On a brisk autumn afternoon, immersed in a 100-degree pool at Italy’s Verdura Resort, I admired the lush Sicilian landscape as seawater-filled jets eased my muscles, tightened from long days of travel. I felt I could easily get used to it, and experts on thalassotherapy, a broad category of treatments using seawater, say we all should.
“Seawater is incredibly effective for muscle-skeletal issues. It’s anti-inflammatory and also really helpful for skin conditions like eczema. Inhaling aerosols of mineral-rich water in ionized form helps with respiratory issues,” says Dr. Marie Perez Siscar, president of France’s national thalassotherapy association, and owner and medical director of the Côté Thalasso spa hotel in Banyuls Sur Mer, France.
Dr. Perez Siscar, a former emergency room physician, says that while lake bathing can be pleasant and beneficial, seawater’s particular combination of living plankton and trace minerals provides superior results.
Rich in calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, the water in Verdura’s four outdoor thalassotherapy pools comes from the surrounding sea. It’s combined with a slightly oily, mineral-rich water containing mud and salt from the salt marshes in Trapani, on Sicily’s northwest coast.
“The therapy works by osmosis, meaning that the skin absorbs all the elements,” explains Luciano Porcu, spa director at Rocco Forte’s Sicilian properties, which include Verdura, the Villa Igiea in Palermo and Palazzo Castelluccio in Noto, set to open next year. “Osmosis of marine salts into the skin and warm water dilates blood stream, helping to detox and reduce water retention.”
Verdura’s 43,000-square-foot Irene Forte Spa features a large gym, saunas and steam rooms, but its thalassotherapy pools are the main draw. Visitors follow a 90-minute sequence, spending about 15 minutes in each of four pools before repeating the circuit. The first stop is the 100-degree pool, where the salt density is 24%, encouraging muscle relaxation and detoxification, and dilating blood vessels. The second pool, heated to 98 degrees and with a 17% salt density, features waterfall jets targeting areas around the neck and back. The third pool, at 82 degrees, has 10% salinity. The last pool, just 77 degrees with 5% salinity, encourages vascular constriction.
In addition to the pool circuit, Porcu says, the spa’s Trapani sea salt body scrubs and algae and mud body wraps help remove impurities and intensify the marine water benefits.
In Sardinia, the Delphina group runs four other thalassotherapy-centered seaside hotel spas along the island’s north coast. At its Valle dell’Erica spa, thalassotherapy pools offer sweeping views of Corsica. High-pressure jets massage everywhere from the bottom of visitors’ feet to their shoulders. For the most energetic guests: An ersatz pool-based gym has water-based treadmills, bikes, trampolines and foam weights.
“The pressure exerted by the water on the body, combined with movement, creates a massage effect that promotes lymphatic drainage,” says Andrea Brucciani, who directs the spas, explaining that working out in water reduces impact on joints, creating safer conditions for jumping and running.
As for New Yorkers hoping to approximate thalassotherapy, the subterranean and candlelit Aire Ancient Baths in Tribeca offers an impressively saline option. Among the six pools — ranging from 50 to 102 degrees — Aire’s Epsom salt-filled “flotarium” measures about 35% salinity. The buoyancy, meant to mimic the Dead Sea, provided a restful soak on a recent visit. It was a long way from the vistas of Sicily, but it would do.
