X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Grotta Giusti

I felt thrust back a century or two, perhaps into the setting of the Count of Monte Christo. Lounging in the majestic sitting room, in the stately old mansion that now houses Grotta Giusti Spa but was once the seat and residence of a family from the Italian gentry, I cannot help but ponder the history these walls must have seen. Outside I can see the Tuscan countryside, with its rolling hills and slender stone pines. We are nowhere near the ocean. Yet I am just about to go diving—inside the mountain. In fact, I am about to go to Hell.

Words:
Peter Symes
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The spa gets its mineral waters from some hot volcanic springs that come out of the mountain right under the complex. From the ground floor, we go down a ramp that leads into a cavern draped in stalagmites and stalactites. After we pass through a curtain, it is already significantly warmer and quite humid. I am being told that starting from the entrance through to the deepest part of the Grotta, three different zones are crossed, each one increasing in heat, which some humorous tradition has been named Paradise, Purgatory and Hell.

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