Villa Eden The Private Retreat
Merano, Italy
★ Verified by our editors · September 2026
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The verdict
In 1982 Karl Schmid turned an Art Nouveau villa in a park above Merano into what the house calls Italy's first beauty farm. His daughter Angelika has run it since 1993, and it is now an adults-only longevity retreat with its own medical institute: twenty-five suites for at most forty guests, looked after by more than eighty staff, around a park of old trees and a pool that faces the mountains. Two MICHELIN Keys.
A programme — a week of treatments, check-ups and light cooking — in a house built around it.
You want a hotel to come and go from: this is a retreat with a medical programme, for adults only.
Book one evening at The Tasting Room, Marcello Corrado's four tables, and walk over to Castel Rametz, the family's wine estate a few steps away.
The rooms
Twenty-five suites, from 35 m² to the 100 m² Grand Suite, which has two living rooms and a round terrace facing south; the Pavarotti and Fendi suites are named after guests.
The setting
On Via Winkel in Merano, in a park of centuries-old trees above the Adige valley, with a heated pool and the mountains beyond.
The food
Eden's Park serves the retreat's healthy cooking in three dining rooms and on a summer terrace; The Tasting Room, with four tables, is Marcello Corrado's.
Getting there
Bolzano airport is 25 km away; the retreat arranges transfers from Innsbruck and Verona airports.
Good to know
The Longevity Institute has its own medical director, Dr Emanuele De Nobili. The house closes for part of the winter, so check dates. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World.
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