Villa Eden: ‘Italy’s original beauty farm spotted my hidden stress in 3 minutes’
Villa Eden in South Tyrol has been doing longevity for more than 40 years. Our writer discovered she was stuck in stress mode — and that the fix was free
How can you be stressed at one of the chicest family-run spas in Europe? Somehow, I managed it, on a three-night taster stay at Villa Eden, Italy’s original ‘beauty farm’.
The 25-suite adults-only private villa has led longevity programmes for more than 40 years in northern Italy’s spa town of Merano, long before biohacking was a whisper or longevity became a £35 billion industry.
Those decades of experience mean that it now offers some of the most interesting physician-led wellness programmes, aesthetic procedures and wellness treatments – both high-tech and holistic – that I’ve seen. The aim is to help you elevate your health and discover a better version of yourself.
Villa Eden is female-led, run by Angelika Schmid, and has been in her family since its inception. She has created a chic, homely vibe that belies the cutting-edge nature of the wellness offering. No tech-bro biohacking here, which I was glad of, as clearly I didn’t need any added stress. I was bringing plenty of that with me, as my nervous system hadn’t yet got the ‘relax’ memo.
Victoria Woodhall arrives for a longevity programme at Villa Eden, northern Italy
Just how entrenched I was in stress mode was revealed at my check-in with Dr Emanuele De Nobili, medical director of Villa Eden’s Longevity Institute and a longevity and functional medicine doctor. He has helped turn what was once a weight loss and medical spa into one of Italy’s first, and now leading, destinations for regenerative medicine. If you’re booked in one of the programmes, which run from the three-day ‘Discovery’ package to the seven-day (or longer) ‘Blueprint’, he is your first port of call.
He looked at my nutrition status from a hair strand test I’d had earlier, and told me I needed more protein and omega-3s. So far, so easily fixed. But it wasn’t my diet or my body composition (also tested) that he was concerned about – it was my heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of how well the body copes with stress.
The 3-minute HRV test for stress
The doctor put me through a three-minute HRV test that involved nothing more than sitting with my eyes closed while attached to a sensor strap underneath my chest.
Sure enough, my nervous system was well out of whack. My baseline reading showed a giant red reading on his bar iPad bar chart, representing the sympathetic ‘fight-or-flight’ branch of my autonomic nervous system. The parasympathetic ‘rest-and-digest’ mode, shown in blue next to it, was, well, pathetic.
Dr Emanuele De Nobili director of the Longevity Institute puts Victoria through a stress test. Right: bar charts show her nervous system before and after breath work
How could this be? I’d just rolled out of a bed the size of a small yacht in the suite with the walk-in wardrobe that Barbra Streisand always books. I’d eaten from a breakfast menu with both ‘pleasure’ and ‘detox’ options overseen by a Michelin-starred chef (of course I had to try both). And I’d just had a delicious 75-minute de-stress massage.
It’s not as if I’d had a stressful journey to get there either, thanks to the new direct flights with SkyAlps from Gatwick to Bolzano, which is just 30km away. No, this was more long-term, more entrenched. I was stuck in stress mode, the doctor said.
The 5-minute stress fix: 3-6-5 breath work
The solution, however, was simple, nay, miraculous. Dr De Nobili told me to practise the ‘3-6-5’ breath. That meant 3 times per day, 6 breaths per minute (two sharp inhales and one long, slow, sighing exhale) for 5 minutes, 365 days per year.
As I did this, he retested me, and my graph transformed. The red and blue measures were now equal, showing a balanced nervous system that was better able to adapt to and recover from stress, and therefore a more optimal HRV. That wasn’t the end of it, of course; now it would be down to me to practise daily.
I now do 365 breath with my first cup of tea, in bed before sleep, and during the day on the Tube if I remember. I love that this intervention is simple and free.
Villa Eden – losing the weight of the mind
The motto at Villa Eden is ‘Give us your body for one week and we’ll give you back your mind’, and after my check-in with the doc, I found that this couldn’t be more true. Many come here to lose weight – there are plenty of contouring treatments such as the LPG Endermologie and the trademark Body Cast seaweed wrap that mummifies you in healing clay and that you have to be ‘cracked’ out of, plus exercise ranging from ‘hormone yoga’ to PT sessions and morning hikes. But these days, just as many, like me, come to lose the weight of the mind.
