The Food Gap | Food + Art Retreats

SIENA, ITALY

Spend a week in gorgeous Tuscany at our partner farm spannocchia. Take cooking classes, learn about regenerative farming, take photography and watercolor classes, eat authentic Italian food, and meet a community of food and art-loving people.

What's Included?

Housing, meals, activities, tours, and lessons as well as a meal at a local restaurant. We provide all art materials, food, transportation to and from the Siena train station. Flights and travel insurance are not included.

Where We'll Be

Spannocchia is situated in the gorgeous Tuscan countryside. A short drive from Siena and a 1.5 hour train ride from Firenze, the birthplace of the Renaissance. We are surrounded by nature, home-grown food, and breathtaking art. You'll have the option to share a room or live in your own rustic farmhouse room.

What's A Typical Day Like?

Breakfast is served in the villa dining room from 8:00 to 10:00 am daily. Breakfast includes coffee and teas, breads, fresh fruits, house-made jams and honey, granola, and more. We begin each day with an activity at 9:00 am which typically lasts for 2-3 hours. Lunch is served at 1:00 pm. You can expect in-season produce, salads, sandwiches, soups, and more. In the afternoon we may take a group hike or learn about drawing, painting, or photography. Dinner is made by the Spannocchia chef, Pietrina, and is served at 7:30 pm. You can expect pastas, soups, meats, wood-fired pizza, and new meals daily. Gluten free options are available! After dinner we have free time to hang out as a group, stargaze, or return to our rooms to relax. The classes you will take include a tour of the Spannocchia garden, a pasta-making class, a tour and tasting of Spannocchia’s olive oil production, a foraging class, a tasting and tour of their famous salami, a wine tasting class, and our painting and photography classes.

SUNDAY (DAY 0)

Arrive in Florence. Check into hotel or take the train to Siena (1.5 hours).

MONDAY (DAY 1)

Meet us at the Siena train station! We start the day with lunch at Spannocchia, where we introduce each other and get a welcome tour of the property. You'll learn about Spannocchia' organic vegetable garden, Tuscan wine production, olive oil production, gardening, farming, and Cinta Sinese pigs, which produce specialty Tuscan salami. At the end of the tour, we'll taste Spannocchia's olive oil, wines, and six types of salami!

After the tour, we'll settle into our rooms and have a chance to unpack, unwind, and explore the Castello. Then, we'll meet up again for dinner at 7:30 with the Spannocchia community, where we'll be introduced to their growers, farmers, educators, and staff. We'll try authentic Italian foods and share wine on the terrace. After dinner we'll have free time to catch up on rest or unpack and plan for the week ahead. Participants will be briefed on the week's schedule and given a welcome package of art supplies and Italian foods!

TUESDAY (DAY 2)

We'll start the day with breakfast. Try pastries, fruits and daily specials. At 9:00, we'll start our Traditional Tuscan Cooking Class. We'll start the class with a tour through the vegetable garden, which we'll utilize for our 3-course Tuscan meal. Our instructor will teach us how to make, shape, and cut homemade pasta. Then, we'll cook pork or beef (raised at Spannocchia) with fresh seasonal vegetables for the main course. For dessert, we'll learn how to make a traditional sweet of the instructors choice - tiramisu, cantucci with vin Santo, pine nut cake, or chocolate salami! We'll eat our 3-course meal together for lunch and have an hour to digest before our first art class.

After our first cooking class, we switch gears and become artists for the rest of the day. Jake will lead us through a Digital Photography Class, in which we learn about lighting, composition, and camera basics. Then, we'll explore Spannocchia's property and practice photographing nature, food, animals, and each other!

After we learn all about modern photography, we'll have free time to relax, explore, and practice photography a little more before the sun sets. Dinner is served at 7:30. We'll share a primo piatto (first course) of pasta, soup, risotto, or salad, a secondo piatto (main course) of Spannocchia's farm meat and vegetables, and dolce (dessert) of chocolate salami, tiramisu, baci di serpiolle or zuppa inglese. We'll finish off the night with coffee or a digestif of limoncello.

WEDNESDAY (DAY 3)

We start today off with breakfast until 10:00 am. We'll dig into our favorite foods and share our excitements for the day ahead. At 10:30, we'll take our very first Watercolor Painting Class, led by Evan. We'll go over paper types, brush care, and practice drawing around the farm before diving into painting. Then, we'll learn all about color mixing, layering, shading, and composition. We'll finish our first paintings, which will later hang in the end of week gallery show! Lunch is served at 1:00. We'll share sandwiches, salads, and local specialties after a very creative morning.

After lunch, we head to Spannocchia's Wine Production Class, where we learn about Spannocchia's amazing homemade wines. We’ll learn about their viti and viniculture at the cantina and taste Spannocchia's wines, passito, grape juices, and distillates. We'll walk through the grape vines and have plenty of chances to take photos and find inspiration for our art projects.

After our wine class, we'll relax until dinner and do some more painting and photography. On Wednesdays, Spannocchia serves either a special farm-to-table themed meal (Nostra Cena) or homemade pizza, cooked in a brick oven!

THURSDAY (DAY 4)

After breakfast we'll jump in to Spannocchia's Olive Oil Education and Tasting Class. We'll learn about how olive oil is made, what extra-virgin means, how olive oil has different flavor profiles, much like wine. We'll walk through the olive orchards and learn about olive varieties that Spannocchia grows. We'll end the class with some bites and a run-down of how to taste olive oil the right way. After class, we'll eat lunch and enjoy even more olive oil and house-made products!

In the afternoon, we get a chance to meet Spannocchia's Cinta Senese Pigs. They are a rare breed of pig that dwells in Tuscany, named for their white stripe. They're also at risk for extinction.

We'll learn about the steps Spannocchia is taking to proliferate the breed and how the pigs become a signature Tuscan salami. We'll end the class with a tasting of salumi and a tour of the butcher shop where Spannocchia teaches butchery apprenticeships.

After the tour, we'll have plenty of time to work on our paintings and photography. Then we'll share dinner, where you can expect all the usual favorites as well as new surprises, good conversation, and plenty of wine.

FRIDAY (DAY 5)

We'll enjoy breakfast together and at 9:00 head to our Foraging and Cooking Class in which we'll learn all about how to cook farm-to-table. We'll be led by Daniela Casarin, a member of the Erbandando Association (an organization of women who study wild herbs and their uses inTuscan recipes). We'll learn about harvesting methods and tour the edible goods growing around Spannocchia's property. Then, we'll learn how to make lunch with the ingredients we pick. We'll also tour Spannocchia’s organic vegetable gardens once more and learn about organic and regenerative farming, including no-till, crop rotating, synergetic beds, cover crops, composting, and greenhouse gardening.

You'll learn to make seasonal dishes, which may include nettle crostini, gnocchi with wild fennel pesto, or ravioli filled with herbs in a butter-sage sauce. We'll also make salad and panna cotta with rosemary or lavender. We'll have the rest of the afternoon to paint, take photos, and relax before Saturday's The Food Gap gallery show. For dinner, we'll share another 4-course meal with the Spannocchia community.

SATURDAY (DAY 6)

The last day of our week is all about the art we've made! After breakfast we'll set up our gallery show, and after lunch we'll invite the community to see what we've made. Then, we'll celebrate the end of the week with a dinner in Siena at a delicious Tuscan restaurant. Sunday morning we'll provide transportation to the Siena station and say our goodbyes!