A Creative Immersion in Tuscany
Tuscany, Italy · November 5–12, 2026 · Six Spots Left From $4,950 · Historic Villa in the Sienese Hills · 8–12 Guests · No experience required
Siena, Italy
Limited to 12–16 guests
From $4,950 USD
payment plans available
November 05-12, 2026
Historic Villa in Tuscany, Siena
Hosted by Catherine Richards
A Creative Immersion in Tuscany
Each day explores a different layer of the table:
The garden. The kitchen. The cellar. The craft. The feast.
Through cooking ateliers, wine sessions, still life drawing, olive oil tastings, ceramics, day trips into Siena and the Tuscan countryside, and long shared meals in a medieval villa. Private cooking workshops, food as creative medium, drawing the feast, making objects for the table, and eight days designed around beauty, nourishment, conversation, and the art of living well in Tuscany.
A creative journey through Tuscany exploring food, craft, and the art of the table — with daily workshops, culinary experiences, and the beauty of the Sienese hills.
What's Included?
Every detail is curated so you can arrive, exhale, and
experience Paris creatively.
7 nights at a historic Tuscan villa near Siena
Daily creative workshops & culinary ateliers
Two private cooking classes with the villa chef
Tuscan wine tasting experience
Olive oil tasting and harvest experience
Still life drawing & food illustration sessions
Day trip to Siena and one additional excursion
Group meals, aperitivo & long shared dinners
Art materials, journal & creative kit
Small group of 10–16
*Flight and transportation are not included.
Who This Is For?
For artists, food lovers, writers, designers, curious travelers, and thoughtful individuals seeking inspiration, beauty, slow living, and creative renewal in one of the world's most beautiful places.
"I know this experience is going to change the next chapter of my life.”
- Lisa, 2026
Catherine Richards, M.Arch.
Founder · Creative Director · Art Immersions.
I'm Catherine — a designer, artist, Parsons professor, and founder of Art Immersions. I've been bringing groups to the Certosa di Pontignano since 2019. It's a place I return to because nothing else does what it does: the cloister, the kitchen gardens, the ancient walls, the way the light falls in the late afternoon, and the quality of stillness that comes from being completely removed from ordinary life.
This program is built around a question that's fascinated me for years: what if we treated the table — the meal, the setting, the ingredients, the ritual — as the primary creative subject? Not cooking as craft, but cooking as art. Not wine as a beverage, but wine as a pigment. Not food as fuel, but food as drawing material, as still life, as the center of a creative life.
The Certosa has its own kitchen, its own garden, its own cellar. It's already set up to be the protagonist. We're just paying attention to it differently.
I hope to meet you in Tuscany.
"This was one of the most memorable experiences in my life."
- Linda, 2026
"My experience with Art Immersions was life-changing. I cannot recommend this enough to all."
- Gail, 2026
"This experience exceeded all my expectations. A dream come to fruition."
- Darlene, 2026
Why join this experience?
To draw, paint, and create with food and wine as your materials
To cook in an ancient Tuscan kitchen and learn from Italian tradition
To slow down and actually taste where you are
To spend eight days with thoughtful, curious, creative people
To return home reconnected to beauty, pleasure, and creativity
This experience is for you if:
You love food and want to explore it as a creative subject
You want more than tourism — something immersive and meaningful
You crave beauty, craft, depth, and real Italian life
You want to meet like-minded, thoughtful people
You're ready for a full reset — creative, culinary, and personal
Because a beautiful meal is not just nourishment — it's an art form. This experience is designed for the creatively curious: artists, designers, food lovers, writers, and seekers who want to live more artfully — and eat very well while doing it.
Eight Days. Art. Food. The Tuscan Table.
Drawing. Cooking. Wine. Olive Oil. Still Life. Craft. The art of the table.
An 8-day creative retreat at a 14th-century monastery villa outside Siena — combining culinary ateliers, art workshops, and the slow pleasure of life around a Tuscan table.
For one full week, the Certosa di Pontignano becomes our home: morning walks through the kitchen garden, hands-on cooking and wine ateliers, still life drawing, artisan workshops, a day in Siena, and long dinners in the cloister. The table is our studio.
The week begins at the Certosa di Pontignano — a 14th-century monastery villa just outside Siena, set among olive groves and rolling hills.
