Gems in Italy’s Spa Collection
Jun 30, 2010
Alpenpalace, L'Albereta, L' Andana, Bauer Palladio, Daniella Steiner Spa, Grotta Giusti, and Terme diSaturnia represent some of the treasures amongst Italy’s Spa collection. Each spa set in its unique destination offers numerous programs steeped in the tradition of pampering guest services, culinary heritage, health and wellness.
Since Roman times, piping hot sulphurous water has been bubbling out of the ground at Terme diSaturnia. 3,000 years ago Etruscan warriors bathed here to help heal their wounds. Today, the natural elements have been combined to create Terme di Saturnia Spa & Golf Resort, located in the heart of Maremma, southern Tuscany. With 60 treatment rooms, Terme di Saturnia is both a spa and a medical facility with specialists in dermatology, dietology to aesthetic medicine.
Grotta Giusti is a 130 million year old cave complete with stalactites, stalagmites and an underground thermal lake hidden deep within the Tuscan hills. Park your deck chair in Paradise, Purgatory or Hell, depending on your heat preference, and allow the detoxifying vapors, rich in calcium, bicarbonate, sulphur and magnesium, to sooth joint pains and rejuvenate the mind, body and soul. A wide range of healing, relaxing and beautifying treatments from massage to Chinese medicine at the modern Wellness Centre await you.
Daniella Steiner Spa at Romeo is located in the charming city of Naples. It reflects the city's rich cultural heritage and offers a wide range of wellness programs. The rooftop hydrotherapy pool and a fiery Turkish bath area offer intense yet relaxing heat treatment. Steiner's unique wellbeing philosophy is brought to life in a range of therapies combined into one comprehensive program.
The renowned chef Alain Ducasse teamed up with spa innovator ESPA to create L' Andana, a 33- room gastronomic retreat dedicated to wellness and gastronomic indulgence. Ducasse's vision to relax the body and soul whilst awakening the senses is realized via complimenting each treatment with a delicious culinary experience. Each experience links together the natural ingredients of the surrounding area - herbs and fruits for the teas and cakes are plucked from the gardens, while specially designed ESPA treatments use many indigenous botanical resources - marjoram, sage, thyme, basil and lavender.
During the winter months, the Alpenpalace Hotel & Spa Resort is surrounded by the ski slopes of the South Tyrolean Dolomites. In the summer, the beautiful Ahrn Valley transforms the area into a blossoming paradise of green pastures. Spa Alpin is set in seven-and-a-half acres of private parkland complete with freshwater, therapeutic brine and children’s pools with waterfalls and massage zones inside the huge wellness facility. There is a salt graduation tower for inhaling beneficial salt particles, a Tyrolean sauna, an herbal bath, a steam bath, a Laconium and an ice fountain with the stunning mountain scenery as a backdrop.
L'Albereta is a spa hotel that is typical of Italy and all that the country has to offer. The philosophy of rebalancing one’s vital energy is key to achieving optimum wellbeing (benessere) and, at the same time, resistance to the aging process. All of L’Albereta’s programs begin with bio-energetic testing; to reveal the body's toxins. The first stage of the treatment entails relaxation and detox via diet and hydrotherapy while the second phase is devoted to regeneration.
Under the guidance of Mrs. Francesca Bortolloto Possati, President & CEO; Bauer Palladio Hotel & Spa is Venice's newest holistic wellness spa in a remarkable renovated hotel. The property is located on Giudecca Island, across the water from St. Mark's Square. The hotel and spa is housed on the water's edge in a 16th century former convent originally designed by world-renowned Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Classically serene, the retreat revels in offering guests and visitors the opportunity of escaping the bustle of Venice, relaxing in the garden or enjoying a meal 'alfresco' on the tranquil patio. The spa, which features a king-size Turkish hammam, an innovative Vitalis Multi-Bath System and a double size Jacuzzi, also includes an array of all-natural wellness therapies designed to de-stress, purify or cleanse whilst taking in that incredible view. There are a variety of all natural wellness therapies and beauty treatments offered, while Bauer’s philosophy seeks to curate an overall feeling of wellness and tranquility for guests and visitors.
Fast forward, Bauer Palladio Spa will continue to focus on offering guests the most relaxing and rejuvenating experience possible. The Bauer Palladio Spa is continuously following new developments in wellness treatments and all natural products, seeking only to offer guests the best treatments and products based on the most innovative research in these areas. One of the latest personalized treatments that was created this year is the Oligotherapy Etio Cosmetics program, an anti-aging regimen.
The range and span of guests and visitors from around the world have been known to comment that they leave both the hotel and the spa feeling totally revitalized. In the words of many, who say “Bauer Palladio Spa is not a typical experience for one to have when vacationing in a major city. We feel rejuvenated and refreshed here, in this oasis, complete with wonderful views of Venice.”
About the Authors
Francesca Bortolotto Possati, Chairman and CEO of the Bauer Hotel and Bauer Il Palazzo, is as much a wonder of Venice as are her hotels. “Venice is a constant challenge to your sensitivity and imagination; impossible to capture completely,” she declares passionately. “Regardless of how long and how well you know her, you can always discover - just by walking around - something new that you have not noticed before.”
Francesca Bortolotto Possati is a visionary. She is the granddaughter of Arnaldo Bennati, a Ligurian shipbuilder who purchased the Bauer in 1930, making the BAUER Hotel a second home for the young Francesca. Years later, in 1997, Ms. Bortolotto Possati took control of the BAUER and oversaw its extensive $80 million renovation. She divided the property into two separate wings, L’Hotel (Urban Lifestyle) and Il Palazzo (Luxury Living), in order to meet different niche markets. The result is what she calls “two styles, one soul.” Over the years, Francesca has expanded the BAUER name, adding the Palladio Hotel & Spa (Resort Escape), the Casa Nova (Small Residence) and her newest property, the Exclusive Villa F set to open in Fall 2010. The separate properties have an apparent synergy and are now recognized as individual parts of a whole, the BAUERs.
In keeping with the original artistic integrity of the Hotels, Ms. Bortolotto Possati sought out and commissioned local artisans to decorate and design her properties, using time-honored crafts that have beautified Venice over the centuries. Every room of the BAUERs properties has an authentically Venetian look and feel, allowing guests to truly experience the city. To preserve the culinary heritage of the BAUERs, Ms. Possati has instructed Chef Giovanni Ciresa to find fresh, local ingredients and create menus around them. The BAUERs gourmet De Pisis restaurant was rated #1 in the city of Venice by Le Guide De L' Espresso, Italy’s premiere dining guide.
Vivian Ho is the Medical Tourism Association’s Chief Development Officer; having served as Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region as well. Ms. Ho also writes about issues related to medical travel and health and wellness tourism, and serves as a Contributing Editor of the MTA’s Health Tourism and Medical Tourism magazines.
Prior to this, Ms. Ho was President & CEO of Queens International (QIC), a business development subsidiary of the Queens Health Systems based in Honolulu, Hawaii. QIC’s mission was to market Hawaii’s healthcare, health & wellness sectors and medical tourism programs internationally in Asia Pacific and the U.S.
She also serves as a Senior Advisor & Consultant to Ministries of Health, multinational corporations, private-public and academic partnerships engaged in global health.
