Opening the door to change at Preidlhof in Italy
Charlotte Metcalf reviews a transformational break at a wellness hotel and finds laughter yoga, eerily spot-on therapies and the tools to continue her change back home
The word ‘transformation’ has become so over-used recently as to render it almost meaningless. Our world was ‘transformed’ by Covid, just as what’s happening in Ukraine is ‘transforming’ Europe. I was therefore sceptical about the idea of a ‘transformational retreat’, but nevertheless I knew I needed to climb out of the joyless, dark tunnel in which I found myself late last autumn.
One of my closest friends had died in the summer. I had finished a long, difficult work project. I was facing losing my home to an interest-only mortgage. Meanwhile, I was struggling with the usual challenges of all single mothers. My teenage daughter was panicking about A levels, while her older sister was in the process of moving out. I was increasingly waking up and thinking, ‘No, this is not OK. This robotic coping is an existence, not a life.’
I had lost joy and purpose and only knew how to keep plodding on. This is where ‘The Preidlhof Way’ seemed to provide an answer because it is based on the conviction that true health and happiness reside in balancing hedonism, or pure pleasure and enjoyment, with ‘eudomonic’ wellbeing, a deeper sense of self, purpose and meaning. This is the belief of Patrizia Bortolin, the award-winning Transformational Wellness Coach, who arrived at Preidlhof in 2019, and set about changing the spa’s offerings, convinced that her ‘nourish to flourish’ approach could yield dramatic results. With Patrizia’s impeccable reputation and spotting a recently added programme to tackle trauma, I took the plunge.
“A few days in the mountains, feeling cherished and nurtured by Patrizia and her team, had kept the toxic fizz of anxiety and sense of dread at bay long enough to glimpse a realistic possibility of change”
In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t left it so long. If you’re reading this, you’re already thinking about booking a retreat but so many people, like me, feel unable to justify the time or the expense. Nevertheless, I now feel grateful to have been on the edge of a breakdown because it galvanised me into action. Today I wouldn’t hesitate again to take advantage of the expertise a retreat like Preidlhof offers.
I arrived one rainy November after a long drive from Venice through the south Tyrolean mountains. The South Tyrolean mix of Italian and German culture is reflected in Preidlhof itself. Italian friendliness is personified by the delightful Wellness Concierge, Carmine Signorile, who greeted me with a welcome glass of chilled prosecco and great warmth. This empathy is underpinned by reassuring German thoroughness and brisk, clinical precision and the next day my programme began with a consultation with Dr. Angerer. He assessed my heart rate variability, body’s energy efficiency and sleep patterns via state-of-the-art technology, then reported his findings to Patrizia, so she could design my personal programme.
The resort is for adults only, indicative of how seriously Preidlhof takes its wellbeing mission. It’s enormous, comprising a six-storey sauna tower, six pools, four whirlpools (one on a rooftop), Turkish baths, a Mediterranean garden and numerous sumptuously comfortable relaxation areas with roaring fires and glorious views. Because Preidlhof is also a popular hotel and gastronomic destination, food and wine are superb, though I opted for the suggested ‘wellness’ menus, abundant with locally sourced vegetables.
Preidlhof is built along a mountain slope and my spacious room had a huge balcony with a glorious, heart-lifting view over the river and village to the beautiful, snow-clad, mountains opposite. The balconies have heaters, a table and chairs and a bed, which they make up if you want to sleep outside in the reviving mountain air. I took to writing and reading outside because even in November the sun streamed in and the balcony was sheltered and warm.
After I saw Dr. Angerer, Patrizia assessed my fears and needs with spooky accuracy, via an exercise in which she asked me to react to essential oils. She quickly perceived how spiritually and emotionally run down I was, and how resistant to all the inevitable changes hurtling towards me.
Patrizia devised a programme that began with being rebalanced by Zen Shiuatsu Master, Andrea Martinelli, who lay me down in the dark and made me realise how long it was since I had been truly still or breathed properly. I had Chinese acupuncture and massage and an invigorating ‘Kneipp Experience’, that made me enjoy again the sensation of feeling physically alive. I practised Sleep and Laughing Yoga in a glass pavilion in a tranquil Japanese garden. I was taken ‘Forest Bathing’, a long, glorious forest hike, culminating in a cleansing ritual with burning herbs on a mountain top.
I had two ‘Golden Flow’ sessions with Stefano Battaglia, whom Tatler Spa Guide named among the ‘Five Best Healers in the World’. Patrizia calls him ‘the Shaman’, and his combination of no-nonsense common sense and eerily accurate intuition, allowed me to succumb to a state of euphoric, restorative stillness. Perhaps I trusted the process because he pointed out that no-one could recover from months of anxiety, grief and tiredness in just five days. The life changes I sought were my responsibility and Preidlhof’s role was to give me the strength and determination to shoulder it.
Before I left, I had another session with Patrizia and we found, via the essential oils again, that my trepidation about the future had receded. Preidlhof doesn’t claim to be able to ‘fix’ emotional and mental ailments, but what it did was equip me with the lenses to take a clearer look at what I was dealing with. A few days in the mountains, feeling cherished and nurtured by Patrizia and her team, had kept the toxic fizz of anxiety and sense of dread at bay long enough to glimpse a realistic possibility of change. It helped me feel far calmer and more optimistic. The hardest part was taking the first step to find the time to go, especially as lockdown and uncertainty had imprisoned me in the stifling confines of a punishing, exhausting routine, as a mother and working freelancer. Without doubt the Preidlhof Way opened a door towards beneficial change. I hate to adopt an overused word, but in this case it's accurate – I felt transformed on my return home.
