It takes less than an hour by car to reach the southernmost edge of Lake Como from the congested streets and blaring horns of central Milan, yet it’s an entire world apart. As you pass through the city of Como and rise up the road to Cernobbio, on the western side, the lake’s glittering carpet of blue is revealed; through a haze, you can just about make out the grand villas and church towers clinging to the opposite shore. It’s one of the world’s most dreamed-about holiday destinations for a reason. When I visited in May, I was heading for arguably the dreamiest corner of this famously dreamed-about locale: the grand hotel of Passalacqua, nestled below the rambling town of Moltrasina. Despite only opening its doors in the summer of 2022—and being ranked as the top hotel on the planet by The World’s 50 Best just a year later—it’s the kind of place that feels like it’s existed forever. And it sort of has: the estate was built for a count in the late 18th century, and as my black sprinter van crunched over the gravel and pulled up to its imposing entrance, my driver pointed out the medieval church that adjoins the gates. (My curiosity about it was clearly communicated to the concierge, who arranged a tour for me the following morning with a local retired teacher who had been closely involved in its restoration.) But back to that theatrical entrance. After passing through the gates, decorated with the logo of three fishes you’ll spot on everything from door handles to crockery, the view beyond did that rarest (and most cliched) of things: it took my breath away. As I shaded myself under the yellow awnings that jut out from the palatial main building, the seven acres of terraced gardens—extending down to the lake like tiers of a wedding cake—revealed themselves. A vintage open-top Fiat 500 converted into an open-top electric buggy had pride of place, blazing orange against the lush greenery beyond; and I could spot the Slim Aarons-worthy pool and the greenhouse restaurant next to it where well-to-do guests were seated under parasols that gently flapped in the wind. Before I had a real chance to explore, however, I was whisked inside by a porter in one of the hotel’s Giuliva Heritage-designed uniforms, a spritz with freshly-squeezed juice promptly placed in my hand. My passport was handed over for check-in and returned in a butterscotch yellow leather wallet stamped with those three fishes. The cogs turned so smoothly that, once again, it felt like the hotel had been running for decades: within minutes, I was up in my blue-and-gold dazzler of a suite. I flung myself onto the enormous, plush bed, decked out in Beltrami linens and an opulent jacquard headboard, and stared out through the open windows at the equally striking blue of the lake beyond. I was ready to take a nap right there and then. But that would have to wait. While I come to Passalacqua for some R&R, the plan was to do so in another part of the complex: its brand-new spa. When the hotel opened two years ago, there were still some elements that weren’t quite finished—not for lack of effort by its owner, the indefatigable Valentina De Santis. As I made my way over to the spa, she beckoned me over to the enormous outdoor table where the in-house florist was arranging the day’s blooms, and greeted me with the kind of warm hug you might share with an old friend. (And after a few minutes with De Santis, she feels like one.) When it comes to hotels, De Santis has form: she practically grew up in the corridors of the nearby Grand Hotel Tremezzo, the historic Lake Como palace owned by her parents since 1975, which can also be regularly found on lists of the world’s best hotels. Their initial plans for a spa were temporarily scuppered by layers of red tape and Italian bureaucracy surrounding the property’s listed status. Yet while refurbishing the property, they discovered an astonishing network of tunnels that runs underneath it, from the heart of the town all the way down to the hotel’s private jetty. Thus, it was in those very tunnels that De Santis and her team began conceiving their unique, subterranean spa complex. As I entered the stable building—known as the “Palazz”—at the rear of the property, an attendant ushered me into changing rooms lavished with botanical wallpapers and rattan panels, where I slipped into a plush brown bathrobe. Then it was through to the relaxation area, where I sipped infused water under vaulted ceilings of soothing white plaster punctuated by marble columns. But my curiosity was already getting the better of me: I needed to know what lay beneath. Descending a staircase into the bowels of the building led me to a full-on wellness wonderland. Padding through a slightly eerie stone corridor lit by wall lamps, I stumbled upon a cellar-like area kitted out with a sauna, steam room, sensory shower, and a scattering of day beds to sip tea on after doing the wet room rounds. Around the corner, an even more mysterious corridor beckoned. (Mysterious even to the Passalacqua owners, it turns out, who aren’t entirely sure what purpose it served: whether it was for servants to ferry goods from the jetty, or perhaps for the count to sneak out for late-night high jinks with a local maiden.) Following the lamps deeper inside, I soon spotted a light at the end of the tunnel—literally and figuratively—and emerged into Passalacqua’s shiny new indoor pool, an 18-meter wonder lined with dazzling Palladian marble housed under a greenhouse with direct views across the lake. This is why De Santis decided not to rush the spa, but instead to wait and really get it right: it’s hard to imagine there are many other places in the world quite as picturesque for swimming your morning laps. (I managed to squeeze in a few, but quickly found myself distracted, and ended up sitting in the whirlpool area and staring out at the sun-dappled vistas beyond.) Finally, it was back through the tunnels and up to