International spa and wellness consultancy bbspa_Group has been appointed by Italian football club Cagliari Calcio to create an urban destination spa inside the club’s upcoming new stadium.

Cagliari Arena will open with a 4,000sq m spa rooted in Sardinian healing traditions, following an agreement between Cagliari Calcio, industrial holding company Costim, bbspa_Group and Snow Group (of which bbspa_Group is a shareholder).

With a capacity of 25,000 seats, the stadium will be located in the Sardinian city of Cagliari.

The new property is being built by Italy-based architectural firms Manica Architecture and Sportium on the site of Cagliari Calcio’s former home turf, Stadio Sant’Elia, and is projected to open in 2025-2026.

bbspa_Group says its vision for the stadium spa is to create a central urban sanctuary that makes wellness available all week long for city dwellers.

The spa will be home to 10 single treatment cabins, two couples cabins, two spa suites and one Watsu suite.

Wet and thermal facilities will consist of a 50sq m panoramic Finnish sauna with a frigidarium and relaxation area; a 150sq m hammam with a relaxation area, hot steam area and soap and scrub area; two kaolin mud paths; two volcanic mud paths; a cold plunge pool; an indoor pool with a whirlpool; and an outdoor relaxation pool.

The management of the spa will be entrusted to Snow Group Italia, the Italian branch of the French parent company that manages over 60 spas in Europe.

The stadium project recently received €50m (US$54.5m, £44.3m) in funding from The Regional Council of Sardinia. This money will be gradually drip-fed into the project over the next four years.

bbspa_Group told Spa Business the spa treatment partner is yet to be confirmed, but it will definitely be one of the Snowgroup’s three skincare brands; Cinq Mondes, Deep Nature and Algotherm.

The spa will be open seven days a week except during football match times.

“The biggest challenge was to come up with a concept that was both innovative and functional,” said Régis Boudon Doris, CEO of bbspa_Group.

“We wanted to create a spa that would have its own sense of place, despite being in an unusual setting for a wellness facility.”

To realise the design concept, bbspa_Group's We Think team conducted a strategic audit to gather all the information about the site, including market analysis, feasibility and marketing study to analyse the space in which the structure would be built and define a spa concept appropriate to the site.

Boudon Doris added: “Our local approach has seen us engage in an in-depth study of Sardinian culture and traditions, which has allowed us to devise a unique concept.

“The future spa will provide a wellness experience strongly imbued with Sardinia's DNA and make it possible for the whole world to tap into the wellness secrets of this land.”