THE PREIDLHOF WAY

Spa aficionado MARY BEMIS visits a magical retreat in Italy's South Tyrol.

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IN THE YEAR Spirituality+Health launched, I launched American Spa, a trade magazine for a burgeoning industry. People from all over were ready to explore spirituality and were eager to learn about what spas had to offer. We all wanted to dig deeper. Twenty-five years on, I’m still digging—though it feels at times like the ground has gotten harder.

I can’t count the hundreds of spas, wellness centers, and retreats I’ve experienced in 25 years, but I can count the small number of experiences that made a lasting impression. These are places that truly transform; that teach new and better ways to be in the world, with loved ones and with yourself. Places that give a fresh new take on life. Places that help heal what ails you—both inside and out.

Not so long ago, I traveled to one such place: the historic village of Naturno, tucked away in Italy’s storybook South Tyrol. Going to the mountains for big answers is a tradition as old as time, and there’s an entirely different intentionality when you make the decision to travel to a remote mountain range to actively seek out solutions. I had been invited to Naturno to experience the Integrated Healing Retreat, a new weeklong retreat at Preidlhof, a superb destination spa run by renowned spa director and wellness alchemist Patrizia Bortolin, who oversees a team of accomplished and elite healers. I went to Preidlhof not only as an expert spa critic, but as a pilgrim in need of healing.