Sunday, September 03, 2006

Ischia: From Nobility to Commoners, the Ultimate Spa Experience

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Ischia, is just off the coast of Naples, and just north of Capri, but then again...you knew that...didn't you????

 

Ischia: Island of Healing Waters

 

Special to The Epoch Times

By Curtis Ellis September  02, 2006

A handwritten sign tacked to a tawny boulder on a rocky scrap of Mediterranean shoreline warns "beware of boiling water" in English, Italian and French. A few feet away, bathers soak in crystalline pools as steam rises around them. Onshore, an enterprising cook sells eggs and chicken boiled in a bubbling spring. Sunbathers perch on wooden planks set above the searing volcanic ground at the base of the golden cliffs.

From Nobility to Commoners, the Ultimate Spa Experience

So passes another day at Baia di Sorgeto on the Italian island of Ischia. Ischia's sunny climate and volcanic hot springs have drawn tourists since the days of the Roman nobility, and the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians before them.

Movie stars and the yacht-borne wealthy replaced the emperors, and now thousands of tourists from all over Europe throng Ischia in the summer months. New, direct service from New York to Naples by Eurofly, the Italian budget carrier, makes it easier than ever for Americans to visit this spa island.

Like nearby Capri, Ischia is a short ferry ride from Naples. But unlike Capri, Ischia is not an enclave of the super-rich; Ischia welcomes one and all. Ferries disembark at five locales, from busy Ischia Porta, what passes for a city on the isle, to the upscale whitewashed village of Lacco Ameno.

You're never more than a few steps away from the thermal springs, which lace this volcanic island from the seaside to the island's mountain spine. A Renaissance doctor mapped more than a thousand unique wells and springs, each distinguished by temperature, salinity and curative properties. The modern European medical establishment recognizes the medicinal value of taking the waters, and Europe's insurers foot the bill for many of the tourists visiting here.

Even the most modest motels offer thermal waters, with swimming pools, spa treatments, or both.

At the high end, the five-star Regina Isabella hotel and its sister property the Reginella boast expansive spas with a variety of treatments, some not available in the U.S. Medical doctors and osteopaths are on staff along with dermatologists and massage therapists.

The Regina Isabella taps thermal wells for its spa pools and immersion tubs and volcanic water is mixed with super refined clay for the mud spa treatments. Private plunge pools in the posh royal suites can be filled with thermal, fresh or sea water.

Salvatore, a masseur at the Regina Isabella, will tell you about kneading Elizabeth Taylor, in full make-up. She stayed at the hotel while filming "Cleopatra," one of the many jet setters who frequented the hotel in the '50s and '60s as guests of former owner Angelo Rizzoli, publishing magnate and producer of "La Dolce Vita."

I didn't see La Liz during my stay, though I kept running into director Terry Gilliam, Joseph Fiennes and Tony Renis, the songwriter responsible for Dean Martin's hit "Quando Quando Quando." They were on hand for the Ischia Film Festival, an annual event trading on Ischia's cinematic jet-set past.

Spa Fit for the Gods

But the primo thermal spa experience is just a five-minute walk from Lacco Ameno and it's open to the public.

You'll feel like an ancient god, or like you're about to bump into one, at Negombo Gardens. This is a water park, Italian style. More than a dozen outdoor thermal pools nestle around the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of San Montano bay. Paths fabulously landscaped with exotic plants and impossibly bright red and purple blossoms connect the pools and grottos, each with a unique theme.

The grotto "Omphalos" (meaning navel) evokes Satyricon, steam cloaking the bathers reclining indolently within. The waters alternate from hot and cold as you walk the pebble-bottomed Japanese labyrinth. I expected to see Pan himself in the pond landscaped with a waterfall and cave and perched high on the hillside.

A perfect espresso or fresh fruit smoothie from one of Negombo's several cafes and restaurants adds a modern touch to the sybarite experience. And of course there are boutiques if you're in the mood for shopping.

An Abundance of Fine Food

This is Italy, so there is no shortage of excellent food everywhere on Ischia. Open air restaurants along the terra-cotta waterfront of Ischia Porta advertise their specialties with carefully arranged tableaux of the day's catch.

Bronzino and dorada are ubiquitous; most establishments will cook to order?grilled, poached or sautied as you please. The Mediterranean swordfish is smaller than its Atlantic cousin (perhaps the result of overfishing) and tastier.

All the food seems to taste better than stateside. As evidence, one need go no further than the hundred plates arranged on the Regina Isabella's antipasto table, a feast for the eyes as well as the palate, from marinated silvery anchovies to grilled green zucchini; orange squash blossoms fried to order; pink prosciutto sliced before your eyes, and the most tender purple octopus in several iterations.

Ristorante La Pace takes the prize for setting. A rustic collection of seaside picnic tables under thatch roof and accessible only by boat, it feels like something from "Swept Away." We had both seafood and rabbit for lunch. Coniglio a l'ischitana is the island's signature dish, rabbit marinated and roasted to a golden finish flecked with bits of tomato, herbs and olives. And the spaghetti al vongole was the freshest and best I've ever had.

Island Magic

After our "Swept Away" lunch, we embarked on a Homer-esque odyssey with our boat-pilot Luigi exploring coves carved from the green volcanic tufa stone of the island. Anchoring a couple hundred yards offshore, we swam to the other-worldly steaming hot springs of Sorgeto Bay. From the other world, Luigi took us to the underworld?literally. Bobbing on the waters in the long rays of the afternoon sun, he pointed to a sliver of shadow where water met the tawny cliff face. There, he said, the Green Grotto. We swam over to the rocks, ducked under the water and re-emerged 5,000 years ago, in the mythic siren's cave, suffused with an aquamarine luminescence like nothing ever seen before.

This, like the alchemist's fabled elixir, transformed the everyday into priceless gold, and I will be forever indebted to Ischia, the little Italian island whose delicious climate and magical waters are a gift to all.

 

The ANNOTICO Reports

Can be Viewed, and are Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net