Umbria Hand-Stitching Retreat

The medieval hilltop town of Assisi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famed as the birthplace of St. Francis. Built with iconic pink and white stone on Mount Subasio, its steep, narrow streets are dominated by the massive Basilica of St. Francis. This morning, we enjoy a walking tour with our local guide, visiting the Old Town, Chiesa Nuova (New Church), built on the site of the presumed birthplace of St. Francis, and the Basilica of St. Clare, dedicated to Clare of Assisi, a follower of St. Francis.

This afternoon, we return to the hotel for our first hand-stitching workshop with Janet Clare.

The charming town of Città di Castello is known for its medieval streets, Renaissance palaces and lively piazzas, Set along the Tiber River and surrounded by gentle hills, the town blends history, culture and a relaxed Umbrian atmosphere, There is rich artistic heritage linked to figures like Raphael and the contemporary artist Alberto Burri.

Alberto Burri (1915–1995) was one of Italy’s most influential modern artists and a key figure in post-war abstract art. He is best known for his radical use of unconventional materials to create powerful, textured works. Our guided tour of the city today includes entrance to the two venues of the Burri Foundation: Palazzo Albizzini and Seccatoi del Tabacco. Palazzo Albizzini is a late 15th-century building, chosen by Burri to establish a private foundation to permanently house a body of his works. The museum, opened to the public in 1981, has 150 works on display covering a period from 1948-1989.

The Seccatoi del Tabacco (former tobacco drying houses), built immediately after the war to dry tropical tobacco, were abandoned in 1966. In the late 1970s Burri identified one of the warehouses as his studio, eventually purchasing the remaining warehouses and opening the second venue of the Burri Foundation in 1990. The 128 works on display here cover the period between 1979 and 1993.

We will also visit Museo Tela Umbra (Umbria Textile Museum). The museum preserves and celebrates the tradition of hand-weaving linen and textiles, established in 1908, when the Tela Umbra workshop was founded by Alice Hallgarten and Baron Leopoldo Franchetti to revive historic Umbrian textile arts and provide meaningful work and education for local women. Here we’ll see examples of linen fabrics, decorated tablecloths, tapestries, lace and other hand-woven textiles illustrating Umbrian craftsmanship, along with antique weaving tools, spinning wheels and manual looms used in the textile process. The Tela Umbra workshop still operates here, producing handcrafted linen textiles using traditional methods.

Enjoy a full-day hand-stitching workshop with Janet at the hotel.

Perugia is the capital of Umbria. Perched on a hilltop, the city is famous for its medieval streets, historic buildings and stunning views of the surrounding countryside. Our guided tour of the city will include a visit to Museo Atelier Giuditta Brozzetti. Housed in the former Church of San Francesco delle Donne (St Francis of Women), Atelier Giuditta Brozzetti, one of the last handweaving workshops in Italy, was founded at the start of the 20th Century with the aim of revitalizing Umbria's glorious textile tradition. During our guided tour of the museum, we’ll learn about the history of the Umbrian textile tradition with a practical demonstration of handweaving on original looms from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Perugia is also famous for its chocolate heritage. We’ll visit an artisan chocolate maker in the heart of Perugia’s historic centre for a tasting before we return to Assisi.

Our first stop on today’s excursion is Passignano, a picturesque town on the shores of Lake Trasimeno. From here, we will take a boat to Isola Maggiore, the second-largest island on the lake and the only one inhabited all year round. We’ll visit the Museo del Merletto (Lace Museum) housing a precious collection of Irish lace artifacts created by the skilled hands of the island's women during the 20th century. Elena Guglielmi, daughter of Marquis Giacinto, and her sister-in-law, Duchess Grazioli Lante della Rovere, lady-in-waiting to Queen Elena, founded a school-workshop to teach the art of Irish lace, aiming to provide new economic opportunities for the women of the island. These women, daughters and wives of fishermen, already skilled in making fishing nets, quickly learned the secrets of this new craft, producing high-quality lacework that provided employment for many women and became a valuable resource for the local economy. The school closed in the 1930s, but the production of Irish lace on the island resumed in 1963 when a workers' co-operative for the production and sale of lace was established.

We’ll also stop in Panicale to visit Museo del Tulle (Tulle Embroidery Museum). The art of embroidery on tulle was practiced until 1872 in Panicale by the nuns of the Collegio delle Vergini and their pupils. In the 1930s Anita Belleschi Grifoni founded a school and created the Ars Panicalensis brand. Aside from the purely commercial aspect, the Grifoni school’s goal was to guarantee a certain level of economic independence and personal fulfilment to the local women. Ars Panicalensis became famous among Italian nobility and the upper bourgeoisie, who commissioned tablecloths, trousseau fabrics and wedding dresses from Anita’s school of embroiderers. The museum displays several examples of the embroidered tulle, each one with surprising and beautiful embroidery designs and each made for a specific use.

We include another full-day hand-stitching workshop with Janet at the hotel.