- Arrival and check-in — find your room in the ancient cloister, explore the olive grove gardens and courtyard.
- Orientation walk — the kitchen garden, the cloister arches, and the view over the Sienese hills.
- Welcome aperitivo — wine, local charcuterie, and the first gathering of the group.
- Opening dinner at the villa — the group comes together for the first time around the long table.
A day devoted to the raw ingredient — foraging the kitchen garden, tasting Tuscan olive oils, and drawing the things that grow here.
- Kitchen garden walk and foraging — guided tasting of fresh herbs, vegetables, and seasonal ingredients from the villa grounds.
- Olive oil tasting atelier — tasting Tuscan oils from different estates and harvest times; drawing the color and texture of oil on paper.
- Still life session — arranging and drawing a composition from the morning's foraged ingredients.
- Afternoon free — sketch in the olive groves, or visit a nearby frantoi (olive mill) if harvest timing allows.
Making pasta by hand is one of the oldest and most meditative art forms in the world. Today, the kitchen is the studio.
- Pasta-making atelier — hands-on workshop with the villa's kitchen team: the dough, the rolling, the shapes, the sauce.
- Cooking as drawing — a parallel session drawing the composition of tools, flour, shapes, and process.
- We eat what we made — the workshop ends at the table, sharing the meal together.
- Afternoon — rest, draw, journal, or take a short excursion into the surrounding hills and villages.
A sensory day of wine tasting and mark-making — using red wine, olive oil, and coffee as pigments to create still lifes and washes on paper.
- Wine tasting atelier — guided tasting of Tuscan wines with a focus on color, texture, and aroma as creative vocabulary.
- Painting and drawing with wine — using wine, olive oil, and coffee as pigments for still lifes and abstract studies.
- Color mapping — translating the flavor and feeling of wine into color palettes, mark-making, and visual texture.
- Long afternoon at the table — sketching and tasting at leisure; optional walk through the estate.
A full day in Siena — the morning market, the Piazza del Campo, artisan studios, and the slow pleasure of wandering an ancient city with a sketchbook.
- Morning market in Siena — exploring the daily market for ingredients, colors, textures, and people; sketching in the market.
- The Piazza del Campo — time in one of the world's great public squares; drawing, observing, and absorbing the light.
- Optional artisan visit — stained glass studio, ceramics, or silversmithing depending on workshop availability.
- Gelato, espresso, and slow wandering — the afternoon is yours; the city is a studio.
A day with a local artisan — making a small object for the table, then drawing it as a still life. The handmade and the observed.
- Craft workshop atelier — private session with a local artisan: ceramics, bookbinding, or stained glass (subject to confirmed availability).
- Making for the table — each guest creates a small object: a bowl, a handmade book, a small vessel.
- Still life with the day's work — drawing your own object as a still life study.
- Afternoon excursion — Bagni di Petriolo thermal springs or a walk to Chiusdino and the Sword in the Stone (Abbazia di San Galgano).
The final full day: a Tuscan feast cooked together, a still life drawn around the table before the meal begins, and a closing circle in the cloister.
- Tuscan feast cooking atelier — a full Tuscan meal prepared together with the villa kitchen, from antipasto to dolce.
- Drawing the feast — a guided still life session arranged around the prepared table, before the meal begins.
- Vegetable placeholders and table design — guests design place cards, vegetable sculptures, or floral arrangements for the final dinner.
- The final table — the meal we cooked, at the table we set, in the cloister we called home.
- Closing circle — sharing what opened, shifted, or became visible over the eight days.
A slow breakfast in the cloister. The last espresso in the courtyard. Final sketches. Transfers depart through the morning at your own rhythm.
- Slow breakfast in the cloister — the last shared morning table.
- Final journaling or sketching — quiet time before the day begins.
- Farewells — transfers depart through the morning at your own rhythm, onward to Siena, Florence, Rome, or home.
Eight Days. Art. Food. The Tuscan Table.
Guests arrive independently to the villa outside Siena. Most fly into Florence and take a train or private driver into Siena — transfers are easy and the journey is part of the arrival.
- Check-in and settle in — find your room, explore the villa and gardens at your own pace.
- Welcome aperitivo — wine, local bites, and the first gathering of the group.
