2023 Italy Retreat Details

We hope you are enjoying a wonderful Saturday!

We arrived in Venice, Italy on Thursday night and are taking a couple days to relax and wander around the streets and bridges of Venice. We’ve already ran into a friend from Bellagio, had dinner at a favorite place from last year and enjoyed a min concert in St. Marco Square! Venice is always so beautiful, but it’s wonderful to see it so full of life again. (Although we will always remember the quiet streets of Venice last year and realize how incredible it was to have had Venice almost to ourselves…)

We are headed to Bellagio tomorrow though, and thought we’d take today and give you all the details of our 2023 retreat(s) in Italy so you can start praying and planning to join us next year!

We’ve had a lot of women contact us this year about our retreats and we thank each one of you. I know there are so many options out there for you to choose from, and we feel so honored and blessed that you would consider joining our retreats.

So I think today is a good day to explain in detail what our retreats encompass, as well as show you what’s included in the cost.

It’s hard to sum up what our retreats are all about, but I’ve tried to do this in my prayers and Bible Study time with the Lord because I want to make sure we are heading the call of His will for these retreats. And what I keep coming back to is this:

My heart is to make our retreats beautiful and biblically sound.

Hosting beautiful retreats on Lake Como is pretty easy… just look at all our photos! We know this is one of the most beautiful places God has created, so showing you all the incredible places on the lake and pointing you to the One who created it all is a joy for us! The “biblically sound” part is the part that I’ve really had to grow and learn what that should look like. I’ve shared this many times before, and you can go back and find old blog posts about it, but I know these retreats are all for the purposes of God. I know He has called us to do these retreat to grow each person in their faith, and to draw us closer to Him during this time together. He’s pressed upon my heart that it’s ALL about Him, and I am simply “setting the table” for His will to be done. So combining “art & faith” in our retreats is at the core of what they represent. Our job is to point you to our Creator through His Creation and let that inspire the creativity He has formed within each of us.

Each year that looks a little different with the theme He brings to the retreat and the people who feel lead to join us. But no matter what we do or who is with us, we know He has a reason for all of it, and it’s for His glory and honor that we love to serve you at these retreats He’s give us to host.

All we ask is that each one of you considering this retreat will also pray that the Lord would make it clear to you if He wants you to be there. Because we know He does this in amazing ways, and the connections that He ordains during these retreats last a lifetime! It’s part of what makes me cry every year. Knowing that these connections were destined before we were even born continues to grow my awe of our God each time! I see how the theme He provides us and the women He brings are so intricately woven together and I am amazed… and you will be too.

We are currently praying through what next year will look like, because lately I’ve been feeling like we should offer TWO retreats in Bellagio!

And that is where we would LOVE some input from you!

We know we are called to host a retreat with the continued theme of : “The Art of Sharing your Story” from this year, but with a writing emphasis. This will include classes on writing, talks with a published author and much more on “The Art of Writing Your Story.”

And, we are also praying about adding another retreat that will be more focused on art, with a fine art teacher from Italy! I would love to work with acrylic again, or see if we can work in oils, so I am currently seeking out a teacher that could show us one of these mediums during this week.

If you could help us and let us know what retreat you’d like to join, that would really help us out with the planning!

June 3-10 is already scheduled for our weeklong Art & Faith Creative Retreat

AND

We are tentatively scheduling the Art & Faith Writing Retreat for May 27 - June 3.

Now if you want to attend both, there’s never a problem with being in Italy for TWO weeks, right? hahaha

To explain a bit more about our retreats… This years retreat will be the first of “The Art of Sharing Your Story” and I am a bit nervous and excited to share that this has been the deepest dive in Scripture I have ever done for a retreat!

In fact, this Bible Study has been turned into a BOOK that is making it’s way to us in Italy very soon! (Prayers appreciated for that) A dear friend has helped this dream come to a reality and I would love for you to go give her some love on her social media! Her name is Janna Wilson and she is in the world of editing/publishing/printing, and she was truly a gift from above as I was trying to figure out how to create this study! I can’t WAIT to share this book with you, and after this year’s retreat is over, I’ll hopefully have a few copies to add to our shop here on our website if you’d like to grab a copy.

