow promontory, in places only 100 m wide, at the southern end of the Gulf of Oristano (de.wikipedia; SardegnaTurismo).

Straight-line distances.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from the records below, each used under the licence noted.

SourceLicence
Pleiades 652509965CC BY
Wikidata Q3984400CC0
OpenStreetMap way/228544530ODbL
Wikipedia (it) — Terme di FordongianusCC BY-SA 4.0
SardegnaCultura (Regione Sardegna) — Fordongianus, Roman Baths of Forum Traianilicence not recorded
SardegnaTurismo (Regione Sardegna) — Terme di Forum Traianilicence not recorded
Forum Traiani cooperative (the site's operator) — useful info, hours and priceslicence not recorded