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Hotelier Rocco Forte opened the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, a 568-acre mecca of rest and relaxation, in 2010, bringing a new level of Mediterranean luxe to a private stretch of beach on Sicily’s southwest coast. For the holistic spa, which recently launched one- and two-week-long Vita Health wellness retreats, Italian architect Flavio Albanese, a former editor of European design bible Domus, collaborated with Forte’s sister and the brand’s director of design, Olga Polizzi, to create some 40,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor space. Inspired by the region’s vernacular architecture, the pair arranged a series of minimalist, local tufo stone–and-glass pavilions (containing treatment rooms, a double-height hammam, and a 25-meter pool) around seawater-filled thalassotherapy pools (shown) that overlook the resort’s golf courses and, beyond, the Caltabellotta mountains.