Thanks to our travel reporter Kathy Leong for this great article about Monsummano Terme. We wish that we could fit in her suitcase.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think my Tuscan vacation would consist of going to Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise all in the same day. But I did, and so can you.
Here in the township of Monsummano Terme, it is the thermal waters reeling in visitors from around the globe. At the five-star Grotta Giusti Spa Resort, the 90-degree hot springs pool is the ultimate de-stressor. Servers at the pool café hydrate guests with Aperol spritzes while young Italian lifeguards maintain the peace as sunbathers bask until they are brown and crisp.
So who would expect a medieval grotto to exist below? And who would pay 40 Euro and subject themselves to a hot and sweaty, dimly-lit cave? Apparently, thousands.
Discovered in 1849, the cave allegedly has healing properties. In sheer marketing bravado, each grotto room is titled after the places named in the classic Dante’s Inferno: Purgatory, Hell, and Paradise. In Italian, that’s Pugatorio, Inferno, and Paradiso. To visit, you reserve a time and show up at the top of the marble stairs to meet your guide.
I follow an attendant through a white zig-zag corridor so plain I feel like I am meandering the halls of a hospital. He is silent and more than happy to hand me off to his partner- a tiny elderly Italian man in charge of the dressing room. He hands me a white tunic, adventure attire for my self-guided, underground hour.
Now, off I go. Clear plastic panels form a curtain, dangling over the grotto archway. Once I emerge to the other side, the temperature instantly shoots up to 95 degrees with equal humidity. It would be pitch black if it were not for strategic lights nested in the grotto crevices. A world of gnarled and beastly shapes surrounds me on a path just about 1,000 feet long. From the ground, clay cones and humps erupt. From the ceiling, reminders of human faces, grape clusters, and scary tumors seem magnified a thousand times over.
My first grotto stop is a room with three lounge chairs and a long tile bench. I take the cue of other participants and sit under the myriad of faces, spaceships, and endless mosaic of images my mind keeps drumming up. It is hard to relax. With water dripping from the stone, my fellow “grottonians” are starting to raise their tunic hoods over their heads.
Now we all look like druids, part of a secret society. It is silent except for the squish of our slippers and careful whispers among couples.
The path brings me to Purgatorio, a wider area with more lounge chairs to park my thoughts. Fellow visitors are comfortably languishing and napping away. Not me. I stare at the ceiling of cauliflower on one side and broccoli stalks on the other. Maybe I am getting hungry.
At Inferno, a patio with reclining chairs, I give up trying to nap and explore like a child would. This entire grotto is like a movie set out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. However, unlike the film, there are no bugs or insects. There is no smell I can discern at all-nothing sulfuric, stale, or off-putting. Not far is the Lago de Limbo, you guessed it, the Lake of Limbo. Below us, druids is a turquoise hot spring only accessible if you want to scuba dive your way among the rocks and crevices.
Continuing to the end of the pathway, I finally land in Paradiso. This is paradise? There is no seating area but simply more grotto walls, a frozen hippo here, and a Jabba the Hutt look-alike there. I linger for a couple of minutes to get my money’s worth. Trudging back to civilization and past the plastic curtain, the old attendant greets me and points me toward a surprise room. Here are cushioned lounge chairs, a wall of live plants, high open ceilings, and hot beverages and cold water. I have about five minutes left to relax.
Upon returning the tunic, I bid farewell to the Italian grandpa. The spa attendant escorts me back through the labyrinth of halls and points to the locker bank to retrieve my things. Back on dry land, I squint in the bright light and see smiling faces. These are my loving friends and husband welcoming me back from Dante’s Inferno with an Aperol spritz. Now, this is paradise.
- For more information visit Grotta Giusti Spa Resort
