Trust Your Creative Soul: A Watercolor & Life-Changing Retreat in Tuscany
Laura Swartzbaugh & Kathleen Maltese
May 23 - May 30
$4295A Week of Painting, Growth, and Connection Under the Tuscan Sun
“But unless we are creators, we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay, or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living.” ― Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water
Join us for a week of creativity, exploration, and wonder. Kathleen and Laura will lead you in experiences to help you explore the intuitive side of your creative process with an experimental & playful approach. Using guided meditation, journaling, discussion, and painting, we will explore ways to trust yourself more deeply as you create art and your life as a whole.
We’ll share practices that help in those moments of resistance, obstacles, and uncertainty, which we all face, whether that be in art-making or making life decisions. We’ll take time to reflect on (and unlearn) old habits and develop new insight and a deeper level of self-trust in our creative process. We will use non-traditional watercolor painting to tap into our intuitive power to innovate, break through challenges, and truly flourish in our daily lives. (All levels of prior art experience are welcome, including picking up a paintbrush for the very first time!) Most of all, we’ll not take any of this too seriously, embracing the power of child-like play, imagination, and wonder throughout the week. What better place to experience creative inspiration and child-like awe than in Italy?
Throughout the week, we’ll be given a behind-the-scenes look at Tuscan culture, wined and dined with delicious food and drink, and supported by local guides in the great tradition of Il Chiostro workshops. A typical day will include waking up to Tuscan sunrise views, eating a delicious breakfast at our villa, then diving into co-led workshops that blend guided meditation, simple movement warm-up, intuitive painting, reflective journaling, and conversations. We’ll tackle everything from creative resistance to life transitions. Then, depending on the day, we’ll explore on an excursion discovering Tuscany, or you’ll have delicious unstructured time to wander, nap, and/or continue painting at the villa or nearby areas.
Slowing down and noticing what we love and respond to is a key part of this retreat. We will not be rushing to check things off any lists. This will be an immersive experience emphasizing being present, using all of our senses, noticing beauty, and connecting with each other.
An hour before dinner, we will gather for a happy hour of connection, relaxation, and inspiring discussion of the creative process, our paintings, and the power of intuition and self-trust. This hour will be co-led by workshop leaders Kathleen and Laura.
After this hour, we will sit down together to enjoy excellent Italian cuisine and the joy of interesting conversation.
Our “Home” and Shared Meals
In beautiful San Giovanni d’Asso, a thousand-year-old village near Siena, we’ll live in an authentic country farmhouse with gardens, fruit trees, and a swimming pool.
We will be hosted for a week in a genuine, elegantly appointed villa that was at one time home to a noble Italian family. The palazzo includes a formal garden and a private swimming pool with inspiring vistas. Inside, there are 8 twin, double, or single bedrooms in the villa, each with a private bathroom. The rooms are decorated with original, sophisticated family antiques.
Common spaces include 2 elegant living rooms, a terrace overlooking the garden, a large fireplace, a kitchen, and a formal dining room.
The villa is across the street from a castle and within easy walking distance of the small town. You can easily be independent to meet and interact with the locals.
Dinners are prepared by our personal chef using local and seasonal ingredients to make every meal a feast! We’ll eat together in the dining room each evening. Breakfast is served buffet-style.
Other Activities: Excursions to nearby villages and cultural activities will create a complete experience as you expand your artistic skills. Please see examples below of the activities you can experience throughout our adventure:
- Excursions to the medieval towns of Pienza and Montalcino
- Pizza-making night with special guest
- Cheese tasting tour in Pienza
- Visit to nearby botanical gardens, Il Bosco della Ragnaia, created by an artist who turned his talents from painting and sculpture to designing and maintaining this beautiful space
Price: $4,295 p/p based on double occupancy
- Options:
- Single Room Supplement – $485 (limited availability)
$500 deposit due upon registration. Balance due by April 1st, 2026.
