Previously mentioned in Rutilius Claudius Namatianus’ travel diaries (416 A.D.), the Taurine (or Trajan) Thermal Baths stand isolated on a hill shrouded in greenery located about 4 km from the centre of Civitavecchia.

Built close to a spring whose waters’ excellent therapeutic qualities were already renowned and exploited by the Etruscans, the complex is divided into two areas: the Republican Bath and the Imperial Bath.
The Republican Bath was built in the earlier part of the complex seeing as they date back to the 1st C. b.c.. The rooms here are small and used as changing rooms and massage parlours. The floor mosaics are particularly elegant, very colourful and full of ornamental motifs.
The Imperial Bath, which instead dates back to Emperor Hadrian’s times, would seem to have been built between 123 and 136 A.D.
The most significant part is undoubtedly the calidarium, a large rectangular pool. The calidarium was fed with thermal water channelled down a lead pipe. The depth of the pool was approx. 120 cm. The entire room was richly decorated: marble panelling, figurative stuccos of various subjects and Ionic capitols. Its floor decoration must have been stunning, made up of miniscule blue glass paste tiles.
Compared to the original structure, the site today spreads over an even broader area having been recently embellished by the construction of the Horti Traianei, a large area where one can admire a wide range of flowers, plant and trees which are typical of the time when the Romans used to patronise the Thermal Baths.
The botanical part is further enriched by a rose garden, the citrus orchard and the Mediterranean scrub.