The evolution of Fiè from a picturesque little village to a
health spa was quiet and gradual. For more than a century, visitors have enjoyed the
health-giving benefits of good water, fresh air, and aromatic hay baths. And experience shows: Summer freshness is not an invention of modern tourism, nor is the attempt to enhance one's physical and
spiritual well-being by natural means just a recent fad. With its
hay baths, Fiè allo Sciliar delivers the concrete proof of that. It was the farmers who harvested hay and then bedded down for the night in hay stacks who noticed how that seemed to dispel every trace of fatigue from the previous day's labor. The course was set for the long-term success of
bathing in aromatic blossoms, herbs, and grasses…
A Benefit for Body, Soul, and Spirit
Today, modern technology makes it possible to enjoy
hay baths the year around, and many hotels offer this traditional treatment in their
beauty and wellness departments. In this context, hygiene and aesthetics are of just as much importance as the especially effective hay from
Alpe di Siusi, Europe's largest high-altitude pastureland. The unusually great variety of species of flora to be found blossoming in the summertime on the nutrient-poor meadows never ceases to excite botanists.
Meadow on the Alpe di Siusi
The grass – which contains such
medicinal herbs as
Thyme, Arnica, Silverweed, and
Gentian – is harvested only from
unfertilized meadows, and always either early in the morning or late in the evening, so that all of the
essential substances are preserved. And then it's dried as quickly as possible.
Body warmth causes the hay to release the numerous
active ingredients (including essential oils), which are absorbed by the bather via his skin and respiration. But for this to happen, it has to first be moistened.