- Celebration dinner — a candlelit Tuscan meal together to mark the beginning of the week.
A morning in the garden and at the tasting table — gathering seasonal ingredients, tasting Tuscan olive oils, and drawing what you find.
- Garden walk and foraging — guided tasting of fresh herbs, vegetables, and seasonal ingredients from the villa grounds.
- Olive oil tasting atelier — tasting Tuscan oils from different estates; drawing the color and texture of oil on paper.
- Still life session — arranging and drawing a composition from the morning's gathered ingredients.
- Group lunch, then free afternoon — sketch in the gardens, rest, or explore the surrounding landscape.
Making pasta by hand is one of the oldest and most meditative art forms in the world. Today, the kitchen is the studio.
- Pasta-making cooking class — hands-on with the villa's kitchen team: the dough, the rolling, the shapes, the sauce.
- Cooking as drawing — a parallel session drawing the tools, flour, shapes, and process.
- We eat what we made — the class ends at the table, sharing the meal together.
- Free afternoon — rest, draw, journal, or take a short excursion into the surrounding hills.
A sensory morning of wine tasting and mark-making — using red wine, olive oil, and coffee as pigments to create still lifes and washes on paper.
- Wine tasting atelier — guided tasting of Tuscan wines focused on color, texture, and aroma as creative vocabulary.
- Painting and drawing with wine — using wine, olive oil, and coffee as pigments for still lifes and abstract studies.
- Color mapping — translating the flavor and feeling of wine into color palettes and mark-making.
- Group lunch, then free afternoon — sketching at leisure; optional walk through the estate.
A full day in Siena — the morning market, the Piazza del Campo, artisan studios, and the slow pleasure of wandering an ancient city with a sketchbook.
- Morning market in Siena — exploring the daily market for ingredients, colors, and textures; sketching in the market.
- The Piazza del Campo — time in one of the world's great public squares; drawing, observing, absorbing the light.
- Optional artisan visit — stained glass studio, ceramics, or silversmithing depending on availability.
- Gelato, espresso, and slow wandering — the afternoon is yours; the city is a studio.
A morning with a local artisan — making a small object for the table, then drawing it as a still life.
- Craft workshop atelier — private session with a local artisan: ceramics, bookbinding, or stained glass (subject to availability).
- Making for the table — each guest creates a small object: a bowl, a handmade book, a small vessel.
- Still life with the day's work — drawing your own object as a still life study.
- Lunch, then free afternoon — thermal springs at Bagni di Petriolo or a walk to the Abbazia di San Galgano.
The final full day: a Tuscan feast cooked together, a still life drawn around the table before the meal, and a closing circle.
- Tuscan feast cooking class — a full Tuscan meal prepared together, from antipasto to dolce.
- Drawing the feast — a guided still life session arranged around the prepared table, before the meal begins.
- Table design — guests create place cards, vegetable sculptures, or floral arrangements for the final dinner.
- The final table — the meal we cooked, at the table we set, in the villa we called home.
- Closing circle — sharing what opened, shifted, or became visible over the eight days.
A slow breakfast. The last espresso. Final sketches. Transfers depart through the morning at your own rhythm.
- Slow breakfast at the villa — the last shared morning table.
- Final journaling or sketching — quiet time before the day begins.
- Farewells and departure — onward to Siena, Florence, Rome, or home.
What Our Guests Have to Say
“Before this trip, I felt deeply disconnected from my creative self. But over the course of the week, I met a need in me I didn’t even realize was there. For the first time in a very long time, I feel more like myself again. I know this experience is going to change the next chapter of my life.” — Lisa, 2026
Join Us in Tuscany
Only 12–16 guests total · Historic Tuscan Villa near Siena · Secure checkout · Payment plans available
- Arrive to our artistic residence in the heart of Paris.
- Gentle Montmartre walk to settle into the city’s rhythm and light.
- Welcome dinner with seasonal cuisine, conversation, and connection.
- Optional visit to the Decorative Arts Museum.
Your Home in Tuscany
Your home for the retreat: A historic medieval villa nestled in the hills above Siena. The 14th-century Carthusian monastery converted into a residential retreat, set in the hills between Siena and Castelnuovo Berardenga. Its cloister gardens, stone corridors, wine cellar, kitchen, and terraces have been receiving guests for centuries.
