A prickle in my heart a.k.a an Italian writing retreat

How one weekend can take you out of your every day world and transport you into a creative wonderland.

A year or so ago, a lovely lady called Marta from Grapefruit Luxury Retreats found me on the internet and asked, “Would you like to run a retreat in Italy?”

Photo by Travis De Vries

The pinwheels in my head began to whir. “Well, now you mention it …”

One thing after the other fell into place, and next thing I knew, I’d booked three nights at a beautiful eight-bedroom Tuscan villa, two US agents had put up their hands to come along, and one had suggested her client, a well-known Italian illustrator, join us to run workshops.

The retreat sold out overnight, pretty much, and I have been looking forward to it ever since.

A week before the retreat, I spoke to the villa’s owner, Laura, who advised me that a 6.30pm dinner was too early to eat in Italy, and no, 7am breakfast would be unacceptable. “It’s Italy!” She also confessed to having, “a prickle in her heart” about meeting us. Finally, after a year, our retreat was happening.

We arrived at Ancora Del Chianti Friday afternoon. Laura came running down the stairs to hug me and greet our guests. We had drinks while the sun set that evening and over dinner, our guests introduced themselves.

Photos by Travis De Vries

The next morning, US literary agents, Lori Kilkelly and Ammi-Joan Paquette arrived and shared their knowledge about the industry. They spent the afternoon running group and one-on-one critique sessions.

That evening, Gaia Bordicchia, the Italian illustrator, arrived and we all went into Greve for dinner at Gallo Nero.

Gaia ran a beautiful collage workshop the next morning, and after lunch, our guests painted, wrote and helped each other with their stories.

At our farewell dinner that night, Laura gifted us the presents she’d made each of us and cried as she thanked us for being there. Her son, meanwhile, served a delicious three course meal.

I wasn’t expecting the retreat to exceed my expectations, but it certainly did. The location, the warmth of the group, the friendships made … It’s hard to put in words how magical this alchemy is. But then again, a group of people had set aside a weekend and traveled across the world to nurture their creativity. There’s got to be something pretty special about that.

I’m still glowing and my heart is still prickling when I think about what a wonderful weekend we had.

Next year’s retreat will be longer, with more local activities, and we’ve already had several spots reserved. I’ll release details soon, but if you want to be the first to know, please reply to this post and I’ll add you to the waitlist.