Adler Spa Resort in southern Sicily - travel review

A COLD shower under a moonlit starry sky and I’m feeling rejuvenated and relaxed in equal measure – the Adler Spa Resort in southern Sicily is beginning to feel very much like my kind of place.

I’ve just experienced the hotel’s twice-daily ‘Aufguss’ ritual, a multi-sensory wellness experience. It’s memorably performed by Liborio, our bronzed ‘Aufguss Meister’, in the Panorama Sauna with stunning floor to ceiling views over the Mediterranean ocean.

Iced water mixed with herbal oil is poured over hot stones, and with skill akin to a Samurai warrior, Liborio wafts a small towel around his back, circling it in front of each guest in turn. With each gyration the heat intensifies, and the accompanying music by Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi (you may recognise it from the Gladiator movie) builds up to a crescendo. I am hit with a sudden rush of heat and an intense aroma of rosemary swooshes up both my nostrils. Finally, a welcome handful of ice is offered around, calming rising heart rates.

Adler Spa Sicily was launched this summer by the seventh generation of Sanoners, a South Tyrolean family who have been running hotels in Italy for 150 years. Mention the Adler name, which is German for Eagle, to any Italian, and they’ll know the brand is synonymous with wellness, stylish architecture, and nature. But not so in the UK, a tourism market this family run business is keen to reach. The concept is all about freedom and getting back to nature with a good dose of pampering thrown in.

Architect Hugo Demetz’s concept was to create a holiday experience with the least impact on the environment and it seems he’s done just that as the low-level hotel structure melds seamlessly into the hillside. Cedar wood adds warm comforting tones to interiors, tuff volcanic rock clads exteriors, while Agave plants stretch across the rooftops. Sustainability is, we are told, at the core of this resort, with Sicilian clay being cleverly used to control humidity levels. Creative landscaping adds to the overall effect, with sweet smelling white jasmine, blue plumbago and tangerine trees planted across the spa’s gardens.

Valley of the Temples

Perched atop an area of outstanding natural beauty, my spacious room with sliding glazed doors opening on to a private terrace, offers uninterrupted vistas of the Torre Salsa nature reserve, its chalky white cliffs, and the distant turquoise sea. Managed by the World Wildlife Fund, this protected area also offers one of the most deserted beaches in Sicily where in summer loggerhead turtles arrive to have their young.

Despite being November, each day averages a comfortable 22 degrees, giving ample opportunity to walk along the Spa’s private trail through eucalyptus trees, scented heathers and umbrella pines to the sands below and swim in its crystal-clear waters.

At dinner, a gigantic sword fish takes centre stage in the restaurant’s open kitchen as we arrive to enjoy a refreshing Hugo aperitif - a blend of elderflower, Prosecco, fresh mint and lime. Conscious that we have ‘primi’, ‘secondi’ and ‘dulci’ courses to come, I try with the willpower of a gnat, to hold back on the antipasti but the octopus salad and arancini (fried Italian rice balls with mozzarella) prove beyond my flimsy self-control control.

Where possible restaurant ingredients are harvested from the resort’s kitchen gardens, sun-ripened tomatoes are picked at peak Mediterranean flavour and the wine list is almost exclusively Italian. My scrumptious lobster pasta is accompanied by a crisp white biodynamic wine from the Sanoner family’s estate in rural Tuscany.

At the hotel’s reception a white board lays out a range of complimentary guest activities, several of which involve burning a calorie or two, though the olive oil tasting bucks that trend. There’s beginners’ yoga and Pilates, a full body workout, meditation, a posture class, and use of the fully equipped gym.

In the mornings I watch the sunrise from my king-sized bed and then head to the yoga studio where the sea views are dazzling. A bonus ball is adding a few more words to my limited Italian vocabulary. Despite my ‘downward dog’ not improving much, my grasp of Italian is. And by my second class I can comfortably understand ‘expire’ (exhale), ‘inspire’ (inhale), and my favourite; ‘la ultima volta’ (the last time).

For the ultimate treat I book an Essences of Sicily massage where herbs and wildflower extracts harvested from the Sicilian hills and valleys are used in the treatments and massage oils are infused with prickly pear, almond and orange oil. As Clara my masseuse circles my back in a figure of eight, I feel as if I’m floating out to sea.

Guests wanting to explore the local area can also join guided sightseeing hiking or e-biking trips. In the hilltop town of Siculiana terracotta and mustard yellow houses line the narrow sleepy steep street leading up to an imposing castle constructed in 1350. In the cooling sanctuary of the town’s Church of the Holy Crucifix, we stop a while to take in the oak statue of a black Christ, thought in medieval times to have performed miracles, and now venerated as it is carried by locals in an annual procession through the town.

Chalk cliffs at Torre Salsa

Another of our excursions takes us to a nearby vineyard, our visit fortuitously coinciding with St Martin’s Day, when it’s customary to open barrels to taste the new young wine. Owner Roberto Caruana acts as a proud tour guide in a stills room dominated by giant rocket-like steel structures. The best bit of course is the tasting; a lively ‘prototype’ white and a mature fruity red. To soak up the wine we’re offered toasted focaccia dripping with oregano and locally harvested olive oil accompanied by home baked Panelle, tasty Sicilian fritters made from chickpea flour.

If you’re more of a history buff than a wine connoisseur an evening tour of the Valley of the Temples, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a must. This was once one of the leading population centres during the golden age of Ancient Greece. Fast track to 2022 and seven well-preserved temples remain. As we stop at Concordia, said to be the most magnificent and complete example of Greek architecture outside of Athens, beautifully lit up against the night sky, we gasp in awe at the ingenuity of these ancient architects.

On our final evening we’re treated to spectacular sunset which we watch from the warm seawaters of the resort’s massaging Thalasso pool. In between I sneak in a last visit to the spa’s steam and hay saunas and then take a final plunge into the sea green infinity pool. As the night draws in, I feel as if I am swimming out to the horizon and high above in the vermilion sky a mesmerising murmuration of starlings delivers one more Sicilian memory.

Fact file

To book visit www.adler-resorts.com

The Adler Spa resort is open 9 March 2023 – 2 January 2024

(This year, 2022, closes 11 December)

Rooms rates from Euros 224 per person per night including half board in a junior suite

Half board includes a lavish breakfast buffet

Gourmet a la carte dinner

A choice of complimentary daily excursions and exercise classes

Full use of three saunas and three swimming pools

Flights with Ryanair to Palermo: www.ryanair.com