The world’s deepest swimming pool, as certified by the Guinness Book of Records, was inaugurated earlier this year at a spa complex in Montegrotto Terme near Padua.
The Y-40 Deep Joy pool, designed by architect Emanuele Boaretto and housed inside the Hotel Terme Millepini, has a depth of 42 meters (138 feet) and is filled with 4.3 million liters (1.1 million gallons) of thermal water from local springs (the area is in fact famous for its thermal springs). This allows divers to go into the water without wearing a diving suit, which they need in the open sea.
The pool features underwater caves to help training scuba divers by recreating sub-aquatic landscapes.
Visitors who don't want to dive but would still like experience the pool can walk through a transparent tunnel to see the divers in action.
According to Y-40 Deep Joy's website, the goal was "to build the best swimming pool in the world."
Besides attracting scuba enthusiasts and freedivers making Y-40 Deep Joy an international diving center, the creators hope the pool will help make the thermal springs area around Montegrotto better known to the general public. Padua and Venice are close by, but there are plenty of beautiful, off-the-beaten-track places to see, such as the Euganean Hills.
