Le Agavi Resort & SPA

Le Agavi Resort & SPA is at piazza Gioco del Pallone 1, in Saludecio, in the province of Rimini. The square is the one that closes the medieval village on its western side, just outside the walls: the resort rests on the brow of the hill, at 342 metres of altitude, and from the terraces you see on one side the bell tower and the roofs of the old centre and on the other the hills running down towards the Romagna Riviera. It is a new building in stone and glass grafted onto the flank of the village. Riccione and viale Ceccarini are 19 kilometres away, Aquafan 18, Rimini airport 28.

How it is built

The heart of the offering is five spa suites, which carry the names of elements and minerals: Aerus, Aes, Cadmiae, Ferrum and Cuprum. Each has a whirlpool, a panoramic Finnish sauna and sensory showers inside the room, a king size bed, a fifty-inch television, a safe, a coffee machine and underfloor heating and cooling. The other rooms are air-conditioned and have a desk, a kettle, a fridge, a safe, a flat-screen television and a private bathroom with bidet; hypoallergenic rooms are available. At street level there is the Le Agavi restaurant, of Italian cooking, open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and aperitifs, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, and a bar. Parking is free, there is room service and reception acts as a concierge in four languages.

The wellness area and the pools, named for what they are

There are two pools and they are not alike. The first is indoors and is carved out of a grotto of exposed stone, a low, dark space designed for being in the water as a couple; the second is on the Private Rooftop, is heated and stays in operation from May to October, with a whirlpool, a sauna and a solarium beside it and the chance to reserve the whole space exclusively. The wellness centre includes a sensory circuit with three multifunction showers, where as the jets change so do the colours and the intensity of the scents, a whirlpool in a grotto, and a saline relaxation area with a salt wall for the airways and the skin. Massages are paid for separately: fifty minutes cost eighty euros per person and a hundred and sixty for a couple. The website names no steam bath and no gym, and the silence on those two points is not to be read as a denial.

The rules of access

The booking portal states that children are not allowed and sets eighteen as the minimum age for check-in; at the property there are no cots or extra beds. The official website speaks of a place designed for couples but publishes no threshold in figures. This entry therefore records the outright ban on access for minors together with the fact that the property publishes no minimum age in figures: anyone travelling with a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old should ask for written confirmation before booking. Pets are allowed, with a possible surcharge. Arrival is from 14.00 to 20.00 and must be given in advance, departure between 8.00 and 10.30. No parties are held.

Who it suits

It suits a couple who want the sea half an hour away but sleep in the hills, and above all anyone looking for the sauna and the tub inside the room rather than in a crowded shared area. It also suits anyone staying a single night who wants to concentrate it in a reserved rooftop. It suits less anyone travelling in winter counting on the outdoor pool, which is closed from November to April, and anyone who wants a wide wellness centre with many-sided steam circuits: here the spaces are small and private.