I’m often invited to visit and sample a new spa, which obviously the hotel or resort is immensely proud of. I’ve just returned from such s visit – to a beautifully restored old villa in Fiesole overlooking Florence. A vast amount of money and much care, thought and pride – especially watched over by the Italian version of English Heritage, so that every wood, stone, corner etc. had to be historically and architecturally accurate – has been expended on Il Silviatino, and given the fact that so much of the originl carvings and frescos were vandalised by a former owner, the work has been seriously impressive.
So what we have is an elegant Italian villa, set in immaculately planted Italianate grounds overlooking one of the most famous Duomos in all of Italy…and what do they do? Install a Thai spa – Thai treatments, Thai therapists, Thai decor. Should somebody remind somebody that the very word SPA comes from the Latin – salus per aqua – one of the reasons why Roman baths were famed throughout the known world. Or is it me, just wanting to preserve a little of their heritage?
Any thoughts?
