A tour of Tuscany spas

Chantal Borciani discovers a wellness world deep in the Italian thermal caves and lakes of Grotta Giusti Hotel and Spa and Bagni di Pisa

Warm water laps around my ears as I stare up at the lunar-like walls of the grotto. I sway in the warm water, weightlessly suspended in a thermal cave that was formed millions of years ago and has been drawing visitors seeking restoration since the nineteenth century.

Grotta Giusti Hotel and Spa in the hills above Monsummano Terme is one of Tuscany’s most extraordinary spa experiences. The hotel was built around a natural thermal cave — a sequence of chambers named Paradise, Purgatory and Hell in increasing order of heat and humidity. The experience of floating through them, guided by the soft glow of the cave walls and the scent of mineral steam, is genuinely unlike anything else in European spa travel.

The treatments above ground are equally distinguished. The house approach draws on thermal water, Tuscan botanicals and traditional mud therapy in combinations that feel both rooted and inventive.

Bagni di Pisa, my second stop, occupies an eighteenth-century palazzo on the banks of the Arno — originally built as the summer residence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The thermal waters here have a different character: lighter, more mineral, with a clarity that makes the indoor pools feel almost luminous. The treatments are elegant and restrained, in keeping with the setting.

Tuscany offers some of Italy’s most compelling thermal spa experiences — and these two properties represent its breadth, from the elemental drama of Grotta Giusti to the aristocratic refinement of Bagni di Pisa.