Guests can simply soak like a bygone Etruscan, relish a range of classic therapies or take advantage of prodigious medical spa modalities.
MORE THAN 25 YEARS AGO, I FIRST DISCOVERED TERME DI
Saturnia, a five-star resort and spa built around curative hot springs
in the heart of Tuscany’s unspoiled Maremma. In the context of the retreat’s spring’s own age—a whopping 3,000 years or more— and the fact that the Etruscans and Romans both bathed here, that doesn’t seem like an eon. Yet, during that epoch, my children, who accompanied me when I visited the healing hideaway the first time, have grown into adults. Since that first visit, I’ve been to Italy multitudinous times, soaked in a slew of hot springs located all around the world and enjoyed more spa treatments than I can count (thousands?) at esteemed spas. But all the while this miraculous, salubrious spa hotel stayed in my heart. A place like not other, it sits amid the Maremma’s brushy landscape, one some travelers compare to Texas for its cowboys, ranches and horses-and the way it edges the sea. Like the rest of Tuscany, it also gleams with fields of sunflowers and broom in season, brandishes olive orchards and zigzags with vineyards. A spa hotel since 1919, with many of the original pools and travertine walls in tact, Terme di Saturnia has had many iterations—the latest being a complete 10 million dollar restoration and re-imagination in 2020.
Utterly modern yet fecund with soul and blissfulness, the spa hotel both reflects its past and embraces the present. Guests can simply soak like a bygone Etruscan, relish a range of classic therapies or take advantage of prodigious medical spa modalities. A gastronomic destination, bearers of an unequalled regional wine list, a place where guests can focus on fitness, mental health, relaxation or check in for a doctor-supported detox, Terme di Saturnia customizes your visit based on your needs. Whether you want to relax and be pampered (as I did the first time I went after traveling with children across Europe) or come for a specific goal-oriented program, the luxurious resort rises to the occasion
About the Water
Flowing underground for 40 years before it gushes into Saturnia, the health-giving water consists of a variety of minerals, including sulphur, calcium and magnesium.
Despite all its plenitude of virtues, the real reason to choose Terme di Saturnia is the water. Legendarily created when the god Saturn smote a mighty bolt to earth because the humans were too bellicose, the thermal spring has continuously flowed from the earth’s center, filtered by rocks and clay, to the resort’s center point. It remains a perpetual 99.5 F(37. 5 C), warm but not hot. Flowing underground for 40 years before it gushes into Saturnia, the health-giving water consists of a variety of minerals, including sulphur, calcium and magnesium. Floating in it, a gelatinous, power-packed plankton hovers, its benefits are so helpful to skin health that its extracts are used for the Terme di Saturnia in-house products and treatments. Offering extreme wellness, the waters can reduce blood pressure, increase lung ventilation, act as a natural exfoliant for skin and antiseptic, provide anti-aging benefits throughout the body, boost immunity and reduce stress. Choose from five outdoor thermal pools, whirlpools and contrast therapy courses. Just breathing the sulphurous vapors has positive wellness benefits.
The Spa
Fifty-three peaceful treatment rooms compose this sanctuary of well being. With some of Italy’s top therapists and wellness experts at the helm, the SPA & Medical SPA reigns s one of the world’s most celebrated. Numerous treatments allow guests to pave their own way to better health, whether face and body treatments, energetic rituals, mud treatments or modalities from balneotherapy to iridology or physiotherapy. Laser, fillers, skin peels and more are also offered. Guests can sign up for three or seven day journeys to achieve certain goals from weight loss to de-stressing to peace of mind.
Dining
The Italians don’t suffer mediocre food—in fact, food, too, is medicine in Terme di Saturnia’s opinion. At the resort, eating well is part of the prescription. At the 1919 Restaurant immerse in Tuscan flavors and discover the bounty of local, seasonl ingredients and farm-to-table Mediterranean dishes, each complemented by world class wines from nearby vineyards. La Stellata lies amid the retreat’s golf course. It’s set in a country farmhouse with local dishes sure to please. Think: beef from the Maremma, charcuterie and cheese plates and olive oil made a heartbeat away. The Bar serves up libations of all types beside the pools—from herbal teas to smoothies.
The Rooms and Suites
Terme di Saturnia, a member of Leading Hotels of the World, offers 124 prettily appointed rooms and suites, each an elegant sanctum with pops of color that mirror the healing waters. Though you’ll spend time at the spa and in the water, choose the commodious Grand Suite for longer stays. The extra space and decor has penthouse vibes.
Other Things To Do There
The resort offers yoga, pilates, complimentary morning hikes and bike rides, a 24 hour, state-of-the-art gym and an award-winning, 18-hole golf course designed by California architect Ronald Fream from Studio Golf Plan. With the prestigious GEO certification meant to preserve the terrain, the championship course gets kudos for playability and eco-conscious ethics.
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