Tuscany, Italy
Living the Creative Life
May 24 – 31, 2025
““Thank you for providing the most beautiful backdrop imaginable and a trusted space in which to create.”
“Bring your open heart, your courage, your pain and your joy. Expect magic!”
“If you desire transformation, attend this retreat. Expect vulnerability to arise in the safety of a caring group. Expect to be opened wide so that your writing voice has space from the clutter to sing!”
“Very special group retreat to nourish your creativity.” ”
BRAND NEW FOR TUSCANY 2025:
Two fun activities! For those of you who traveled with us in 2024, we know you loved our 2024 tenth anniversary Tuscany trip, and thanks for your wonderful words of praise and insight—we are adding two new events for 2025:
A wine tasting experience
Transportation to enjoy a full day exploring gorgeous Siena, a nearby classic medieval Tuscan city!
THE LOCATION
Whether it’s our morning yoga or your own personal sunrise meditation, the sprawling Tuscan hills never fail to inspire and stir our creative spirit.
The Castelnuovo Tancredi estate extends for over 600 hectares. It sits proudly on the rolling Sienese hills within the slopes of Montalcino on the border between the Val d'Orcia and the Val d'Arbia.
The Venturini del Greco family has owned the estate since 1897. They have succeeded in the difficult task of keeping the flavor and tradition of the past intact by modernizing all the agricultural activities.
The estate produces organic whole meal flours as well as organic extra virgin olive oil and excellent wines.
We held our first retreat in Tuscany in May of 2014. Not so much a retreat as it was a gathering of some of our favorite people in a beautiful location to do some writing and sharing. We could not have imagined that 11 years later we would still be enjoying the gift of travel, of connection, of friendships, of out of this world talent, and best of all WE’RE STILL WRITING!
So last year we booked a stunning property for our 10th Anniversary retreat. It could not have been more ideal for us so we booked it again for 2025.
Allow yourself to fall in love with Castelnuovo. You will thank yourself.
The Castelnuovo Tancredi estate
THE RETREAT
Wide Open Writing retreats focus on Living Your Creative Life. With daily morning yoga, two writing workshops per day, several evening salons, and one-on-one sessions upon request, we offer the components for a transformative experience. Immersing ourselves in all that the Italian countryside has to offer, we make space and opportunity to break away from the routines that form ‘regular’ life, giving you the chance to connect with your senses and transform your writing.
We will be writing and nurturing our creative selves for eight days and seven nights. You don’t need to bring a novel plot or an exact idea of what you want to be working on. We will be working with prompts designed to help you find your story. And if you do have a project in mind you want to be working on, our daily writing and feedback sessions will allow you to enrich the components of your writing. In either case, you’ll be moving toward the power and the passion in your writing. Our model for feedback is designed to empower what is strong and authentic in your writing in order to move your work forward meaningfully. Ultimately, that is why we write, why we create.
The mild Italian spring days are long and warm and our schedule allows plenty of time for playing, hiking, exploring, finding some shade to hide out with a book, and, of course, writing. Flowers in bloom and cool nights all make for a perfect setting for inspiration and creativity.
DULCIE WITMAN A founder of WOW, and a founding editor of Minerva Rising, Dulcie has had work published in The Pitkin Review, Rawboned and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing in Eindhoven, Netherlands with Watershed at their summer program, Camp Cushy. She completed a novel, Crooked Love, and is currently working on a professional memoir, Confessions of a Therapist. She believes sharing creative space gives power to the connections that fuel the creative process – giving life to something that wasn’t there before.
NANCY COLEMAN Being in Nancy’s yoga class is not unlike listening to her read something she just wrote – feeling alive with the ocean, wind and hardscrabble earth, and, at the same time, what it is to be human, right here, right now. Nancy is a writer of songs, poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and now with a full-length fiction manuscript, I See My Light Come Shining, in consideration for publication. She’s had work published in The Sun, Minerva Rising, and in the compilation, Maine Voices.
COST
Prices include 7 nights of exclusive use at the recently renovated borgo, all workshop fees, group transportation by private coach to and from the Florence airport, breakfast, lunch, and dinner (including wine), wine tasting, and optional daily yoga.
Single Deluxe Room - $5200
Single Room - $4800
Double Room - $4200
If you would like to register, a non-refundable deposit of $1000 is required to secure your spot. Please sign up soon if this retreat interests you as these spots tend to fill up quickly.
BEDROOMS and BATHROOMS:
The retreat takes place in a villa, which is a gracious home, and the bedrooms and bathroom layout reflect large family living. There are 10 bedrooms, and 6 baths:
Single Deluxe 1 is the only private room with a completely private ensuite bathroom
Single Deluxe 2 is a private room, with an ensuite bathroom which is “Jack and Jill” shared with a double room
Single Rooms 1-4 are all private rooms with shared bathrooms
Double Rooms are all shared bedrooms, shared bathrooms
Please select from the available rooms below as you make your deposit.
All rooms are first deposited, first served:
CANCELLATION POLICY
Deposits and full payments are non-refundable.
If you have any questions about whether or not this retreat is for you, please contact us. We would be happy to answer your questions or even put you in touch with a past participant.