Notorious Vandal Strikes Again - The Florentine

20
Thursday 20 October 2005
Travel & LEISURE
Life in Italy
www.theflorentine.net
The Spa Experience:
Tuscany’s Alternative Answer to Good Health
By Niki Swallow
Tuscany is full of natural hot springs or
‘terme,’ many of which date from Roman
or even Etruscan times and whose waters,
originating from deep within the earth’s crust,
have long been associated with curative properties.
Each individual spring has a different make
up in terms of its combination of minerals and
gases (gathered as the water courses towards
the surface), so different ‘terme’ are said to be
beneficial for different conditions. Carbon dioxide
boosts the immune system, for example,
and sulphur-rich water is believed to be effective
in the treatment of muscular and arthritic
pain. Receptive structures have been developed
around many of these springs, and while some
have remained fairly modest affairs, others have
turned into luxury spa resorts offering first-class
accommodation and a myriad of treatments to
compliment the thermal waters.
A day of wallowing in a thermal pool is a
very popular activity in Tuscany, but many of the
locals shun the up-market structures in favour
of the relative simplicity of such places as Bagno
Vignoni and Bagni San Filippo, which offer pools
of warm thermal waters in a fabulous natural setting
but not so much in the way of swish facilities.
There are other spas where the emphasis is very
much on the cure rather than the frills, and even
the swankiest places have a department devoted
to purely medical treatments. Anyone used to the
kind of pampering spas where you pad around
in a fluffy bathrobe and slippers, sip herbal teas
and chill out to soft, ambient music will be taken
aback by the clinical atmosphere and rough edges
that they may encounter in these places.
Even in the luxury category, there’s not a whole
lot of respect for modesty. The only thing coming
between you and your masseuse, for example,
Grotta Giusta Spa
is likely to be a minuscule pair of paper knickers
and women may find it a little disconcerting
when a male, rather than female, member of the
staff arrives to plop them unceremoniously in
the tub for a hydrotherapy session or hose them
down naked after a session in the steam room.
Many Italians swear by the salutary effects of
‘fanghi’ or hot mud baths. Considered to work
wonders for rheumatic, arthritic, and muscular
problems, hot, mineral-rich mud is applied to the
afflicted part of the body and left to do its stuff
for twenty minutes or so. It’s also guaranteed to
leave your skin as smooth as a baby’s bottom
and most of the places mentioned here offer mud
treatments.
The more upmarket thermal establishments
are attached to a suitably swish hotel and offer
various ‘pacchetti’ combining a certain number of
treatments with accommodation. These are usually
quite expensive, but one way to save money is
to book into a cheaper hotel in the area, take out
a day membership to the spa that will give you
access to the basic facilities (usually the thermal
pool plus extras such as the sauna and Turkish
bath where relevant), and arrange the treatments
separately according to your requirements.
The unique feature of the Grotta Giusti spa in
Monsumano Terme near Lucca is its extraordinary
prehistoric underground cave system that
was stumbled upon in 1849. An hour spent sitting
and sweating in the dripping grotta offers
relief from rheumatic pain and does wonders for
the skin. In the hottest part of the cave (‘Purgatory’),
the temperature is a constant 34° C with
90% humidity, so you are advised to pass through
cooler Paradise and Limbo first. The shuffling
figures dressed in shapeless, hooded white gowns,
looking like they have escaped from a sanatorium,
are you and your fellow sweaty guests;
don’t bother with the mascara! After your sweat,
you will be sluiced down naked in a small cubicle
with a strong jet of water. There are many other
treatments such as fanghi, massages (including a
rather bizarre but very effective chocolate face
and body scrub), inhalations, facials and so on,
plus a new outdoor thermal pool. The adjacent
hotel has recently been renovated; it sits in a
lovely park filled with secular trees and birdsong
and has a fine restaurant, producing fresh and
imaginative dishes even for dieters.
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