This workshop has passed.

Autumn Arts Festival-Photography with a Local Photographer – SOLD OUT

Alfredo Falvo

October 20, 2025 - October 28, 2025

$4275

Unfortunately, this workshop is currently full. Click on the “Sign Up Now” button below to add your name to the waiting list.
We will contact you in the event of a cancellation.

Il Chiostro celebrates the harvest time of the year in Tuscany with The Autumn Arts Festival. We offer 3 separate workshops that all overlap throughout this week-long celebration of the arts, the harvest, the wine and this wonderful region of Italy. The workshops are:

Figurative Drawing and Painting with Lynn Stender
Tuscan Culinary and Wine Adventure – with Michael Vignapiano
Watercolor Journaling with Sharon Pitts
Travel Photography with Alfredo Falvo

In addition to your workshop we offer Italian Opera Appreciation lectures with Prof. Patricia Pease each evening before dinner. This is open to all participants.

Program Description – Photography:

Plan your dream vacation – Tuscany, Italy for an exciting 8 days photographing this picturesque region!

Italy, Tuscany is an incomparable place to photograph: landscapes, historic towns and villages, fascinating people, architecture and medieval streetscapes. Come shoot the region with local photographer Alfredo Falvo.

Italy is gorgeous any time of year but the autumn provides some of the best photographic opportunities and we’ll enjoy capturing them all.

Each day you will have a variety of opportunities to visit local towns or to shoot out in nature. Alfredo knows all the best places around Siena, in the Val d’Orcia and in the Chianti hills.

Then when you get back to Dievole he will guide you in meaningful instruction and critiques so that your photography can reach new levels.

Generally, your workshop will shape your activities at the Festival. For example, the cooking class may go olive picking while the painters spend the day in Radda painting the vistas of the Tuscan hills and the photographers travel to Montalcino or Pienza for a full day shoot. Then everyone will return to the winery in the evening for the opera class and dinner together.

What people are saying about previous Autumn Arts Photography Workshops:

“The Il Chiostro photography workshop was the perfect combination of day trips to fabulous destinations throughout Tuscany for hands-on shooting, limited classroom instruction, interaction with the other participants of the Tuscan Cuisine and Painting workshops, and delicious food and drink. It was truly one of my favorite vacations!” — Robert M.

“What a great experience! If you enjoy good food, good wine, a beautiful resort in Tuscany, making new friends, plus advancing your photography skills, this is the adventure for you. ” — Larry N.

Getting low down, photo by Chris Corradino

“Having had the good fortune to be one of the participants in last Fall’s Il Chiostro program in Tuscany, I would say the following: One could not have craved a more felicitous location than Dievole, the winery which hosted the retreat. All the pictures you will see of this estate will underestimate its beauty, which changes with the light, from morning till dusk, a photographer’s dream. The dinners were quite good, and often extraordinary, the breakfasts were extensive and challenged one’s capacity for self control. The accommodations were luxurious. We traveled to a variety of towns and locales within about an hour’s drive from Dievole for photographic opportunities. Our drivers, who doubled as guides and factotums and artists and experts on all things Italian, were folks you would want to keep as friends. They resided with us at Dievole. The staff at the winery were attentive and helpful in that friendly and delightfully informal Italian way. I would highly recommend this workshop to others.” — Robert K

Price: $4,275 p/p

Single supplement – $695 (limited number available)

Includes:

Room (double or suite) with full bathroom
2 meals per day (dinner with wine and full Tuscan breakfast)
Workshop tuition and fees (except where noted)
General activities (except where noted)
Transfers between Siena train or bus station and Dievole

Note: Departure is on morning of Tuesday, October 28th.

General Activities Open to All Participants (in addition to workshop):
Most activities take place in and around the 900 year old Dievole estate & vineyard.

Winery tour and tasting, featuring Dievole’s Chianti Classico
Italian Opera Appreciation classes every evening before dinner
Excursion to Siena
Dinner in the cantina
Various topical excursions with your class
Special evening concerts and surprise entertainment, TBA
Pig Roast celebrating the harvest and the arts

Price does not include:

Airfare
Museum admissions
Gratuities

To Register: just click on the Sign Up Now button. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to secure your spot in the workshop. Payment can be made on line with a credit card or PayPal. Once we receive your deposit we will send you a formal Registration Confirmation with further information about the program. You will receive 2-3 other correspondences by email prior to the workshop with information about Italy, a supplies list and an electronic invoice for the balance. Final Balance is due by September 1st. Any time prior to your arrival, if you have questions about anything regarding the trip or the program, you can contact us by email or phone and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Cancellation policy:

$500 deposit is non-refundable. For cancellation:

60 days prior to workshop, full refund due less non-refundable deposit.
30-60 days prior to workshop, 50% refund of balance paid allowed, less non-refundable deposit.

Less than 30 days prior to workshop, no refund due.
Il Chiostro recommends personal travel insurance to cover the possibility of unexpected or last-minute cancellation.

Contact us for more information: info@ilchiostro.com or speak to us live at 800-990-3506.