You can now bathe in the Mediterranean sea... in South Kensington

Twenty-five tonnes of Med water has been driven more than 1,500 miles from Sicily to a health club in west London
Alexa Chung and Pippa Middleton are fans of the West London health club
Miranda Bryant8 January 2016

Even the richest and most famous of Londoners cannot be beside the seaside all the time. But one private health club has decided that if its members cannot go to the Med, then the Med can come to them.

Twenty-five tonnes of it to be precise, driven more than 1,500 miles from Sicily to South Kensington in the back of a lorry.

The seawater is now installed in a pool at the South Kensington Club, which has been visited by the likes of Chelsy Davy, Alexa Chung and Pippa Middleton. The Delevingne sisters, Cara and Poppy, are also believed to be fans.

The “watsu pool” is lined with tiles made from lava taken from the base of Mount Etna. The water is heated to 34.5C and constantly purified, making it “cleaner than the sea”.

Members are offered therapy sessions in the water, which the club claims contains minerals that are good for the skin and for recovery after a workout. They also increase the water’s buoyancy, allowing muscles to relax.

Its pH balance is adjusted to 7.4 so that it is gentle on the eyes but retains the benefits of sea salt.

This week 25 tons of seawater from the volcanic Aeolian Islands, Lipari, made its way to the heart of London at the South Kensington Club

Club founder Luca Del Bono obtained a special dispensation from the Sicilian authorities to collect a sample of the Tyrrhenian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, from Lipari, the island where he grew up. It is the largest of the volcanic Aeolian Islands near Sicily.

After pumping the water out of the sea, he drove it in sanitised tanks to London in the back of a lorry. He also took a collection of native plants and lava, used to make table tops and a reception desk.

He said it cost him only 50 euros in permit fees because he had help from his friends in the area.

“I had to have 14 permits to do it,” he said. “When a lady who works for me went to the government to ask for it they thought it was a joke ... I’m not transporting the water here, I’m transporting you to there. People feel like they’ve been on holiday [after bathing in it].

“I grew up on the island north-east of Sicily, I took the challenge further because I didn’t just get the water from Sicily, I brought it from the island where I grew up.”

The club offers a passive movement-based therapy in the pool called aquatic bodywork. Specialist Steve Karle moves the clients around in ways said to follow the movement patterns of the body. Benefits are said to include natural realignment and improved posture, relief from chronic pain, alleviation of insomnia and improved energy levels.

Mr Del Bono said: “I’m very into energy, volcanos, some things you can’t scientifically explain but you feel the benefit of.

“Because it’s very salty it has very little chlorine because we have a very sophisticated ultra violet system which disintegrates bacteria ... We have such a sophisticated system that it’s cleaner than in the sea.”

Best spas in London

1/20

The watsu pool is part of the club’s bathhouse which also features hammam baths and banya, a Russian-style sauna.

Membership to the club costs £365 a month. Non-members can attend only with a member, at a cost of £50.

But Mr Del Bono claims it is not an exclusive club. “In that environment [a bathhouse] it doesn’t matter who they are, they’re equal,” he said.

“Everybody’s made out of flesh and bone, when you enter this space nothing material matters. People become themselves in a way.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in