Includes:
- Shared double room with private bathroom in villa (single room available for a supplemental fee)
- Daily traditional breakfast and dinner (including wine) prepared by our personal chef
- Daily classes with Laura & Kathleen
- Excursions to nearby towns like Pienza and Montalcino
-
Laura Swartzbaugh Transportation and guide for all local excursions
- Pick up from Florence train station at 3:30 pm on Saturday
- Transfer to the train station in Buonconvento on the final day (not Florence) for connections to Rome, Florence, or beyond
Does Not Include:
- Airfare
- Independent dinners and lunches
- Independent sightseeing
- Gratuities for staff – These are discretionary, but we can suggest €10-20 per guest per day.
To Register: 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 online with a credit card, or you can follow the instructions to send in your registration and payment by mail. 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 before the workshop with information about Italy, a supplies list, and an electronic invoice for the balance. Final Balance is due by April 1st. Any time before 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 the 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.
San Giovanni d'Asso
Where We'll Stay: This is part of our new Il Chiostro Nobile series. We will be hosted for a week in an authentic, elegantly appointed villa that was at one time home to a noble Italian family. The palazzo includes a formal garden and, private swimming pool with inspiring vistas. Inside, there are 8 twin, double, or single bedrooms in the villa, each with a private bathroom. The rooms are decorated in authentic, elegant family antiques.
Common spaces include 2 elegant living rooms, a terrace overlooking the garden, a large fireplace, a kitchen, and a formal dining room.
The villa is across the street from a castle and within easy walking distance of the small town. You can easily be independent to meet and interact with the locals.
The Villa: a 13th-century manor house situated on a hillside in a small town with views of the Val d'Orcia. Owned by the current family for 102 years, it was gracefully restored in the 19th century with comfortable period furnishings. The rooms are bright and airy with high ceilings and beautiful views out to the gardens and the valley beyond. Bedrooms are elegantly appointed, each with a private, modern bathroom. Because we will be the exclusive residents at the villa during the program, the experience will be intimate, like living in our own Italian mansion. Our meals will be shared in the formal dining room, on the terrace, or in the garden. All living quarters of the villa are on the second floor, accessible only via a staircase.
The Grounds: the setting is extraordinary, overlooking the valley towards the Brunello wine country. There is a formal garden with a pool, lounge chairs, a shade arbor, and plenty of seating for outdoor meals. The Villa is an easy walk through the facing castle (now the museum of truffles) to the quiet village of San Giovanni d’Asso.
The villa and grounds consist of:
- 8 twin or double bedrooms, each with a bathroom, either ensuite or next door.
- A dining room and breakfast area
- Large terrace with tables
- 2 sitting rooms
- Wi-fi internet access
- Heat or air conditioning as necessary
- A large private formal garden area with fountains and, seating area
- A private pool at the garden edge with a valley view
- There is a changing room near the pool with a WC
- Air conditioning or ceiling fans in bedrooms
- Very quiet setting in a small village
Additional Photos of San Giovanni d'Asso:
Double bedroom and bathroom
Twin bedroom
Dining Room and Living Room in the Villa
The Town: San Giovanni d’Asso is in the Siena section of Tuscany. It is famous throughout Italy for its production of truffles. Small and quiet with fewer than 1,000 residents, the town has a café, grocery store, 2 restaurants, several historic churches, and a weekly outdoor market. A very special addition is the beautiful botanical gardens “Il Bosco della Ragnaia” (laragnaia.com/EN/) created by an artist who chose to turn his talents from painting and sculpture to designing and maintaining this beautiful space that is open free to the public.
The Area: San Giovanni d’Asso is 30 km southeast of Siena in the area known as the Crete Senese (see photo below). Pienza and Montalcino, and the famous Brunello wine country, are easy day trips.
Florence will be our meeting point on the first day of the workshop. A van will pick up the group at the train station at about 3:30 pm on the first day of the program.