And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the gorgeous meals we enjoy together at our retreats too! Out of the 7 nights we are together, we enjoy 6 nights at some of the best restaurants on the Lake, if not in all of Italy! And this guy right here is one of the best! Luigi came into his own restaurant at the age of 18, a gift from his father because he was such a talented chef from an early age. He has won “Top Chef” of Italy and even has a TV show and travels to America and other countries to host incredible dinner parties! This is just one of the many memorable meals you will enjoy and dream about long after you are home. I’d share more about the other meals, but some things are worth the surprise…

Not only will you travel to Italy, enjoy time with new friends, have incredible meals, create art and delve into God’s Word as you experience the beauty of Lake Como, Italy… these are some of the faces of dear friends we’ve come to love and bring into your lives as well. Elisabetta and Silvana are mother/daughter “Mamma Chefs” that have a home cooking class that we know you will love!

Joining our retreats is like stepping into a big Italian family reunion, because we have so much “family” there that we know God has brought into our lives to share with you, and it’s part of the reason so many women who come on our retreats feel like they haven’t just traveled to Italy… they’ve fallen in love with the people of Italy as well.

I could probably talk all day about this place we’ve come to love and how special it is. I’d also love to share with you how we feel the Lord is leading us to make this place our home in the near future as well, because that is all more of the testimony God is writing… But I’ll leave that for another time. Maybe when we are IN Italy together?!

So now let’s talk about the details for next year.

We’d love to hear your feedback on which retreat you’d like to join. If you’d prefer one over the other, and if those dates will work for you. Again, we are still in the planning stages for TWO retreats, but the first dates would be for the writing retreat and the second dates would be for the art retreat. But for BOTH, the prices remain the same and the itinerary will be very similar as well.

Here's a preview of what the WeeklongArt & Faith Creative Retreat in Italy will include:

• 7 nights at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni Apartments*

• Private Transfer to and from the Milan Malpensa Airport

• Welcome Reception and Aperitivo on the Grand Hotel’s Lakefront Terrace

• Tour of Bellagio and Villa Melzi with a beloved local tour guide

• Morning devotions on the terrace of our hotel, or on our morning walks

• Art Classes (and class materials) in the Grand Hotel’s Event Room & out in Nature

• Private Boat Tour to explore Lake Como and it’s hidden treasures

• Lakeside Lunch in a private cove across from the only island on the lake

• Private Cooking Class or Kayaking Tour

• Tour of Villa Balbianello and it’s gardens on Lake Como

• Gourmet Food & Wine Tasting with a dear friend who curates the best of the best of Italy

• Photography class to help capture the beauty of Italy in our photos

• Ferry Trip to another village on the Lake to explore and enjoy a different scenery

• 6 Dinners in gorgeous locations around Lake Como

• 5 Lunches together as we explore beautiful little villages dotted along the lake

• 2 Breakfasts together during our time in Bellagio

• Taxi's and Ferry’s to and from our meals and excursions

• Gifts and Food in your apartment upon arrival

• Hotel city tax and room taxes included

• FUN SURPRISES throughout the week

• Grand Finale last night in Bellagio

• Plus time to relax and stroll the cobblestone streets

• And…an unforgettable experience in Italy you will treasure forever!!

Not included:  Air Fare, Trip Insurance and meals not listed

*Please let us know if you have any walking restrictions and will be switch you to Hotel Florence, which is lakefront and does not require walking up a hill to your accommodations.

Price for the 7 night retreat in Bellagio, Italy:  $4,250 (double occupancy) Please contact us if you would like single occupancy.

Registration will open on June 18th at 8am EST. (We messed up on the date on our last blog post, so please make note of the new date. We said it would open on the last day of THIS years retreat, but we actually put the date of the START of this years retreats on accident.)

If you’re interested in seeing a detailed Itinerary from this years retreat, let us know and we can send that to you. It will give you a pretty good idea of what the our week will look like next year and how the days are organized at our retreats.

We’ve had a lot of interest in our retreats this year, and we thank you so much for that! I have tried to add everyones email address to our list that requested information, but I apologize if I didn’t get everyone on there. If you know of someone who would like to receive our emails, please let us and know and we’d be happy to add them.

We will be posting lost of pictures, stories and Reels on our Instagram from THIS years retreat, and it will give you a glimpse into what it would be like to join us next year. We’d love for you to follow along at: artandfaithcreative and we’d also love for you to share about our retreats on social media if you feel lead to.

Thank you again for prayerfully considering our retreats and we can’t wait to see what the Lord has for us to do next year… in Italy!

Hugs to all,

Laura