Alchimia SPA & Centro Benessere

Alchimia SPA & Centro Benessere is at via San Tommaso d'Aquino 12, inside the park of a historic villa just outside the baroque old centre of Mesagne, in the province of Brindisi. The altitude is that of the Salento plain, a little over sixty metres, and the location is of the land and not of the sea: the beaches the property gives as reference points, Torre Lapillo, Porto Cesareo and Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian and Torre Guaceto on the Adriatic, are all reached by car, as are Ostuni, Lecce and Brindisi airport.

The thing to understand before booking is that here the order of things is reversed compared with a hotel. Alchimia was born as a wellness centre and added the rooms, not the other way round. There are six units in all. Three are double rooms without a tub: Il Fico Room, which has an independent entrance, private parking and an adjoining small terrace with a table and swing seat usable as a solarium; Alchimia Room, with a large double bed, a private bathroom and a mini bar; Tatami Room, in Japanese style, with a tatami bed and a private outdoor bathroom. The other three have water in the room: Suite Luna exceeds seventy square metres and brings together a five-person thermal jacuzzi with chromotherapy and aromatherapy, a double bed, a chaise longue and a second room, called the fire room, which is a relaxation area with a sauna, a herbal tea corner and a coffee machine for exclusive use; Suite La Stalla is an old stable restored with a private five-person jacuzzi, bluetooth speakers, home-automated lighting, a pellet stove and a dining table; Olimpo Room has a two-person thermal jacuzzi tub with chromotherapy.

On water it should be said clearly that there is no swimming pool. What the website calls an indoor jacuzzi pool is the whirlpool tub in the room, and the property specifies that exclusive use of the jacuzzi is obtained only by booking Suite Luna or Suite La Stalla. The rest of the wellness is in the centre proper, open to guests staying overnight: a sauna, single and couples' massages, beauty treatments, a shared relaxation area, slimming programmes with a free first consultation and a solarium with an Ergoline Open Sun 550 sunbed, paid for and with the prices published on the website. The website does not mention a steam room, and silence is not enough to declare it absent: anyone looking for one should ask for confirmation. The house also has the Duo Alchemico, a restaurant laid for just two people at a time, at one hundred and fifty euros each, and a spa restaurant for guests' breakfast and meals.

On age the sources do not contradict each other, they complete each other. The booking portal states that young people of at least fourteen are welcome, so the restriction is total and the threshold is that. The property's website publishes no figure, so the number remains the portal's. Fourteen years is a low threshold for an adults' house, and it is worth knowing: here a fifteen year old comes in, a child does not. On pets the website takes no position. Among the included services the property lists wifi, a spa kit, a herbal tea corner, Netflix and private parking in the villa's park; check-in is from 16.00 to 19.00 and check-out between 8.00 and 10.00.

It suits a couple looking for a night with a tub and treatments to hand, in a villa with a garden and no children around, using Mesagne as a base for the Salento. It suits less anyone who wants to swim, anyone looking for the sea on foot and anyone expecting the continuous services of a hotel.