THE CURATED EDITION.
Reportage /
From a contemporary hermitage in Umbria to medically supervised fasting on Lake Constance and a silent week above Lake Orta, thirteen addresses where travelling alone becomes a method rather than a circumstance.
BEAUTY & WELLBEING · RETREATS
Travelling alone is no longer a lack of company. It is a decision, a room reserved for hearing one’s own thoughts without interference. The solo retreat occupies a precise corner of that idea: not a destination so much as a structure, in which silence, landscape and a few very old rituals are used as instruments of repair. Thirteen addresses, most of them in Italy, offer the rarest pause of all, time given entirely to oneself.
Eremito, Parrano. Set at the head of a valley inside the UNESCO Monte Peglia Biosphere Reserve in Umbria, Eremito was conceived as a place of subtraction. There is no Wi-Fi and no mobile signal. Days follow the rhythm of a monastery: contemplative mornings, walks in the woods, meditation, and a shared dinner eaten in silence at 7.30 to the sound of Gregorian chant. Guests sleep in eighteen celluzze, single cells modelled on monastic ones, each with a bed, a desk and a window onto the valley.
Relais Villa Lina, Ronciglione. In the Etruscan Tuscia north of Rome, historic buildings, an eighteenth-century botanical garden and a swimming pool dating from 1929 frame immersive retreats based on ancestral practices. Guests may join group programmes or choose individual ones, staying in two old houses, Casa Vostra and Casa Cottage, and eating from the organic kitchen garden.
Mandali Retreat Center, Quarna Sopra. Built on feng shui principles above Lake Orta, with the Swiss Alps on the horizon, Mandali hosts themed programmes for people who want a path towards physical and spiritual equilibrium without quite knowing where to begin: self-compassion, digital detox, grief. At the top of the list sits a seven-day retreat in complete silence.
Presulis, Fiè allo Sciliar. Close to the Dolomites, among trails, Alpine lakes and castles, Presulis calls itself a slow hideaway. Its fourteen apartment suites are lined in wood, and a heated infinity pool and a wellness area complete the picture. Its Yoga & Relax Retreat devotes two full days to yoga, Pilates, massage and meditation.
San Luis Retreat Hotel & Lodges, Avelengo. A few kilometres above Merano in South Tyrol, San Luis treats wellbeing as a sensory encounter with untouched mountain country. Guests sleep in treehouses, visited by squirrels at dawn, or in chalets with direct access to a private lake. The spa occupies a former barn with a monumental fireplace, alongside saunas, an outdoor pool and a lakeside hot tub. Forest therapy, hiking and mountain biking do the rest.
Santavenere, Maratea. On the Basilicata coast, between Monte San Biagio and the Tyrrhenian Sea, this former aristocratic residence from the 1950s offers gardens, terraces and a small private cove. The proposition is simple: outdoor yoga, a private spa, sunsets from the terrace, and unhurried hours for reading, writing or painting.
Sa Pedrissa, Deià, Mallorca. Set in a late sixteenth-century olive estate, its original press still visible, Sa Pedrissa is a rural hotel where time seems suspended. It lies in the Serra de Tramuntana, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, and its version of solitude is made of slowness, silence and sea breeze.
Palazzo di Varignana, Castel San Pietro Terme. In the hills above Bologna, among vineyards and centuries-old olive trees that supply its kitchens, including the Ginkgo Longevity Restaurant and its anti-inflammatory menu, the estate extends its wellbeing offer well beyond the Varsana Spa. The Stress Release Retreat, over three or seven nights, opens with a medical consultation and a body-composition and oxidative-stress assessment, followed by nature therapy, sound-based relaxation, yoga and masterclasses, and a personalised dossier to take home.
Buchinger Wilhelmi, Überlingen. On the shore of Lake Constance in Germany, this clinic has built its reputation on medically supervised fasting. The shortest fasting stay runs to ten nights, with a rest day, six days of fasting and three of gradual refeeding; longer programmes extend to four weeks. The clinic presents the method as a tool for metabolic and cardiovascular conditions and chronic stress, as well as for prevention, and guests often report a sharper mind. Meditation and time outdoors complete the cure. Extended fasting is a medical intervention, and it belongs under exactly this kind of supervision.
Euphoria Retreat, Mystras. Near Sparta, in the heart of the Peloponnese, Euphoria combines spiritual philosophy, contemporary science and a holistic approach. Its programmes are pointedly specific: The Odysseus Journey for self-knowledge, Feel Alive Again for resetting priorities, Emotional Harmony for working through trauma, Inner and Outer Beauty for body and mind, plus retreats devoted to sleep, women’s health and weight loss.
Amanemu, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Among the hills of Ise-Shima, above Ago Bay, Amanemu brings Aman’s restraint to the tradition of the ryokan. It is a sanctuary for pausing a Japanese itinerary: onsen waters, detox programmes for body and spirit, mindfulness for stress, and forest bathing in the sacred woods of Ise Jingu, some available as single-day formats.
Constance Halaveli, Maldives. The Maldives are usually read as a destination for couples, yet the archipelago works equally well for solitude. Halaveli occupies a small private island in North Ari Atoll. Snorkelling the house reef becomes a lesson in attention, as does meditating beside a villa’s private pool. The spa, run with Sisley, uses botanical rituals, and yoga is practised facing the ocean.
Lumeria, Ubud, Bali. Bali remains the reference point for wellbeing travel. In Ubud, Lumeria offers yoga, meditation and healing retreats built around personal enquiry, with classes for beginners alongside acupuncture, sound meditation and reiki.
From absolute silence to the supervised fast, from the mountain to the reef, these thirteen addresses share a single premise. Time alone, when it is well designed, stops being an absence and becomes a method.
Details: Eremito, Parrano, Umbria, minimum stay two nights, from EUR 220 per night for one guest: eremito.com. Buchinger Wilhelmi, Überlingen, fasting programmes from ten nights: buchinger-wilhelmi.com.
GABRIEL SILVEIRADO, FOR WAYFARER.
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