From the Villa, Siena is twenty minutes by car. Florence is ninety minutes. The surrounding hills — olive groves, vineyards, cypress-lined roads, medieval villages — are the landscape that inspired the Renaissance painters who looked at exactly this light, these colors, these fields.
This is not a hotel. It's a home. And for eight days, it's yours.
Ready to Join us in Tuscany?
FAQ
I’m thinking of coming alone… is that okay?
Yes — and most guests do. This is an intimate, welcoming group, and many arrive solo and leave with meaningful friendships. The villa has a way of bringing people together around a table that makes connection feel effortless.
What does the trip feel like?
A Living Feast Through Tuscany. Each retreat unfolds as an experience of the Italian table — through cooking, drawing, tasting, crafting, and the long pleasure of shared meals in an ancient cloister.
Mornings begin with workshops at the villa: cooking classes, drawing sessions, wine ateliers, or craft experiences. Afternoons unfold into the Tuscan landscape — day trips into Siena, visits to artisan studios, excursions to thermal springs or medieval abbeys. Evenings gather around the villa table for long dinners, aperitivo, and conversation. Structured enough to feel held. Spacious enough to feel free.
What kind of people join?
Curious and creative individuals who love beauty, food, and making things. This retreat attracts artists, designers, food lovers, writers, and travelers from all walks of life. No cooking or art experience is required — only a desire to slow down, pay attention, and live beautifully for eight days. People join from all over the world.
Do I need to be an artist or have experience?
Not at all. There are no expectations of output — only invitations to presence. This experience is designed for all levels, from complete beginners to practicing artists and avid home cooks. The focus is not on technical skill, but on creativity, attention, and pleasure.
What's a typical day like?
A guided workshop or culinary atelier (morning)
The villa, the landscape, or a day trip (afternoon)
Shared meals and long evenings (evening)
The pace is spacious and intentional — a retreat into beauty, nourishment, and presence. Structured, but never rigid. You'll have time to rest, sketch, wander, and be in Italy.
Where will we stay?
A 14th-century former Carthusian monastery converted into a residential hotel and retreat center, set in the olive-covered hills above Siena. The property has a wine cellar stocked with estate wines, kitchen, gardens, a restaurant, bar, a cloister garden, and extraordinary silence. Siena is 20 minutes away.
What is the typical age range?
Guests are typically mid-20s to 60s+. What matters most is not age, but a shared desire for creativity, beauty, and meaningful experience.
Payment plans?
Yes. Reserve with a $500 deposit, pay in full, or choose a monthly payment plan. Payment options are presented at checkout.
What about flights and meals?
Guests arrive from all over the world, so flights are booked individually and are not included. Most meals during the retreat are shared — cooking together and eating together is central to the program. Some meals are yours to explore independently.
What You Will Take Home
By the end of five days, guests typically leave with:
Food as a creative language — a new relationship with ingredients, color, flavor, and the table as a composition
Pasta they made by hand — and the confidence to make it again, anywhere, anytime
A piece they made — a small ceramic bowl, a handbound journal, or an illustrated book of the week
Work they made with wine — drawings and watercolors created with Chianti, olive oil, and other Tuscan materials
A sketchbook full of Tuscany — food still lifes, market drawings, villa studies, and the particular quality of Sienese light
Insider Tuscany — a deeper relationship to the villages, artisans, thermal springs, and cultural spaces most visitors never reach
Meaningful friendships — the group is small and the dinners are long. Most guests arrive solo and leave having shared something real.
But the thing guests talk about most isn't the cooking, or the wine, or the ceramics. It's the feeling of being completely present at a table — tasting, looking, drawing, and laughing — and realizing that this is what creative life actually feels like.
Each day is built around one layer of the table: the garden, the kitchen, the cellar, the craft, and finally the feast — the moment all of it comes together in one long meal. The workshops, the meals, the morning light in the cloister, the afternoon in Siena — they're not separate activities. They're one continuous experience of paying attention to what it means to eat, make, and live beautifully.
Most guests arrive feeling stretched thin, disconnected from pleasure, or out of touch with their own creativity. They leave with full notebooks, new skills, and a clarity about what a beautiful life actually requires.
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