Workshops In Tuscany - The Illuminated Page

The Illuminated Page A writing (and reading) retreat in the Tuscan hills Replenish your spirit, cultivate the life of the mind (and the senses), and travel far in your writing. Experience the world and yourself afresh in a week-long writing retreat at Il Rifugio, a 17th-century villa in the Tuscan hills with views across the Chiana Valley. In daily seminars and workshops we will study the craft of writing, and read widely from Italian travel, fiction, and food writers to get our eyes, ears, palate, and minds, not to mention our hands and feet attuned to the surroundings. We’ll mix in some optional art- and ruin-viewing, including explorations of local hill towns, as well as restaurant hopping, open air market browsing, and wine tasting. Most of all, we will cultivate the life of writers abroad, homing in on the art and pleasure of putting words on the page. Your stay in Tuscany will be a rich, multi layered experience. The retreat includes daily seminars, workshops, and individual consultations. The rest of the time is yours for solitude, writing, sketching, day trips (daily options), walking, reading, or musing among the olive trees. Evenings we will gather around the dining room or kitchen table at Il Rifugio or at one of the many superb restaurants in the area. Il Rifugio (www.sojourn-in-italy.com) sits on 23 private hectares (56 acres) of olive and chestnut groves, fields, woodland, and gardens. While secluded and quiet, Il Rifugio is only ten minutes from the cafes, art galleries, and beautiful winding streets of Cortona, an hour from Arezzo, Montepulciano, Pienza, Assisi or Siena, about an hour-and-a-half to Firenze, Orvieto or Todi and, two hours by train to Rome. Il Rifugio is beautifully (and most comfortably) furnished with an artistic eye for the antique and contemporary. It offers places to linger including generous hearths, luxurious reading chairs and divans, a library, and patios with gorgeous views of the cultivated valley below and the hills beyond. Not to mention the beautiful woodland trail above Il Rifugio that ends with a spectacular view of Lake Trasimeno in Umbria. The Illuminated Page: Four- to five-hours of focused writing instruction daily (including guided discussions, workshops, and one-on-one consultations) with award-winning writer devoted to helping you nurture your talents and literary turn of mind. Extensive reading list and Xeroxes of all excerpts provided A thoughtful sampling of the pleasures of Tuscany Seven nights in an exquisite (updated and restored) 17th-century villa, with plenty of opportunities for solitude and sociability (The villa has 5 single or double-occupancy rooms, 4 bathrooms, gourmet kitchen, 3 fireplaces, several common rooms, and a library.) Optional day trips to Cortona and other outings including visits to local museums, hill towns, Etruscan ruins, and art galleries. From cappuccino to vino, from your arrival to your departure, all meals and ground transportation are included

Instructor Kathryn Liebowitz, MFA Kathryn Liebowitz, MFA in writing, MS in education, BA in Fine Arts; award-winning writer of fiction, and freelancer (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) whose work has appeared in many Boston-area publications; a founding editor of Wild Apples, a journal of nature, art, and inquiry; and an experienced writing coach, workshop facilitator, and manuscript editor and reviewer. Find the time and focus on your writing you’ve always longed for in a setting and ambience that will measure up to your dreams. Open to 8 writers (non-writing partners welcome at a discount) For details about The Illuminated Page, a writing (and reading) retreat in Italy, call Kathryn at 978-772-0421, or email: snakehill@net1plus.com	Week-long themes: The focus of the week will be on your writing, I suggest writers choose a single theme or thread to follow daily. Or revive or embark on the writing project of their dreams. Any subject can lead anywhere, from the present into the past and vice versa, or into a timeless reverie, short story, profile, or essay. Nothing is mandatory and prompts are merely suggestions for focus. Possible subjects of focus: What strikes the visitor more forcibly than the Tuscan cuisine, and the style of enjoying a multi-course meal over good wine and better company? Choose a crop or a dish to write about from growing to preparing to enjoying, and weave food writing into memoir, fiction, or essay. Examples provided. Take that long-shelved memoir, novel, or essay collection out of the drawer, or start fresh on something new. Seize this moment for reflection after a life-changing event. There is nothing like stepping into a foreign country and nowhere like Italy to revive the spirits and put a spin on loss, change, and new beginnings. Take in the atmosphere and occurrences in a particular place daily. Notice how your observation of details deepens. Take it a step further. Set your writing (novel, article, essay, short story, memoir) against an Italian backdrop. Listen to dialogue and observe characters to create scenes drawn from life but extended and made wonderful through imaginative embellishments. Choose a particular time of day and observe what occurs: the slant of light, the conversations, stillness, pulse of life. Become intimate with a particular work of art, shrine, building, or artist, and take this affinity and interest a step further. Notice architectural details: stairways, doorways, windows, door knobs, walls – and use your focus as a launching place for a narrative (essay, short story, creative nonfiction) Work with memoir, letting moments in the present open up into the past. At the end of the week, writers will have five or more “takes” or written snapshots of several pages each on a given subject or theme to draw from upon returning home. The aim is to cultivate the habit of writing fresh, of developing obsessions unique to your voice and sensibilities, of probing a subject, and looking at (and listening to, tasting, etc.) things from different angles and in different lights.

