For some time we have been collaborating with Raffaella Dallarda, Milanese SPA-blogger, Expert in SPA, Naturopath and Physiotherapist, who, during the nine months of lockdown, between 2020 and the first months of 2021, she realized the INSPATOUR, a traveling journey through the 20 Italian regions, looking for interviews in SPA, to enhance the Brand Awareness of wellness facilities and companies!
During one of my visits, I met “accidentally” with her at the “Capovaticano Resort Thalasso Spa”, one of her Calabrian stops. Then she came to interview me, at my studio, in Verona, during her stage in Veneto, so as to intrigue me to know the background and the results of her cyclopic Italian experience, of well-being.
Raffaella Dallarda with Alberto Apostoli at Capovaticano Resort Thalasso & SPA, in Tropea.
We’re going to talk about it, now, together with her, who recently ended her tour, driving around the Italian boot, alone, for 25,000 km, by car, embarking also in the islands, Sicily and Sardinia, up to Pantelleria, giving voice to the human patrimony that operates in the industry of spa, wellness, design e hospitality and winning the title of Spa Ambassador in Italy, from the Forum Hotel&spa in Paris and its President, Vladi Kovanic.
A. “Raffaella, riding your great passion of wellness destinations, in such a difficult year for tourism and Italian hospitality, you have created an innovative project, which has brought important visibility and professional recognition to you. Where did this deep inspiration come from?”
A. “In mid-July, after having lived very difficult months, following a first lockdown very tough, in Milan, I felt the strong desire to leave, escape and spend a summer completely alone, as if it were a cathartic journey, to find myself. So, I thought it would be valuable to publish its experiences, including on social media, to promote Italy, the epicenter of the pandemia, as a “spontaneous country of well-being”, thanks to its resources, traditions, innovations and heritage. In a few hours, I wrote my idea, I tried to understand the feasibility, the budget, the contacts that would have allowed me the hospitality, the most excellent and influential human resources in the sector, to meet and interview, with videos, which are the current language, the target and the unicity, through my own method, based on the 5 Elements of MTC, associated with the 5 keys of well-being, treated in the 5 days of week. I called my film-maker to ask her opinion and collaboration, remotely. I proposed my project to the GM of Comfort Zone Italy, friend and great professional, who has my deep esteem and who has accepted my provocation with great enthusiasm. And so I left, with the support of Comfort Zone, on July 25th, from Milan, towards Caput Mundi, the ancient capital of the “Salus Per Aquam”, to then reach and stop in the most authoritative realities of wellness in Italy, so that, spa after spa, along the entire Italian boot, I realized my dream, which exceeded all expectations.”
A. “It’s curious because I noticed that you stayed at all the best projects designed by my studio, of Italian Resort with Spa. I would be fascinated to learn about your feedback, as a guest user and, at the same time, as an expert in the field.”
R. “I tell you that, in every Italian projects of yours, where I slept, I realized the constant presence of the unmistakable trait of your style, unique every time, although always very sustainable, attentive to the natural elements, familiar to me, the choice of materials, the elegance of the forms, the harmony of the sets, the uniqueness of the storytelling to tell, the enhancement of the territory. For example, from the Lefay Dolomites, to the Prehistoric Baths, to the Farmhouse of the Prince, or at the Capovaticano Resort, where we met, or at Porto Piccolo Sistiana.”
Portopiccolo SPA; Raffaella Dallarda at Lefay Resort & SPA in Pinzolo and at Agrirelais Casale del Principe in Sicily.
A. “Teamwork divides tasks and multiplies success: what were the alliances that you made before you left, that supported and helped you?”
R. “I have invested so much in relationships over the past 25 years through travel, courses, visits, friendships, night out and contacts from the most professional social channels, such as Linkedin. Before I left, I focused on who could really facilitate me or open the roads and, in less than 48 hours, I called all the net defined and, almost magically, I started to collect adhesions, approvals of hospitality, or word-of-mouth contacts. I consulted with my longtime legal Lawyer friend of brands and companies, I defined all the planning and mutual “compliance”, with Veronica, my film-maker, I organized the itinerary and the prorities, together with some very efficient collaborators, made available by GM Comfort Zone Italy and I started, with the right amount of courage, nerve, know-how and trustness in life.”
A. “What is the invisible behind the scenes, which is not perceived by social media and which creates difficulty and fatigue, as well as considering the criticalities of regional restrictions and limits and the early closure of many hotels, which you have found?”
R. “I state, that I always plan everything, before a meeting with an expert to interview, in a maniacal way: from the study of his psychology or tastes or weak points to put him at ease and capture his more human and less journalistic aspect. I think about the questions to be submitted, I dedicate the first hour to a cognitive chat, laying down a “practical prompter”, not to forget, I decide my outfit and my image, consistent with my style and context, I document on the spa or the Resort to reach, I leave nothing to chance, I take inspiration on storytelling, edit the contents, videos or photos, I prepare the posts and I check the algorithms and the most suitable moments to publish them, on the most important channels, I contact the marketing and interact on communication strategies, to network, i create relationships and disseminate values.”
Raffaella Dallarda at Nerò SPA – Terme Preistoriche in Montegrotto.
A. “In conclusion. How do you plan to transform this blogging experience of wellness, in your own profession, new for the sector, which perhaps does not yet exist, in Italy?”
R. “I have various and daring ideas that caress my heart, that I would like to realize, in the coming years, as ambitious projects that also have “legs” and allow our country to position itself in the world of design of SPA, as market leader. I think, for example, to a SPA Exhibition, unique in the world, at Fiera Milano, with an International Wellness Week, to vote for my Milanese city, “World Capital of Well-Being”. What is still missing, in Italy, are companies of SPA-Consulting, all-round, from design, to implementation, to governance, to management, to marketing, as already existing in America or Great Britain, some with 2000 employees. I would like to persevere on this line, making system, with the insiders and making culture, users.”
A. “One more question, Raffaella, what’s your ideal SPA?”
R. “The one that reconciles me with myself, at every moment, in every place.”