Inside Italy’s spectacular grotto spa

INSIDE ancient caves that were hidden for centuries now lies one of Rome’s best kept secrets.

Inside Rome's spectacular grotto spa. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

ITALIANS love caves. Grottos used by the Ancient Romans have been turned into cozy nap corners, wine canteens and oil cellars.

But how about the luxury of an extravagant spa inside a huge Roman grotto network where you can pamper your body with hot bubbles, waterfalls, nebulised droplets sprayed from the ceiling and stress-killer jacuzzi beds as you fight cellulite with miraculous seawater?

One luxury resort near Rome boasts the most amazing spa in Italy that is luring tourists from across the world.

When hotelier Gennaro Greca was building his 4-star Grand Hotel Santa Domitilla on Ponza island he almost fell inside a pit and discovered interconnected caves full of debris. He had found a treasure. The cobwebs and dirt triggered his eureka idea: “I thought: why not turn these into an élite, archaeological spa open even during the summer?”

The pool entrance to the grotto spa. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

It’s a sublime treat. Imagine literally floating through a maze of prehistoric underground chambers that have been restyled into caverns of hot tubs, different temperature pools, kingsize water sofas and coloured cavities with bubbles shooting out from everywhere.

The first thing that hits you is the entrance, because if nobody tells you where it is you might miss it. And no walking, you can only access by swimming. From the hotel’s outside swimming pool you drift underneath a white stone arch that resembles the front door of a typical island dwelling, covered in bright pink bougainvilleas.

As as if by magic, you enter inside the first deep grotto pool where the ancient Romans loved to skinny-dip among friendly moray eels.

Once you’re inside you’ll find an underground pool. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

Once inside, the temperature drops: The grotto is cold and so is the water. It’s like bathing inside a real sea cave, perfect for hot summer days. Then the “heat path” starts: from the cold grotto pool a waterfall leads into the less nippy attached cave, and then to another dozen warmer cavities and chambers until you get to the big steaming hot pool with bubbly geysers.

Buttons to activate different intensity hydromassage are placed everywhere. You sit or lie on water benches, steps and huge stones to better concentrate on aching muscles. Not a single inch of your body will be neglected: the hot tubs and strong jets of water will massage your toes, feet, belly, even armpits.

One of the spa beds. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

Then, once you’re “boiled like a fish” (as Italians say), out you go exiting the spa from another white arched vault that leads you back to the hotel’s outer swimming pool for some healthy sun tanning.

The ancient Romans actually did it the other way round: According to their thermal baths tradition, they’d start from the large boiling hot pool (dubbed “caldarium”) to the warm pool (”tepidarium”) and exit through the biting cold pool (”frigidarium”), as the heat is believed to open skin pores to release toxins while the cold shuts them.

Up to you.

The cool thing is how the various pools are connected, through winding narrow water tunnels that offer an awesome perspective. It feels like exploring an ancient aqueduct. You lazily splash through sacred niches used to hold candles and statuettes of saints. There are tiny holes in the grotto walls — the spa windows — that allow you to catch glimpses of the hotel’s luxuriant orange grove.

One of the hot pools. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

I had fun going in and out of the grotto tunnels several times, first by swimming, then letting my body follow the bubbly current, and then walking in the water. Believe it or not, the first time I visited was on a scorching August day. But I was so mesmerised by those old caverns that I stayed 8 hours non-stop. You just feel a pull to get lost inside the spa labyrinth and forget about the rest of the world.

The scenery is spellbinding, a pleasure for the eyes as well.

The outside pool is spectacular too. Picture: Silvia Marchetti

Cave men were the first inhabitants of this spa. Greca found bits of skeletons and artefacts in the ground. Centuries later, the ancient Romans colonised the isle and used these grottos also as holy sites for human and animal sacrifices. Here, Christian martyrs were sacrificed to pagan gods but now you get to indulge in a detox heaven. And don’t feel guilty about it.

Local fishermen in the 1700s then turned the grottos into family dwellings and storerooms for their boats and nets. The caves fell into oblivion for centuries, but today thanks to Greca’s knack for speleology they’re among the top local attractions. Romantic cocktail evenings are organised inside the spa, which is open even at night. So you’ll still be able to peek at the sky and catch a falling star or two through the open hole niches.