Just six months have passed since its inauguration and Palazzo Fiuggi has already received the “World’s Best New Wellness Retreat 2021” from the World Spa Awards, the most important award for hospitality linked to wellness. An excellent start for the new project by Lorenzo Giannuzzi, founder and CEO of the historic hotel, born in 1913 and taken over in 2019 by Forte Village Group, which invested 50 million euros with a clear goal: to make it one of the best wellness medical retreat in the world.
The historic building restored to its former glory
Giannuzzi had Fiuggi in his heart since he was appointed director of the hotel in 1988, then called Palazzo della Fonte, and he had very clear all its potential: “Palazzo Fiuggi has a unique structure, it is the most beautiful Liberty building among Italian hotels – tells -. We are very ambitious, but we have all the numbers to make it ». Numbers that are the structure, where original furnishings have been recovered such as the 54 Murano chandeliers and the Carrara marble floors on which kings, princes, film stars, writers have walked in over a hundred years of history, and which boasted the first hotel exterior in Europe; the quality of the water, known for its properties since the Middle Ages, but also of the air, “since the Fiuggi valley has no industrial settlements, it is the habitat of 80 species of ferns that oxygenate the atmosphere and is found to 650 meters above sea level, an altitude considered optimal for health », continues Giannuzzi.
With the Medical Spa also a path of starry and healthy taste
But what makes the Palazzo Fiuggi project peculiar is its 6 thousand square meter Medical Spa, which offers treatments, courses and specialized examinations to tourists who are increasingly aware and willing to spend to take care of their health and is directed by David Della Morte Canosci, associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Tor Vergata. The holistic approach of Palazzo Fiuggi also passes from the kitchen, or rather from the food line, signed by Heinz Beck, three-star chef at La Pergola in Rome and an honorary degree in Natural Bio-Energies and Naturopathy.
“Everything that is prepared at Palazzo Fiuggi has anti-inflammatory properties, acts on the immune system, makes you lose weight”, notes the manager, who thought Palazzo Fiuggi as a destination for high-spirited travelers who do not have time to dedicate themselves to check-ups and there they can do it, even with tailor-made itineraries. On the menu there is also a program for those recovered from Covid, 10 days of examinations and treatments to restore energy and health to the body. “Our herbal teas are produced for us by the nearby monastery of Trisulti, just reopened to the public, they are very effective but the ancient recipes of the monks are secret”, explains the manager.
The goal: to create the health valley of Lazio
A collaboration that recounts the close link between Palazzo Fiuggi and its territory: “We would like to be a driving force for the area, giving life to the first health valley of Italy, developed not only around water. We have kept Fiuggi in the name of our hotel just to try to change the perception of the positioning of the area. I am sure that other structures will follow us, some are already doing so. We are also thinking about training, a specialization course for health therapists and healthy cooking in collaboration with the local hotel institute ». Fiuggi is also in an excellent position from the point of view of transport, less than an hour from Rome, with three nearby airports (Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino and Naples Capodichino) and an hour and 15 from the Amalfi Coast and the excavations of Pompeii. A new High Speed station is also taking shape in Ferentino.