A de-stress massage and Villa Eden’s signature Body Cast toning wrap
Angelika and her husband Hannes treat you as their house guest – they are very present and always up for a chat. The contemporary-classic Italian décor is comfy yet luxe, and the locally sourced food (they know all the best producers) is overseen by executive chef Marcello Corrado, with two previous Michelin stars to his name.
Villa Eden has just 25 rooms, all of them suites. Right: plenty of lounge space to relax
Nothing is ever hurried here; you could fill your day with back-to-back facials (their in-house skincare is excellent, and they also offer filler, Botox and biostimulating injectables), massages and IVs, but equally relax in your robe in the landscaped gardens.
Because there are seemingly more treatment rooms than guests (maximum 40 people), everything can be done to your own timetable – no booking miles ahead – with plenty of time to enjoy the outdoor pool set in a park-style garden, the sauna, the family winery next door (book in for a tasting, leave with an extra suitcase) and exquisite Italian food in your dressing gown.
in spa robes Victoria, left, and friends enjoy fine dining at Eden’s Park restaurant
There’s a chance to get dressed up, should you so wish, and enjoy the chef’s Tasting Room – the only part of the villa open to non-guests – which has only four tables and is listed in the Michelin Guide.
South Tyrol is a Michelin-starred haven with 300 days of sun
The family-owned winery next door has tours as well as treasures to take home
The Bolzano region is foodie heaven, with one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars anywhere (around 30), because so much fresh produce is farmed on the hillsides of South Tyrol, thanks to its average of 300 sunny days a year. The mild climate means you’ll never be freezing in winter (expect 5–10C) or sleepless and sweating in summer, when daytime highs of 35C cool to 17C at night. But if it’s snow you’re after, you are only an hour away from skiing in the Dolomites, and the Merano 2000 ski resort is on the doorstep.
Villa Eden treatment highlights
Treatment highlights for me included an oxygen therapy called Cellgym, where, in 30 sleepy minutes, alternating bouts of oxygen-rich and oxygen-depleted air are pumped through a mask. This is said to improve cellular energy, sleep and immunity. I found it deeply relaxing, but it’s something you’d have almost every day while you’re here, as a course of six sessions.
Cellgym oxygen therapy is good for the immune system and cellular health. Dry float cryo makes cold immersion more bearable
I only ever cold-plunge up to my knees, but the Dry Float Cryo bed, popular in the Dolomites region, made a seven-minute immersion possible, as it’s somehow less overwhelming – and they distract you with chat.
Brain Gym was like nothing I’d ever tried. With cognitive decline being one of the most feared aspects of ageing, preserving our grey matter is as important as any of the body therapies. The machine, made by a local start-up, is a rig with flashing symbols and numbers that you tap in ever more complex sequences, involving both memory and quick physical reactions. I was good at the beginning, but had a massive lapse of concentration in the middle when I crumbled. I definitely need to give my brain more recovery time to boost its staying power, and the HRV breathing will help.
Brain Gym memory and agility training. Villa Eden has both indoor and outdoor pools
But the real magic was a ‘Touch for Health’ kinesiology session with resident holistic practitioner Stefan Pichler, who was able to identify imbalances that were causing my back pain and give me some stretches to help. His sessions can be quite emotional, as you release tension that has been entrenched for years.
I left with some useful insights, a simple breathing habit, a clearer sense of how much stress my body was carrying and how my brain needs a break in order not to lose focus. I’d discovered a new corner of the world where the sun almost always shines, the food and the air are fresh and a spa where you can have Michelin-quality food in your dressing gown and nobody bats an eyelid.
Stay at Villa Eden – The Private Retreat from €750 (£641) per night including breakfast and a Visioface 1000D skin scan. Treatments are additional. Three-day health programmes from €1,750 (£1,496) half board. Seven-day health programmes from €2,950 (£2,522) half board. Fly from London Gatwick directly to Bolzano via SkyAlps, from £150 return.