the treatment area to experience the final jewel in the Passalacqua spa crown: the treatments, developed in partnership with the Tuscany-based botanical skincare company Seed to Skin (more on them later). I went in for a tailored massage to ease my aches and pains after a couple of weeks on the road—and, most importantly, factored in my wish for a deep tissue pummeling, which the in-house masseur delivered with aplomb and bunched fists. Breezing my way back to my room to get changed for dinner, with the scent of the herb-infused body oil wafting behind me, I only had one question left: Could this get any more blissful? It turned out it could, as I sat down for dinner in the main restaurant, a live pianist tinkling away in the background. From the pre-meal freshly baked breads, including an exquisite, shatteringly crisp loaf infused with herbs and sundried tomatoes; to the decadent bowl of pasta with potatoes and pecorino, a signature of chef Viviana Varese; to the not-too-sweet, not-too-bitter tiramisu, every dish was as exacting as everything else about the property. At this point, I was willing to say it: Passalacqua is frankly as perfect as an Italian hotel can get. The hotel does have a competitor for that accolade, though, as I’d soon learn—but luckily, instead of entering into a fierce rivalry, they’ve joined forces. Following my stay at Passalacqua, I was invited to be spirited away to Tuscany for two more nights to delve into the secrets of Seed to Skin at its home of Borgo Santo Pietro. (Who could refuse an offer like that?) A luxury resort nestled in the hills of the Valle Serena, which translates—accurately, I can confirm—as the “serene valley,” it really feels more like a village, comprising a medieval farmhouse surrounded by a sprawling complex of indoor-outdoor suites and a 300-acre organic farm from which the majority of ingredients served in its three restaurants are sourced, from vegetables to cheese to honey. Those abundant Tuscan harvests are also the backbone of Seed to Skin, which was launched in 2018, after almost a decade of research by Jeanette Thottrup—one-half of the Danish couple behind Borgo Santo Pietro—as a skincare brand that blends historic wellness traditions including herbalism and natural medicines with cutting-edge science. (This was a fact made abundantly clear during a tour of the brand’s laboratories, housed in a charming stone building in the local village but outfitted with all the latest mod-cons and gizmos in beauty technology.) On my first morning, while situated in one of the main house’s opulent suites, I participated in a workshop with Thottrup, whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for the products quickly became infectious. Seed to Skin being one of the rare beauty companies to own its supply chain from top to bottom, she described the intensive testing process in fascinating detail—where other brands are restricted to testing 10 or so samples on average, some of the Seed to Skin products have been workshopped through up to 400 iterations—and the use of organic ingredients and hyperfermentation is carefully tooled to maximize your skin’s ability to digest the nutrients. (As someone who is very much a skincare boffin, things clicked when Thottrup likened the process of creating the products to winemaking; while every product has the same levels of active ingredients, you’ll notice reassuring differences from season to season.) Beginning with a jelly-like marine clay cleanser, then an activated charcoal mask, then a rather bracing hydrogel mask known as “The Golden Dew”—packed with three types of hyaluronic acid, its intensive work on my skin prompted a tingly reddish reaction that faded to leave my face perhaps the glowiest it has ever looked—it was a deep dive into the weird and wonderful world of cutting-edge skincare that had me hooked. If that all sounds very technical (although with Thottrup, a self-described “skincare nerd,” explaining it all to me, it became strangely fascinating), know that you don’t need to be familiar with the scientific ins and outs to enjoy the benefits of Seed to Skin’s products. Perhaps the most divine part of my Borgo Santo Pietro stay—and yes, that includes the extraordinary 10-course tasting menu at their gourmet restaurant Saporium, which featured just about the most deliciously tender lamb I’ve ever eaten (straight from the estate’s sheep farm, of course)—was the body mask and massage I was treated to in the hotel’s standalone spa. After an hour of being primped and prodded, I was practically floating—possibly through the stone walls and out into the spa’s dedicated herb garden, which was so fragrant I could smell the mint and melissa from my treatment bed. All of which is to say that when De Santis was selecting her partner for the Passalacqua spa, she did their research. (Though, of course, given both families have been working at the top end of the Italian hospitality industry for many decades, the Thottrups and De Santises were already well acquainted before shaking hands on their new partnership.) On my final night at Borgo Santo Pietro, after returning from dinner, I found a bath had been poured for me with a combination of healing oils and flowers plucked from the hotel’s grounds earlier that morning, a flask of herbal tea on the counter nearby. The one thing it reminded me of? Returning to my suite at Passalacqua after turndown, where a pot of herbal tea had also been laid out for me alongside a dessert stand, stacked with homemade chocolates that looked more like precious gemstones. It’s that instinct for the smallest details that unites both properties and makes them a new two-stop Italian wellness itinerary to be reckoned with. Just when you’re about to ask for something, it’s already arrived.
A Journey to Italian Wellness: Passalacqua’s Subterranean Spa & Borgo Santo Pietro’s Seed to Skin
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