RETREAT into the Casentino Valley in Tuscany; draw, paint, journal and explore.

“Live Like an Italian”! Use the time to improve your creative talents and use the amazing locale for inspiration! This is your time.

No classes, no organized instruction ~ just more time to pursue your own projects. This is the opportunity to focus on your own art. Our artist guide, Pamela Rhodes, (director, ARTroads Academy), teaches and conducts retreats and workshops worldwide. This retreat encourages you to really see your surroundings and paint what you are seeing. This will be the 12th annual program offered by ARTroads at this amazing agraturisimo.

Just 45 miles (73 km) from the Florence airport, the villa apartments are meticulously-restored, stone farmhouses, each with 2, 3, or 4 bedrooms. All the apartments have modern bathrooms and newly renovated, fully-equipped kitchens. Fireplaces, outdoor balconies , and loggia enhance your stay.

Daily, continental breakfast and a suggested artist/journal agenda start each day. Each day is yours! Draw, paint, write; you choose! We meet in the late afternoons to share thoughts and projects or just enjoy some wine and apperativi by the pool. Nearby farmers’ markets, shops, and restaurants provide all you’ll need to experience Italian cuisine. Cook in your apartmente, join your neighbors for communal meals and explore the local towns, markets and castles.

Enjoy a welcome reception and dinner, a shopping outing the next day, and an al fresco lunch up at the 13th century Castle. We visit a ceramics Fayyoria (factory) where you create your own, hand-painted piatto (plate) souvenir. Vote for your favorites in a wine tasting of local vintages, combined with a demo of "Cucine dei poveri " (cooking of the poor) with dinner following.

cucina dei poveriAn evening "Reception & Gallery Show" displaying many of the creative efforts precedes a "Finale Dinner" at our favorite ristorante, presenting Tuscany at its best!

Optional, independent, excursions include trips to a winery, a tour of a 13th-century castle and a "pilgramage" to the Camoldoli Hermitage and Monestary. The Casentino Valley boasts many historic sights and the luscious landscape scenes that easily could show up in your art or writing.

Most importantly, this retreat is designed to provide just what you want; the time and the place for you to create.

Amenities and additional photos are also described on our website www.ARTroads.net

Tuscany at it's best combination of old and new!