Florence Spas|Florence, Italy

LA SPA Helvetia & Bristol

A well-being retreat suited for royalty

VERIFIED LUXURY

Learn How We Inspect

Florence wears its Renaissance on its sleeve, but its Roman past takes some digging. At Helvetia & Bristol Firenze, the digging has been done. Beneath the luxury hotel that has stunned visitors since 1885 lies LA SPA Helvetia & Bristol, a 5,812-square-foot sanctuary on the very spot where the Capitoline Baths of Roman Florentia once steamed. Opened in 2022, it is the largest spa in the historic center, and it borrows the ancients' best wellness tenets: pamper, indulge, treat, repeat.

The address is as central as historic Florence gets, sitting mere steps from Palazzo Strozzi and Piazza della Repubblica, the square that was once the Roman forum. Below ground, the wellness circuit follows the logic of the ancient baths, moving from heat to cold and back again, while the architecture offers a peek at everything that came after. Medieval foundations show through a glass floor, and the pools sit in the former vault of the Banco di Roma. Add a full menu of indulgent massages, facials and rituals, and you can live like an emperor or empress for a day

Our Inspector's Highlights

This subterranean oasis is all pale travertine and low light, which sets a hushed, dreamlike mood. The Roman Baths circuit goes from steam (Calidarium) to water jets (Aquae), dry heat (Sudatorium), a cold plunge (Frigidarium) and warm silence (Tepidarium). It ends at Lacus Quietis, two pools where Florentine artist Felice Limosani's video art fills a whole wall. Then there's Aquamotus, a Vichy shower with more than 1,200 jets.
The Romans picked this spot for their Capitoline Baths, and they left evidence. Fragments of the ancient walls surface along the circuit. The Tepidarium's glass floor looks down on medieval foundations, and an ancient well rises from one of the pools, which sit in the old Banco di Roma vault.
The Florence spa's signature facials run from a quick 20 minutes to a leisurely 80. The Secret of Longevity Facial works face, neck and décolleté with Eastern and Western massage and acupressure. The Wonder Face Elixir adds collagen and elastin precursors to a lifting massage. Ko Bi Do, from high-end French label Cinq Mondes, is a Japanese massage that amounts to a gym session for your face. For a more scientific approach, skin analyzer can read your complexion and prescribes a protocol from Italian line Miamo.
The signature Reborn Body Massage borrows Greek and Roman technique. The Escape & Luxury Massage stretches and realigns you from spine to fingertips. From there, the menu needs a passport: Polynesian, Thai, shiatsu, Ayurvedic and North African, with most available for couples as well. P Relax & Bubbles takes over the private Wellness Suite for a scrub, steam, a facial massage and a made-to-measure body massage, and the Grand Rituel du Hammam Divin follows a Berber recipe of black soap and argan oil.

Things to Know

For those who can't sit still, the gymnasium offers Pilates, stretching, body training and a morning wake-up class, as well as a menu of outdoor wellness from guided walks and runs to bike rides that turn the city of Florence into the workout studio.
LA SPA is not reserved for hotel guests. Day-spa packages and memberships let locals and visitors in, and the whole space can be booked privately for birthdays or bachelorette parties.
The baths, treatments and fitness sessions all require a reservation. The luxury spa suggests allowing two hours for the circuit.
Florentine institution Cibrèo runs the hotel's café and restaurant. The tagliolini with cacio (cheese) and butter is an exquisite post-workout treat. Breakfast pastries come from master pastry chef Iginio Massari.

Amenities