Write at Garavicchio 2026 is centred on 5 days of morning workshops and writing sessions with Julian and Miranda. These will help you reflect on, and try out new approaches to, your writing, using exercises to generate new writing habits and active reading from published writers to understand how they succeed (and sometimes don’t). The workshops will often be activity-based – you’ll go on an observational spree to the area’s best market, make pasta with Rachel Roddy and visit Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden, inspired by Gaudí’s Parc Güell – because we believe being attentive to all our senses makes us better writers.
In the afternoons you’ll have the opportunity for one-to-one tutorials with Julian and Miranda, and have plenty of time for writing and reading and exploring, relaxing and swimming. The 900-year-old hill town of Capalbio is nearby, the beach at Ultima Spiaggia is a ten-minute drive away, and the villa has a fabulous pool. And in the evenings the conversations and thoughts of the day will spill over into aperitivi and dinner, cooked by Viviana and Emanuela, on the villa’s sofa-strewn covered terrace.
The last two days of your stay will be unstructured and free for you to continue with your writing (with the tutors on hand), and for tourism, conversation, and enjoying the fruits of your hard work!
Living
We’ll work, eat and relax at the charming, beautifully designed villa – former farmhouse of the Garavicchio estate – of the Italian writer Marella Caracciolo Chia. The villa has five double bedrooms with bathrooms and six further bedrooms are in another spacious villa a short walk away. Marella’s light-filled, elegant sitting room is the ideal place for reading and quiet reflection, and the covered terrace, with wonderful views to the coast, is airy and big enough to work alongside your fellow writers. A few steps down from the house is the sheltered large pool with more seating (and lying) areas. All meals, including wine, are included, apart from any meals we may have when on an excursion.
Location
Garavicchio is on the Tyrrhenian coast, a few kilometres from Capalbio. It’s about an hour and a half’s drive north from Rome, two and a half hours from Pisa, and 50 minutes from Grosseto. Regular trains also run along the coast from Rome and Fiumicino airport to Capalbio and Grosseto. The best airport for arrival is Rome Fiumicino.
About the course
Write at Garavicchio 2026 is the fifth in a series of courses that began back in 2021 at Castello di Potentino. They have been led by me from the beginning and have featured Rachel Roddy and Helena Attlee as co-tutors; Miranda France joined us two years ago. As well as being published authors, we each have at least a decade’s experience as tutors, understanding how good writing works and communicating and modelling our insights and ideas. Our successful and much-praised approach of activity-based workshops and one-to-one tutorials in beautiful and stimulating settings has brought us participants from across Europe, the USA and Australia, many of whom we keep in touch with.
What’s included
- Accommodation, double room with bathroom (7 days, 8 nights)
- All teaching, including guest tutors and speakers and teaching activities
- One-to-one tutorials
- All meals (apart from meals on an excursion)
- Wine at dinner
- Transport on excursions
- Not included: flight costs and transfer to Garavicchio