“You’re going to be fasting in Rome?” a puzzled friend asked ahead of my three-day trip to the Italian capital for Six Senses’ new Female Wellness program. Indeed, Rome is a city where la dolce vita is personified in parmigiano-heaped plates of pasta and pavement-bars serving Aperol Spritz — not exactly the ingredients for a weekend detox.
However, the Eternal City’s wellness roots run deep. On my way from the airport, I’m reminded that the city was one of the original pioneers of the spa as I pass the 2,000-year-old ruins of the once luxurious Baths of Caracalla, commissioned by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. One of Ancient Rome’s most sprawling bathing complexes, in its heyday it included mosaic-lined baths and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, as well as gardens for exercising.
The city’s well-being legacy lives on in 21st-century form at Six Senses Rome. When it opened in 2023, it was the wellness-focused resort group’s first foray into urban hotels, offering something different in a city known for excess. The hotel is housed in a restored 18th-century Palazzo – artfully reimagined by architect Patricia Urquiloa.
It is one of five properties to launch the Female Wellness Program before it is rolled out globally. Taking place over three, five or seven days, it has been designed in partnership with female health expert and author Dr Mindy Pelz, whose bestseller Fast Like a Girl, details how to reclaim health and harmony through fasting in a way that aligns with the female hormonal cycle.
Six Senses is not the only one upping its focus on women’s wellbeing, with the likes of Chiva-Som in Thailand and Zem Wellness Clinic in Spain launching female-focused retreats this year. A recent report from travel-trend forecaster, Globetrender declared that women’s growing financial influence is transforming global tourism. This includes increasing interest in female-only retreats, ranging from spirituality to menopause.
Six Senses Rome opened in 2023 / ©Six Senses
Six Senses’ program is for women of all ages, but with a particular focus on those going through perimenopause and menopause. I might not be quite there yet, but as my dedicated Six Senses wellness practitioner, Anna Carnevalini, says, it’s never too early to learn about your hormones. As with every participant, Carnevalini and her team will design a program tailored to me to bring my hormones, metabolism and stress levels back into balance through fasting, as well as exercise and bespoke treatments.
At my initial wellness screening, Carnevalini tells me that the Female Wellness program was launched for women living a busy city lifestyle, or those who want to integrate wellness into their vacation. She also says that my glucose levels are markedly high and gives me a glucose monitor, as well as a sleep tracker to wear for the duration of my stay.
A pre-arrival questionnaire has meant the chef has already created a menu around my monthly cycle that is low in carbs and high in protein. This works hand in hand with two 15-hour intermittent fasts, which will begin at 6pm each day and are designed to balance hormones and energy levels.
The menu is served at the hotel’s contemporary restaurant – Bivium – where news has spread to the chef of my glucose spike. I await my first meal with some trepidation. However, it’s a pleasant surprise: amberjack carpaccio with sweet figs, a light buffalo cream and parsley oil, followed by grilled octopus; I opt to take my mint tea to the hotel’s rooftop terrace, enveloped in 360-degree city views. Utilizing fresh Italian produce, other meals follow suit: oriental risotto with homemade parmesan, and seabass with a perfectly dressed salad – plus, coffee is thankfully allowed.
Heeding Dr Mindy’s advice in the program’s pre-recorded videos I watched ahead of starting the program, I seek the sunset, the body’s natural signal to produce melatonin ahead of sleep. This comes in the form of evening strolls like a long walk across the River Tiber to the top of Janiculum Hill, where I watch Rome’s monumental skyline unfold below as the sky turns tangerine, well away from the crowds.
Carnevalini’s prescribed treatments range from lying face-up with biohacking boots strapped to my legs to zen-inducing sound baths, as well as a less-than-relaxing detox massage. Focusing on lymphatic drainage of legs, glutes and stomach, silicone suction cups are circled across the skin to reduce the appearance of cellulite and remove toxins. A relaxation massage with osteopath Federico Brera offers relief to deep-seated back pain, and advice on managing it going forward.
There is also a serene hour spent in the stone-clad sanctuary of Six Senses’ Roman baths, located beneath the bustling city streets. I follow the Roman three-pool circuit as Marcus Aurelius would have millennia ago: starting in the tepidarium, then calidarium, ending with an icy dip in the aptly named frigidarium.
On my final morning, fasting complete, I meet Carnevalini for a review. My sleep has been much better – nine hours is unheard of for me and with a higher than average 30% deep sleep score. My glucose has also levelled. “We want you to take all the feelings, habits and everything you learned here home with you,” she says.
Having left all those chefs and wellness practitioners behind and returned home, I can feel that the program has helped me reset and be more considerate of how food is impacting not just energy levels but hormone levels, too – something I’ve never considered before. The best thing, however, has been the insights into how my body ticks; from glucose levels and hormone regulation, to sleep quality – things I had little knowledge of before my Roman holiday. La dolce vita suddenly has new meaning.