Bagni di Nerone (Baths of Nero)
The legend of San Torpé: In the first century AD, the Pisan Caius Silvius Torpetius, also known as Torpé, Torpete and Tropez, was an officer of the court of Nero. Those were the years following the passage of Peter the Apostle at the basilica of San Piero in Grado and Torpé, who converted to Christianity by being baptized by a hermit of Monte Pisano, was captured and tortured, but he died only as a result of his beheading, on 29 April 68 AD The symbol of his martyrdom is the common palm. The head was thrown into the Arno river and at the time of its discovery it was buried in the place where the church was later built. Torpé's body was abandoned in a boat at the mouth of the Arno, together with a cock (daytime protection and guide) and a dog (nocturnal). According to a legend, the boat travelled to the French coast, arriving in a small town called Heraclea and renamed Saint Tropez in honour of the saint whose remains it still guards.
