At the Six Senses Rome, Ancient Spa Tradition Meets Cutting-Edge Design

Within the four walls of the Six Senses, time stands still. Or at least, it did within the four walls of the temperature-controlled pool where I found myself floating on a lazy Saturday afternoon last month. Gazing up at the marble walls etched with bushels of laurel (a nod to the myth of Daphne, the mythological nymph who turned into a tree at the touch of Apollo), I felt not only completely and utterly relaxed, but also somehow transported—possibly back in time, but definitely to somewhere a million miles from the city center I was currently staying in.

Within the hotel’s sprawling spa facilities, all inspired by an ancient Roman bath complex, I continued my journey from the tepidarium (a soak of mild temperature) to the caldarium (one of hot) and then to the frigidarium (cold, naturally). Following the prescribed route explained to me by one of the friendly attendants, I alternated this with scented steam showers, saunas heated at various degrees to warm or cool the body, and an ice fountain from which you’re encouraged to gather handfuls of the stuff and rub it gently across your chest. (Not for the faint-hearted, I can assure you.) Yet with the spa zone all to myself, some kind of state of nirvana was slowly, surely achieved—one which did seem to channel the ancient Roman art of pleasure-seeking, even if it was less in the vein of Caligula’s bacchanalian, wine-soaked feasts, and instead towards something more restorative.