New Approach to Thermal Bethe Ansatz

We present a new approach to the calculation of thermodynamic functions for crossing-invariant models solvable by Bethe Ansatz. In the case of the XXZ Heisemberg chain we derive, for arbitrary values of the anysotropy, a {\bf single} non--linear integral equation from which the free energy can be exactly calculated. The high--temperature expansion follows in a sistematic and relatively simple way. For low temperatures we obtain the correct central charge and predict the analytic structure of the full expansion around $T=0$. Furthermore, we derive a single non-linear integral equation describing the finite--size ground--state energy of the Sine--Gordon quantum field theory. PACS: 05.30, 03.70. 75.10.5