We recommend that you fly into either Florence, Pisa, or Rome (Milan is a bit too far away). Florence is closer, but it doesn`t have an intercontinental airport, so there are no direct flights from the US. You would have to change planes in a larger European city. From the Florence airport, you can take either the shuttle bus (Volainbus) to the center (20 minutes) or the new tram, right outside the airport entrance (€1.50).
There are more scheduled flights from the US to Rome, many of them direct. From Rome, you will need to take a train to Florence (about 2 1/2 hours).
Important! In making your return flight arrangements, if you are flying home on the last day of the workshop, try not to book a flight too early. From our location, allow 1½ hours to get to the Florence airport or 3 ½ hours to get to the Rome airport.
For suggestions about getting to Rome or Florence, accommodations, or other logistics, please consult our Traveling to Italy link in the main menu bar above. Renting a car from all the major rental agencies is possible if you prefer to be more independent during the week.
If you have time, it is a nice treat to stay in Florence before the workshop starts. It gives you a chance to get over jet lag while at the same time allowing you to see this incredible Renaissance City. It is filled with incomparable artwork, architecture, and history - not to mention great shopping. Why not stop in for a few days? (Look at our Travel to Italy tab above for accommodations suggestions.)
Travel Agents & Insurance: Over the last few years, the way we travel has undergone significant changes. For that reason, we now encourage everyone to use a professional travel agent when arranging their trips. Travel agents save you time and stress by handling all the details and tailoring your itinerary to your needs. One of the most important services they offer today is helping you choose and enroll in the right travel insurance program. With COVID and the continued possibility of schedule changes or postponements, travel insurance has become essential, and selecting the right plan on your own can be overwhelming.
If you encounter any issues during your travels, your agent can provide quick support and solutions, taking the pressure off your shoulders. While booking through online sites like Expedia or Hotels.com may seem more convenient or less expensive, they offer little help if you need to modify your plans. A travel professional, on the other hand, is there to assist you every step of the way, ensuring a smooth and worry-free travel experience.
If you choose to Go It Alone, we highly recommend taking out travel insurance for the trip in the event of any unforeseen obstacles to your travel. We recommend Travelex (800) 504-7883 or Travel Guard International (877) 901-7599.
The Food: For us at Il Chiostro, helping our guests experience the food in one of the earth`s richest, most sensual areas is our pleasure. This area is part of Italy's famous wine and olive oil-producing region, but is specifically famous for truffles. Here we want to expose you to the wonders of simple Italian cooking. Each program at our villa in San Giovanni will have a personal chef. They use seasonal, organic products, locally produced by small farms and family shops. Tuscan cuisine is a simple art that has been refined over the centuries to surprise our palates while the wine comforts our souls. Come explore what food can really be all about.
An excerpt from a recent article in the NY Times (February 2013):
The diet that seems so valuable is our old friend the “Mediterranean” diet. It’s as straightforward as it is un-American: low in red meat, low in sugar and hyperprocessed carbs, low in junk. High in just about everything else — healthful fat (especially olive oil), vegetables, fruits, legumes, and what the people who designed the diet determined to be beneficial, or at least less-harmful, animal products; in this case, eggs and low-fat dairy. This is real food, delicious food, mostly easy-to-make food. You can eat this way without guilt and be happy and healthy.
In addition to your workshop, optional activities offered with this program will focus on the cultural, gastronomic, historical, and artistic heritage of Tuscany. This area has been an inspiration to countless people for centuries. What Tuscany offers its visitors is truly astounding:
Art - San Giovanni d`Asso is located near the cities of Medieval Siena and Renaissance Florence, packed with some of the most famous masterpieces in the world.
Wine -You are in the heart of the wine-growing region, synonymous with the most famous wine that Italy produces - Chianti. But the innovative Tuscan vintners are also producing Super Tuscans, red varietals that are quickly ascending the ranks of world-class wine.
