La Romita: Creating Art in a 16th-Century Italian Monastery

La Romita is an artist retreat program that has been hosting creative professionals in a 16th-century Franciscan monastery in Umbria, Italy for over 60 years. Located among olive groves and rolling hills in the heart of central Italy—the region that gave birth to the Renaissance—La Romita offers 10-day retreats for small groups of up to 10 artists, providing the rare opportunity to live and create in a historic setting of extraordinary beauty and cultural significance.

Unlike many residency programs that focus on providing studio space and professional development, La Romita is designed as a creative retreat—an immersive experience where the setting itself is the primary inspiration. The monastery's ancient stone walls, the Umbrian landscape visible from every window, the quality of Mediterranean light, the sounds of church bells and birdsong, and the rhythms of Italian rural life create an environment that artists have found creatively transformative for more than six decades.

The program is self-directed, with no structured instruction, mandatory critiques, or required presentations. Artists arrive with their supplies and creative vision, and they work according to their own rhythms in a supportive, intimate community. The emphasis is on providing the time, space, and inspiration for creative work rather than on formal education or professional advancement.

The Monastery and Its Setting

The La Romita monastery was built in the 16th century as a Franciscan religious house, and its architecture reflects the austere beauty of that tradition—thick stone walls, arched doorways, tiled floors, and simple, elegant proportions. The building has been carefully maintained and adapted for use as an artist retreat while preserving its historic character. Working in a space with five centuries of history creates a sense of connection to the long tradition of creative and contemplative practice that has characterized Italian monastic life.

The monastery sits in the Umbrian countryside, surrounded by olive groves, vineyards, and the rolling green hills that have made this region one of the most painted landscapes in European art history. Umbria—often called the "green heart of Italy"—is less touristed than neighboring Tuscany but equally beautiful, with a landscape characterized by medieval hilltop towns, ancient forests, and agricultural terraces that have been cultivated for millennia.

The Mediterranean light that floods the monastery and its surroundings is a significant part of the retreat's appeal for visual artists. The quality of light in central Italy—warm, clear, and constantly shifting with the time of day and season—has drawn painters to this region for centuries, from the Renaissance masters who first captured it on canvas to the plein air painters who continue to seek it out today. For photographers, the interplay of light and shadow on ancient stone architecture and rolling landscape provides endless compositional possibilities.

The Daily Experience

Life at La Romita follows a rhythm that balances creative solitude with communal warmth. Mornings typically begin with breakfast in the monastery's dining area, followed by a full day of self-directed creative work. Artists have access to private work spaces within the monastery as well as common areas and outdoor spaces where they can paint, draw, photograph, or write.

There is no structured schedule beyond mealtimes. Some artists work intensively from dawn to dusk. Others alternate between creative work and exploration of the surrounding landscape. Some sketch in the olive groves. Others set up easels in medieval piazzas in nearby towns. The freedom to structure your own time is central to the La Romita philosophy.

Meals are traditional Italian cuisine, prepared with local ingredients and served family-style in the monastery's communal dining room. These shared meals are one of the retreat's most cherished features—they create natural gathering points where artists come together for conversation, cultural exchange, and the kind of unhurried social interaction that is increasingly rare in contemporary life. The food itself is a form of cultural immersion, introducing participants to the regional dishes, local wines, and culinary traditions of Umbria.

Optional excursions take participants to nearby medieval towns, art museums, churches with significant frescoes, and scenic locations throughout Umbria. The region is rich in art historical sites—Assisi, with its Giotto frescoes in the Basilica of St. Francis, is nearby, as are Spoleto, Orvieto, Perugia, and dozens of smaller towns with Romanesque churches, Renaissance paintings, and Etruscan ruins. These excursions provide both artistic inspiration and cultural context, connecting the retreat experience to the broader history of art and creativity in central Italy.

The Intimate Community

La Romita's small group size—a maximum of 10 artists per retreat—creates an intimacy that larger residency programs cannot replicate. In a group this small, every participant is known personally by every other participant. Conversations go deeper. Relationships form more quickly. The sense of shared experience is stronger.

The intimate scale also means that the retreat feels more like a gathering of friends than an institutional program. There are no administrators managing schedules, no program officers evaluating outcomes, no formal structures mediating interactions between participants. The community is organic and self-organizing, shaped by the personalities and interests of the specific group of artists who happen to be present.

Many La Romita alumni describe the friendships formed during the retreat as among its most lasting benefits. The shared experience of creating art in an extraordinary setting, combined with the daily rhythms of communal meals and conversation, creates bonds that frequently endure long after the retreat ends. Alumni groups often maintain contact, share work, and even organize reunions.

The Creative Impact

Artists who attend La Romita consistently report that the experience had a significant impact on their creative practice. The combination of an inspiring historic setting, the beauty of the Umbrian landscape, the quality of Mediterranean light, the freedom from daily obligations and distractions, and the supportive community of fellow artists creates conditions that are unusually conducive to creative breakthroughs.

For plein air painters and photographers, the landscape and light provide subject matter of extraordinary richness. For writers, the contemplative atmosphere of the monastery and the sensory richness of Italian rural life provide material and inspiration. For mixed-media artists and those working in drawing or printmaking, the textures, colors, and forms of the historic architecture and natural landscape offer endless visual stimulation.

Beyond specific creative output, many participants report that La Romita changed their relationship to their own creative practice. The experience of devoting 10 uninterrupted days to art—without the competing demands of work, family, and daily logistics—reminds artists of why they create and reconnects them with the intrinsic motivation that sustains creative practice over a career.

Practical Details

There is no application fee. The retreat fee varies by season and room type but includes accommodation in the monastery, all meals, and organized activities and excursions. Artists are responsible for their own travel to Italy and art supplies. Payment plans are available for some sessions, making the retreat more accessible to artists who cannot pay the full fee upfront.

The application process is simple—La Romita operates on a first-come, first-served basis rather than a competitive selection process. With only 10 spaces per retreat, sessions fill quickly, and early application is recommended. The program welcomes artists at all experience levels and working in all visual arts media, as well as writers and other creative professionals.

Who Should Consider La Romita

Visual artists seeking inspiration from Italian landscape, light, and culture will find La Romita's setting uniquely stimulating. Painters, photographers, and drawers who work from observation will find endless subject matter in the monastery's surroundings.

Artists seeking creative renewal after periods of burnout, creative block, or the accumulated fatigue of balancing art with other life demands will find that La Romita's combination of beauty, community, and freedom provides the reset they need.

Artists who value cultural immersion and want their creative retreat to include authentic engagement with Italian food, history, architecture, and rural life will find La Romita far more enriching than a generic studio residency.

The Bottom Line

La Romita offers something that no amount of studio time or professional development can replicate: the experience of creating art in a setting of extraordinary historic beauty, surrounded by a small community of fellow artists, immersed in the landscape and culture that inspired the Renaissance. For over 60 years, artists have found that 10 days at La Romita transforms not just their work but their relationship to their own creative practice. It is a retreat in the truest sense—a stepping away from ordinary life into a space where art and beauty are the primary concerns.