The 7 Best Wellness Retreats in Italy

Unplug from your daily life, routine, and stresses, and focus on yourself at a wellness retreat. It’s no exaggeration to say a visit to a wellness retreat can be life-changing, and there are few settings better for such a life overhaul than Italy. The rural landscape, natural beauty, and charming towns are enough to inspire anyone, and with these wellness retreats, creativity, contemplation, movement, and mindfulness come easy. 

Here are the best wellness retreats in Italy

1. Lefay Resort and Spa, Lake Garda

Combining Chinese medicine with Western scientific research, the Lefay provides some of Italy’s most restorative health programmes. They offer various wellness packages that cater to different objectives, such as Antistress, Detox, Sleep, Weight, Fitness, and more. Retreats run for 5-10 days and include access to the Lefay Spa, three healthy meals a day, personalised phytotherapy, check-ups, and so much more. These wellness packages are for people who are serious about their health, with other treatments (depending on the package) including acupuncture, reflexology, and cryotherapy. It’s safe to say that guests leave the Lefay feeling brand new, armed with the knowledge to sustain this on-top-of-the-world feeling. And not only is the Lefay a wellness haven, but it’s also the height of eco-luxury, overlooking the shimmering Lake Garda. 

2. The Ranch, Fiuggi 

The wellness retreat extraordinaires that launched celebrity-favourite the Ranch in Malibu bring the programme to Palazzo Fiuiggi, a countryside farmhouse turned spa retreat. But this is no relaxed yoga-ing, evening meditation-ing, sound-bath-ing wellness getaway, it’s an intense fitness retreat that is not for the fainthearted. If you’re not prepared for 5.30 AM wake-up calls for a workout class or a long hike through the rugged Lazio countryside, then this might not be for you. While most come to Italy for the pizza, pasta, and wine, the Ranch guests are on a strict 1,400-calorie-per-day vegan diet, with no alcohol or caffeine. The transformative experience promises to kickstart weight loss, improve mental clarity, increase energy, and detox the mind and body in a controlled environment. It’s not all go-go-go – there are daily massages and plenty of time to relax in the Palazzo Fiuggi spa, whose waters are said to have healing properties.

3. Zagara Retreats, Sicily

Escape to sun-baked Sicily for one of Zagara’s wellness retreats. They currently offer three: Slow Rythyms, Creative Bloom, and Sensual Sanctuary. While they might differ in their wellness goals, each retreat blends physical activity, mindfulness, and creativity. Take part in painting workshops in the flourishing garden, olive oil tasting, cookery classes, natural dyeing workshops, yoga classes, and so much more. Zagara retreats are not restricted, they’re all about abundance – enjoying delicious Italian food, swimming in the infinity pool surrounded by olive groves, exploring nature spots, and unlocking your creativity. 

4. Palace Merano, South Tyrol

Bidding goodbye to the minimalist retreat hotels that dot Europe, Palace Merano is opulent and grand. Don’t be fooled by the 1900s exterior – a high-tech, ultra-modern medical spa lies inside. It’s one of Italy’s leading clinical hotels, led by Dr Massimiliano Mayrhofer and his team of skilled therapists and doctors. They’re big on prevention being the key to health, and spot imbalances and deficiencies through the blood tests that they administer. With blood samples, they can put a plan of action into place for every guest. It’s an individualistic treatment, but you can expect all the amenities and activities that make wellness retreats so relaxing, such as yoga and massages. But you can also take part in vitamin infusions, mud hydrotherapy, and intense gym sessions with sought-after trainers. 

5. Vitaliter at Palazzo Belvedere, Tuscany

Palazzo Belvedere is tucked away in the Tuscan town of Montecatini Terme, a spa town that sets the tone for a regenerative retreat. Their Vitalier programme is designed to reboot the mind, body, and soul through a detailed plan that caters to your wellbeing objectives. You can expect massages, treatments, yoga, thermal water, breath work, art therapy, singing, and more. It’s a chance to relax, unplug, be pampered, and focus on your individual needs and health, with the guidance of experts. The retreat is between 3 and 21 days.

6. Meadowsweet, Tuscany

Set in the beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany, on a sprawling 4,000-acre nature reserve, the location alone is enough to instil total tranquillity. But Meadowsweet have a whole menu of therapies, activities, and classes to have you feeling your most relaxed, best self. There are tie-dye workshops, pottery classes, drum circles, yoga sessions, foraging, wild swimming, and so much more. Their ethos is centred around being inspired by nature, whether that’s through creativity or picking up new skills. If you’re looking to reconnect with nature in a communal, open-minded, judge-free environment, then Meadowsweet could be the retreat for you. 

7. Preidlhof, South Tyrol

With Patrizia Bortolin at the helm, Preidlhof has become one of the world’s leading wellness resorts. Surrounded by the Italian Alps and crisp, clean air, there’s something about the location that makes you want to throw yourself into all the innovative therapies and treatments. One such treatment is the Water Massage, which takes place in the indoor thermal pool. Feel as light as a feather, mentally and physically, as a highly-skilled therapist massages you in the water. There are also Mindfulness Eating classes which help re-instate healthy mentalities regarding food and hunger, as well as trauma therapy sessions that release decades-old emotional and physical roadblocks. The retreats are intensive but effective, with bespoke programmes such as the Transformational Journey and Integrated Healing retreats.