History - this area was settled by the Etruscans centuries before the Romans were a civilized society. Their necropoli dot the fields throughout the area. Nearby towns like Radda, Vagliagli, and Castellina date from the early Middle Ages. Florence was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. San Fedele witnessed most of this from its panoramic perch atop the hillside.
Food - cucina povera is the typical Tuscan cuisine that has become popular around the world. The recipes are simple, emphasizing local and seasonal products: porcini mushrooms, salumi, legumes, vegetables, pasta, bread, and game meats. Visiting an outdoor food market, you will understand the wisdom of this very healthy cuisine.
Crafts - perhaps the harmony of the landscape has been the inspiration for many local craftsmen. Exquisite hand-painted ceramics are the prime example, closely followed by mosaics, leather, woodworking, and textiles.
Laura’s childhood memories are filled with the smell of linseed oil & turpentine. Raised the youngest in a family of painters, she decided to rebel by becoming “the smart one.” Receiving her PhD and having her first baby by the time she was 30, she lived most of her 20s-40s as an overachiever, overthinker, and people pleaser. She received her bachelor’s from Carleton College and her PhD from the University of Minnesota in American Studies, focusing her research on the intersection of urban design and social justice. During this time period, Laura also learned painting, printmaking, and ceramics.
After teaching at the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan, Laura decided to become a high school teacher. While she loved teaching and was beloved by her students, she was frequently exhausted and burned out, being a single mom and working full time. In 2018, after 27 years in education, she took the leap and started her coaching business, Laura Scout Coaching. She also returned to her art in 2023, and happily spends every week in the ceramics studio working on her hand-built designs and taking painting classes again.
Today, Laura lives in Chicago with her vizsla Finch. She’s delighted to be retired from teaching and living a life she designed from scratch: working from home, running her coaching business, and being in total control of her daily routine. Other than long daily dog walks, she spends her days in her zone of genius and joy helping women develop certainty, compassion, and trust in themselves. She teaches simple tools based on neuroplasticity to shut down the internal critic voice and develop new habitual ways of thinking. After working with Laura, clients report they feel empowered, motivated, and self-compassionate. They find they are finally able to take concrete action towards their goals (which is much easier when the inner critic is quiet). Her mission is to help as many women fall in love with their authentic selves & build radical self-trust while creating the lives they want instead of the ones they think they should have.
Find out more about Laura at: https://www.laurascout.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-swartzbaugh-ph-d-2335a037/
A lifelong visual artist, Kathleen Maltese received a BFA in painting from the University of Colorado. During her final year of college, she began dance training. After graduation, she pursued dance wholeheartedly – training, performing, improvising, and choreographing in Denver and Boulder for several years. After returning to her hometown of Chicago, she continued her dance career while supporting herself as a zookeeper and exhibit designer, and earning an MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute. Over the next 30 years, she taught people of all ages in dance studios, as an artist integration specialist in Chicago area schools, and at the School of the Art Institute and Columbia College in Chicago.
Though she choreographed and performed her work, and in collaboration with other movement artists, Kathleen’s greatest passion was for improvisation. Kathleen was a founding member of several improvisational dance groups; she taught improvisational performance workshops and performed extensively in the Chicago area. These activities turned out to be perfect preparation for the next chapter of her life. In 2001, she and her husband adopted an infant, which led her to become a high school teacher. For the next 13 years, she taught visual art to teenagers at a public high school. Her improvisational skills, especially the ability to read her audience, to adjust and go with the flow, and to respond authentically, allowed her to excel as a teacher.
Now retired from high school teaching, Kathleen has re-established a daily painting and collage-making practice. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Wisconsin, and Michigan. She currently creates murals and leads painting and collage workshops for adults. Her artistic practice is still deeply informed by dance improvisation. At the heart of her approach are these practices: to replace ambition with curiosity, which allows for freedom to experiment; to follow a path of curiosity without an expected destination; and to joyfully immerse in the process without the imperative to produce a “good” product.
