Live the Slow Life: 4 Italian Workshops and Retreats to Do in 2024

For a truly special slice of Italian life

There are many ways to experience Italy, but some are better than others. The key to getting to know the country at its best is to look beyond the comfortable and the predictable. Get lost! Get to know the locals. And one of the easiest and most rewarding ways is through an immersive, off-the-beaten-path experience.

Below, behold some of our favorite workshops and retreats that share a simple but significant concept: go deeper, but go slower. Whether it is enjoying Annette Joseph’s commitment to slow food, making sugo with Anna Tasca Lanza or embracing the true notion of La Dolce Vita through Italian literature and art with the Idler Academy, you will immerse yourself in Italian life, and probably fall just a little bit in love with our country and its people.

A breakfast tray with pancakes, syrup, jam, coffee on a rumpled white-sheeted hotel bed; visible hotel logos in soft light.

EMIKO DAVIES CINNAMON AND SALT LAGOON WORKSHOP

The third edition of the Lagoon Workshop is back, inspired by the release of celebrated author Emiko Davies’ newest book, Cinnamon and Salt: Cicchetti in Venice: Small Bites from the Lagoon City.

This is a unique opportunity to delve into the mysterious world of the Venetian lagoon and its produce, a part of Venice that is too often forgotten. Taking place from the 2nd-7th of May, 2024, Davies will lead a small group around navigating the island of the Venetian lagoon: one day on board the last crab fisherman’s boat, one day spent in the so called “orchard of venice” and one other day exploring a glass factory behind closed doors in the island of Murano and a house-museum in silent and magical Torcello. And of course, eat plenty of cicchetti along the way.

Your home base will be a sustainable resort property, Casa Burano, on the beautiful island of Burano. Once a fishing village, the fisherman painted their rustic homes bright colors so they could see them from afar. Famous for lace and the delicious, buttery buranelli–or S-cookies–you’ll get to explore the historical island from a truly local vantage point.

Learn more about the experience–and Davies’ work–here.

ANNETTE JOSEPH STYLE WORKSHOPS & RETREATS

Annette Joseph, celebrated cook and stylist, writer on entertaining and the Italian experience, has created the dream location for her workshops on cooking, art and photo styling. La Fortezza is a stunning medieval fortress in the region of Lunigiana, a beautiful, rural and mountainous region at the far northern tip of Tuscany renowned for its olive and chestnut groves. The fortress, surrounded by rose and vegetable gardens and its own vineyard, has been restored with great care in a style Joseph describes as “part monastic, part bohemian”.

“Have you ever dreamed of meandering off the beaten path destinations… harvesting Italian grapes for wine, picnicking in olive groves, dining on local streets, painting al fresco or enjoying movies under the stars,” Joseph asks, and creates at Fortezza. This is the fantasy study abroad retreat where you will be able to take part in workshops run by highly experienced and visionary instructors, while staying in luxurious accommodation and dining at night alfresco on the terraces surrounding La Fortezza.

For 2024, she’ll be hosting bespoke, private retreats from this dreamy space, so you can work with her to design an experience that fulfills your every fantasy–contact her directly for bookings and information.

ANNA TASCA LANZA - SICILIAN FOOD CULTURE

Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School is set on 1,300 acres of vineyard in the green hills of central Sicily. The Marchesa, Anna Tasca Lanza di Mazzarino, has been described as “Sicily’s culinary ambassador to the world”. What she began as a project in the beautiful stone farmhouse, Case Vecchie, inherited from her father, has become a true farm to table way of learning. Students study as much about the sources of ingredients as they do about cooking them. The aim is to teach the hidden and complex values of Sicilian food. Such is the School’s reputation that it has attracted many visiting dignitaries including Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, and Alice Waters. Since its inauguration over 30 years ago Sicilian cooking has come to be regarded as one of the great cuisines of the world, without doubt aided by Anna Tasca Lanza herself.

There is great flexibility in the courses one can take–from a one-day class to the four-day residential workshops, staying in the 19th century farmhouse or nearby cottages and enjoying the lovely pool in the grounds. Workshops range from lessons in horticulture and cheese making to wine production and coffee roasting. And good news for those who cannot travel, there are online courses too.

A truly immersive and unique workshop is the Cooking Wild Sicily which is all about foraging wild greens. The Tomato Paste Workshop takes place in the heat of August when Sicilian sweet and tangy tomatoes are at their best, and indeed may well be the finest in the world.

If you want to dig even deeper, there is the Cook the Farm: Experiential Food Education two-month-long winter course. It brings together participants from around the world to cook, eat, and think about food. Lectures, tastings, and hands-on lessons both in the kitchen and on the land look at the complexity of our food systems at both local and global scales, as well as considering the cultural, social, economic, and environmental issues around food. Learn more at their site.

IDLER RETREATS

The Idler is a bi-monthly magazine, dedicated to “fun, freedom, and fulfillment”. Devoted to the art of “idling”, there is no better place to hold its relaxing but knowledge-enriching retreats than Italy, the motherland of dolce far niente.

Hosted by editor and founder Tom Hodgkinson and academy director Victoria Hull, the Idler offers week-long retreats that fuse art, literature, and Italian food and culture for a truly nourishing experience for both your body and mind. They take place in the beautiful Umbrian countryside at the picturesque Villa Pia, where you can enjoy the swimming pool, tennis courts, yoga studio, or long siestas in the extensive gardens.

Their 2023 retreats are already sold out, but keep an eye on their website for announcements for 2024.