Itinerary	Our intellectual itinerary will focus on the art, history, culture, and the cuisine of Tuscany. Opportunities to write will abound. Our days will include optional jaunts to Cortona, visits to museums and ruins, trips to outdoor markets and neighboring hill towns, as well as time to write, read, walk, and partake of the pleasures of daily life in Italy. Every day begins with breakfast Italian- (or American-) style with coffee and tea, juice, fresh baked pastries and bread, eggs, hot and cold cereals, yogurt, fruit, etc. Coffee and tea, fruit, and other snacks will be available all day; lunch and dinner will include meals at Il Rifugio and at various local restaurants; wine, too, will flow, after a civilized hour…. Most of our writing workshops and discussions will take place after lunch, while Italy takes a siesta. Please note the itinerary is subject to change.

Arrival Day	We welcome you to Il Rifugio! We will meet you at the train station in Terontola or Camucia, and bring you to Il Rifugio, a ten-minute drive from Cortona. After a snack and settling in, enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres by the fire or on the patio, followed by traditional Tuscan dinner, time to get acquainted, and catch up on sleep. As we set forth on this retreat, we will discuss details of life and travel in Italy, and finally adjourn to bed…

Day One	Travel Writing – Weaving history, sense of place, time, and season We will look at ways writers catch the essence of place, time and season, use history to illuminate the present through anecdotes, and weave research into their writing. Short excerpts from the following classics of the genre: Sea to Sardinia, by DH Lawrence., A Traveler in Rome, by H.V. Morton, Stones of Florence, by Mary McCarthy. Finally, just for fun, we’ll take a brief look at the lives and work of English writers in Italy – Shelley, Byron, Keats, and Margaret Fuller. All extraordinary writers who died young and in Italy. A visit to neighboring hill towns will be in the offing. Short writing sprints and workshop. In the evening we will discuss individual projects, themes, and inclinations, and enjoy dinner at one of the area’s best restaurants.

Day two	Italian Fiction We will look at excerpts from Gioia Timpanelli’s Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily, Natalia Ginzburg’s The Family, and Lampedusa’s The Leopard in light of various stylistic devices used to evoke the past, create fluency, exploit the power of detail, specificity, and well-paced dialogue. Playful writing prompts, workshop, and individual consultations. A leisurely visit to Etruscan ruins around Cortona and Castiglion Fiorentino, followed by Tuscan dinner at Il Rifugio.

Day Three	Oh Taste and See – Food Writing (Essay and Memoir) Good writing depends on evocation of the senses, which in turn stirs memories and other revelations. Recollect a memorable meal and a rush of associations, impressions, and images will follow. We will read excerpts from essays and memoirs that tell a tale of food and life combined. Discussion, off-the-cuff writing, and sharing work, as well as individual conferences; followed by wine-tasting in an art gallery and dinner in Cortona.

Day Four	All yours Travel as far and wide as you please – day trips to Roma, Assissi, Orvieto, Arezzo, Perugia, and Firenze, and others are quite doable by train or bus. Or stay closer to home to write or explore. There’s always the magic carpet of your own words to carry you aloft, as well as museums, shrines, and cafés just down the road in Cortona. All local transportation to Cortona and nearby train or bus stations will be provided. Individual consultations offered throughout the day.

Day Five	The Illuminated Page Today, we reverse the order of things to begin with a breakfast writing workshop (with a focus on our own words). Then, a discussion on looking out / looking in; exploring the personal on the page through self-observation; as well as character portrayal and development. Lunch at Il Rifugio. An option to take in Tuscan textiles and the domestic arts. The day ends with a slide show of medieval arts, followed by an exquisite dinner at Il Rifugio based on carefully researched medieval dishes.

Day Six	Last Words Morning visit to St. Francis’s cell; writing discussion: sacred spaces: within and without. Lunch in Cortona. Writing consultations offered throughout the day. In the afternoon, we will share work-in-progress and plans for future writing, followed by a splendid banquet at Il Rifugio, as well as readings and conversation that bring this week-long retreat to a close. Let’s celebrate this gift of time and new perspective.

Departure Day	Breakfast and departure at 10:00 AM - We bid you a reluctant "arrivederci". Transfer from IL Rifugio to Cortona or the train station will be provided. Arrangements to spend an extra night can be made for individuals whose flights depart on Sunday.

Workshop Dates	Please contact us for workshop dates.

Cost & Conditions	The cost of the week-long program is $2,800. Please see the Planning section for very important pre-registration information.