I’m in the shallows of sleep on a plush lounger after a long hike in South Tyrol when the sound of a gong cuts through the silence of the relaxation room. It’s 5pm – that would usually mean cocktail hour at a hotel a stone’s throw from the cable car, but here at the Sensoria Dolomites, the after-party takes place at 90C.
I pad over to the largest of three saunas – it’s bigger than my living room – and sit naked in silence with five strangers, looking through a large picture window. Sauna isn’t an ancient tradition here as in northern Europe, but Sensoria owner Lea Oberhofer tells me it was almost inevitable that it would become a way of life in the Dolomites.
“The relationship between people, heat and regeneration has always been present in alpine life,” she says.
The hotel, crouched beneath the splintered Sciliar Massif, has been in Oberhofer’s family for decades, but five years ago she and her husband reimagined the property using Japanese architectural principles intended to promote health. Like an increasing number of resorts in the region, it has saunas that have been dredged up from the bowels of the basement and elevated to a wellness venue for entertainment as well as healing.
“Here, sauna is not only about heat. It is about the atmosphere that surrounds it,” says Oberhofer.
I’m about to learn that means more than just pretty views.
Our sauna master Antonio, enters wearing loose white trousers, carrying a bucket containing three coconut-sized balls of ice. He explains that we’re about to experience a 12-minute Aufguss, a ritual that originated in 20th-century Germany and Austria and involves pouring water and essential oils onto the coals and using a towel to circulate the air to increase sweating. He places a ball of ice on the coals, theatrically smashes it with a large wooden spoon, then pours water over it.
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A few things hit me in quick succession: first, a momentarily suffocating wave of heat that is released into the air by the steam. Second, the earthy scent of cedar fills my nostrils. Third, the opening chords of “Desperado” by the Eagles.
I want to giggle. But then Antonio picks up his white towel and begins to pirouette, spinning it on one finger like pizza dough in a choreographed performance that wafts aromatic steam towards each of us in turn. It’s strangely mesmerising.
I close my eyes and inhale the scents of anise, then tangerine, enjoying the momentary cooling effect of the wafting towel, only to be quickly replaced by another surge of heat. Somewhere halfway through “Hotel California”, I start sweating profusely, yet I don’t feel a desperate need to rush out. Afterwards, I feel more zen and euphoric than I usually do following a sauna, something Oberhofer puts down to the multi-sensory approach.
“Wellbeing is felt on a deeper, more lasting level. It supports a shift from constant stimulation to conscious recovery, which is something many people are missing today,” she says.
I can’t prove any of this, but five-sense therapy is a known mindfulness-based technique, and after a few days of Aufguss, I can’t deny that I’m in a heightened state. But I can’t help thinking that the theatrical performance is actually behind my transformation. I’ve spent decades immersing myself in the quiet, serious spaces of yoga and meditation, but perhaps fun has been the missing ingredient. Have I been taking wellness too seriously?
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I put this question to Alessandra Vettori, spa manager at the Preidlhof Resort, located about an hour away in the gentle Vinschgau Valley, and she thinks I’m onto something.
“We recommend to every guest that they keep the inner child and do things with playfulness,” she says.
Preidlhof’s wellness mission is built around the notion that we need to balance virtuosity with pleasure-seeking to be truly healthy, an idea that’s been floated by many great minds from the ancient Greeks’ Epicurus to India’s Charaka.
Fittingly, Preidlhof is opulent. In 2014, the hotel constructed a six-storey sauna tower with 16 hot rooms, including one modelled to look like a Tyrolean wine cellar and another with a warm salt water foot bath and a central fire for gazing. It’s one of five hotels in the Dolce Vita collective, where the saunas sit side by side with hiking and cycling as an attraction, and guests “sauna-hop” between the different properties.
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To try this for myself, I head to its sister resort, the Alpiana in Foioana and take a seat in the rooftop sauna with panoramas of apple orchards, chestnut groves and the snow-capped Dolomites. The perfect place for peaceful contemplation, I think. Sauna master Hannes has other ideas: a classic rock-themed Aufguss.
My fears of being thrashed by ACDC are unfounded; it involves surprisingly atmospheric instrumental covers that slowly build in intensity. His towel technique, meanwhile, proves quite daring as he snaps the towel close to my face. I wonder if he ever gets it wrong and hits a guest? (“Never on the face, only the legs and feet,” he grins).
His sauna master training took place over just 50 minutes 15 years ago (the training process has since become more rigorous), but he says it was enough for him to leave his desk job at a construction company and devote his life to wellness.
“This is from my heart. It’s my passion.”
In the last few years, this shared enthusiasm among the region’s sauna masters has given rise to a new kind of ritual called Show Aufguss. It builds on the sensory journey through storytelling and costumes, with themes ranging from local folklore to James Bond. It’s become so popular – among locals and tourists – that it’s inspired a World Championship event, with contestants hailing from as far away as China and Japan.
I experience my first Show Aufguss at the Sensoria, an hour after my heated encounter with The Eagles. The blackout shades are lowered. Patrick Swayze’s “She’s Like the Wind” kicks in, and Antonio struts in wearing leather trousers, a black T-shirt and a wig, his towel replaced by a large, black fan. We can’t hold back our laughter this time, and any lingering awkwardness dissolves. Antonio (or Johnny) jocularly beckons to me to run towards him and do “the lift.”
I’m 44 years old, sweaty and naked, so I politely decline. But it’s true, I really do have the time of my life.
Julia was travelling as a guest of Dolce Vita Hotels and Sensoria Dolomites.
How to get there
SkyAlps flies direct from Gatwick to the Italian city of Bolzano three times a week with round-trip fares starting at £256. There are also frequent direct connections to Bolzano train station from Verona, Milan, Bologna, Venice and Innsbruck.
When to visit
South Tyrol is a year-round destination. Between the end of March and the beginning of May, apple blossoms transform the region's orchards into a pink and white sea of colour. Late spring through the autumn is ideal for hiking, while winter is ideal for skiing and snow sports.
Where to stay
Dolce Vita Hotels is a collection of five independent wellness hotels – Alpiana, Preidlhof, Lindenhof, Feldhof and Jagdhof – located at the foot of the Texel Group Nature Park. Open in spring, summer and autumn, the collection includes family-friendly and adults-only options. Through its hotel hopping concept, when you book one hotel, you have access to 35 saunas and 41 pools. Twice a year, Dolce Vita Hotels hosts the Sauna Around Week with traditional Aufguss, sauna shows and rituals performed daily. Nightly rates start at approximately £152 per person, including breakfast, afternoon buffet and dinner.
Sensoria Dolomites is located at the foot of the Alpe di Siusi, the largest high plateau in Europe. It’s open for the winter season from 5th December to 6th April and re-opens for the summer season from 5th May. Prices start at approximately £170 per night per person on a double-occupancy basis, with all-inclusive dining.
