Travelscore Magazine: Forte Village Resort the King of Thalassotherapy

It is not a dream but is real, an island in another island (Sardinia, Italy) which is immerse in lush tropical and mediterranean park. Located in S. Margherita di Pula, south west of the Italian city of Cagliari and near to its international airport, the "Forte Village" resort is without doubt one of the best spot on the planet and it is part of the "Leading Hotels & SPA of the World". As usual we personally tested its quality and services since our first visit on 1998, updated in 2005 and actually. This time we focused on its SPA and Thalassotherapy, including our habitual rating on gourmet offered at the location. We had a two days week-end experience in their legendary sea salted water pools, including a couple of significant massage body treatments. Concerning the food we enjoyed the "Forte Gourmet" restaurant with its signature chef "Rocco Iannone" and that night we had even the chance to test also the fabulous champagne wines of "Alain Thienot" which was part of the meal courses.

Let's start to describe the fantastic mediterranean menu that chef Rocco Iannone matched with the wide selection of important champagne labels of the French maison "Alain Thienot". Amouse bouche: Raw Seafood paired with an Alain Thienot Brut flute, followed right after by Warm Prawns, artichokes and bottarga and a glass of fantastic Alain Thienot Rose'. This one was a pure magic match of Iannone in one of the most challenging pairing that is always hard in presence of the artichokes slightly sweet taste. The next is a Tossed risotto with tomato, mozzarella and marinated scampi and the wine is a Alain Thienot Millesime' 2005. Fourth course is a Amberjack, porcini mushrooms, white asparagus braised with pesto "Genovese" sauce accompanied with a grand cru Alain Thienot 2002. A fresh fruit dessert ends this magnificent dinner and reveals the ability of Iannone to keep a high level in every step of these courses. We are talking about a Strawberry gele' with pineapple and anise sorbet.

Chef Rocco Iannone is a young capable Michelin firmament star and although he has been quite often criticized by some of the Italian journalists gourmet establishment (in which I have been trained,too) for its extreme cooking simplicity using the fresh ingredients as unique resource of a high gourmet philosophy. He avoids an excessive interpretation of the Italian traditional recipes, especially those which are originated in southern Italy where he was born and grown up. I personally think that some of my colleagues are too oriented at the sophistication of the gourmet, a fashion excessively flown in the last decade. It's time to give back the right space to young guys like Rocco who proudly comes from a southern Italy's traditional farmers family. The honesty of the ingredients, not overwhelmed by the temptation to change them for justify a velleity interpretation, is the secret and greatness of Iannone. Our score is definitively a 20/20.

Beside the "Forte Gourmet" restaurant there are others like the "Gordon Ramsay" a recent gem added by the property's management leaded by General Director Lorenzo Giannuzzi, a milestone of Forte Village success. The undiscussed fame of chef Gordon Ramsay attract those who like to find an international perspective of the Italian recipes interpreted by this well known cousine TV star.

His restaurant is located next to one of the several kind of hotel accommodations available at FV, the Castello is faced to the Mediterranean sea and has beautiful terrace views.

The SPA & Thalassotherapy: The Heart of the Forte Village Resort is a unique experience

Dr Mosaraf Ali Treatments

Doctor Ali's philosophy of good health and wellbeing is based on an integrated approach that focuses on prevention and healing, rather than just disease and treatment. He believes that the power to live a long and healthy life is within all of us and that we have a responsibility to maintain good health. He helps achieve this through the four principles of nutrition, exercise, relaxation and massage.

Combining Ayurvedic medicine with naturopathy and yoga, Dr Ali’s treatments help restore the body’s ideal weight and energy levels through a series of exercises, relaxation techniques, yoga sessions and exclusive massages. A leading international expert in Integrated Medicine, Doctor Ali's work is recognised around the world. His patients include Prince Charles and other famous figures including the Sultan of Oman, Richard Branson, Michael Douglas, Claudia Schiffer, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Boris Becker, Colin Montgomery and Samuel L. Jackson.

Thalassotherapy

Care treatments taken from seawater, sand and seaweed in the marine environment and integrated with our complementary treatments will allow you to conserve or regain peak psychophysical balance. Your body will emerge supple and toned, your skin will be radiant, inner peace will be restored and all stresses and toxins will be banished by blending climatic and marine elements. The originality, curative and preventative powers of these treatments are due to our unique location on an ancient salt route. We're set on a stretch of coast protected by a line of mountains providing natural shelter from northerly winds, maintaining levels of humidity and warmth that are unique in Sardinia. Virtually a subtropical microclimate, the sea temperature here is around two degrees above that in other parts of the island and rainforest-like vegetation thrives.

Thalasso del Forte

Lauded as a Leading spa of the world, Thalasso del Forte houses our thalassotherapy centre and all our wonderful spa treatments. This unique blend of therapies and treatments makes our spa the ideal place to relax and rebalance the body and mind. Thalassotherapy is at the heart of Thalasso del Forte. Following twenty years of research led by Dr. Angelo Cerina, the medical team at Thalasso del Forte has re-written the history of wellness. The team's experiments led them to discover the enormous benefits of immersion in a series of seawater pools at different temperatures with different salt contents. Here at Thalasso del Forte, some of the pools have a higher saline concentration than the Dead Sea. A vital element in our integrated thalassotherapy treatment is sea oil, natural seawater with a high magnesium content. The osmotic effect that is produced greatly accelerates ion exchange between the water and the body. This helps drain excess fluids and allows magnesium to be absorbed. After these extraordinary results gained international prizes, the Centre for Research in Medical Bioclimatology, Biotechnologies, and Natural Medicines of Milan University has promoted the Thalassotherapy Research Centre at Thalasso del Forte. Unique in Europe, this recognition constitutes a new development in Wellness Medicine. The therapy forms a harmonious system of treatments that thoroughly assess the patient, integrating a focused thalassotherapy course with massage therapy and beauty treatments. The treatments that can be integrated include shiatsu in a separate room, massages in water, moxa, rehabilitative physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractics with craniosacral techniques. You can also experience scrubs and hydro-massages with the typical plants and essences of Sardinia and the Sardinian sea.

Starting from the above introduction of the Thalassotherapy concept we tried all the pools available at FV as described further on in this article. But we would highlight a couple of treatments that we enjoyed and relaxed so much: the "4-hand Forte Massage" and the "Salt and honey massage". The first one is a synchronized heavenly four hands massage made by two women with knowledge and experience capable to detect your body issues and work on them softly or hardly at your choice. The second one is rejuvenating session which uses two different and opposite elements like the sweet honey of Sardinia and the salt of mediterranean sea. Our final score for these two experience together with the Thalassotherapy pools circuit is at the maximum of our scale and is undoubtedly a 20/20.