Some of us have a love-hate relationship with Italian vacations. The vita really is dolce, but sometimes too much so. After OD’ing on carbohydrates and tannins, we slouch home from Positano puffy and depleted. Good luck “moderating” in a country where even a gas-station panini deserves recognition from the Michelin Guide.
A traveler committed to healthy living might believe that the only destination is an austere medical resort in Germany where gumming muesli is the main attraction. (Been there, suffered through that.)
But Ischia is so much more inviting. This volcanic island in the Gulf of Naples is practically bubbling with thermal waters, discovered by the ancient Greeks more than 3,000 years ago. Those prized currents receive an extra electromagnetic charge from volcanic plates that infuse them with salt, sulfates, and bicarbonates. This mineral-rich brew is purported to have soothing effects on the joints and, just as importantly, the psyche.
Ischia has more than 2,000 venues for thermal bathing, ranging from well-maintained pools at luxury hotels to tiny pockets of burbling gravel on an otherwise unremarkable beach. (Yeowch!)
There’s no shortage of lodgings, but Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa towers above the rest. Perched on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, it’s an elegant complex of guest rooms, terraces, restaurants, bars, a tennis court, and a blissfully warm saltwater swimming pool adjacent to the ocean, which can be accessed by paths that snake around the boulders.
An aristocratic family originally built Mezzatorre as a watchtower in the 16th century, but it was never completed. (The name means “half-tower” in Italian.) After an expansion by the dukes of Rancidello, it was used as a boardinghouse until the 1930s, when the scholar and poet Luigi Patalano transformed it into a cultural center. He also built a villa in the park nearby, which was later owned by film director Luchino Visconti.
In 2019, the Pellicano Group, which owns Il Pellicano, on the Tuscan coast, and La Posta Vecchia, west of Rome, purchased Mezzatorre. These are all stylish places to sin, thanks to creative director Marie-Louise Sciò, one of Italy’s great hoteliers. “The Pelli” is booked solid all summer, often years in advance, and some of its regulars refuse to even imagine any divergence from its hedonism—vongole, Vermentino, and a little bit of disco.
But Sciò contains multitudes. She’s long been at the vanguard of wellness, both physically and spiritually. At her apartment, in Rome, guests might notice a TRX hanging from the coffered ceiling, and leather-wrapped kettlebells on the edge of the carpet. At Mezzatorre, I started to understand how Sciò’s passions are not contradictions but complements.
She would never describe Mezzatorre as a wellness resort, but it can be, with the right mindset. At the Michelin-starred Ristorante La Torre, even Lanserhof loyalists can’t find fault with the freshly caught branzino, dressed in little more than lemon and olive oil. The scialatelli, a blissful, handmade pasta drenched in a four-tomato sauce, might not satisfy those dedicated to self-denial, but it works wonders on the soul. Surely that counts for something?
After check-in, delighted to be reconnected with my friends, I over-indexed on Etna Bianco, but for the rest of our visit, we nearly drank the place out of a superb non-alcoholic Riesling. We hit the gym, bounced around the tennis court, paddleboarded at sunrise, and never, ever skimped on breakfast: probiotic-rich yogurt, perfectly poached eggs, and cappuccino after cappuccino, which our charming waiter always seemed to have ready. We ventured off-property for the thermal bathing, but there was really no need. (The spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and croutons at Le Fumarole da Nicola is worth the water-taxi fare, though.)
Mezzatorre offers complete, searing, and stylish thermal baths within a few steps of breakfast. The six-part thermal circuit comprises three hot baths, a Kneipp bath (walking on stones through hot and cold water), sauna, and steam room. It takes nearly an hour to soldier through the entire thing, and even longer if you add on the mud treatment. (That one requires a medical evaluation: Takers are covered in the stuff, which is purported to relax muscles and improve circulation, for 15 to 20 minutes. It can draw out a quart of moisture—and Lord knows what else—from the skin.)
There’s nothing remotely restrictive about Sciò’s idea of an Italian wellness vacation. Yet after three days, I felt renewed. Maybe it’s all that swimming in the Med or sweating in the sauna, but, in all likelihood, it has something to do with her magnanimous approach to pleasure. Here, in Ischia, it’s everywhere.
Rooms at Mezzatorre Hotel & Thermal Spa begin at $500 per night
Ashley Baker is the Executive Editor at Air Mail Look
