Welcome to the Tuscany Writing Retreats
with Bret Lott
Thanks to our first year’s success we’re offering retreats in two genres for an even more focused writing experience!
Join us in Tuscany for an elegant and refreshing writing experience
Writing Fiction: October 5-11 2025
Writing Nonfiction: October 19-25 2025
Whether you’re just beginning or already well on your way, I know you’ll find these seven days a life-changing time of inspiration and creativity. I’ve been writing and teaching writing for four decades now, and will be leading you through a time of finding your path as a writer in both mindful and practical ways. Not to mention our curated excursions into the Tuscan countryside for historical and literary and culinary pursuits. Together with trusted providers, we’ve created a truly bespoke Italian experience. Everything is included so you won’t need to worry about a thing.
Register now for our best prices!
Why a retreat matters
After ten years of leading summer writing courses in Italy, and now with the success of our inaugural Tuscany Writing Retreat in October 2024, I’ve come to understand even more deeply why this place, with its history and beauty, its vistas and cuisine and especially its welcoming people, has so charmed artists over so many centuries. A writing retreat, whether for fiction or nonfiction, is meant as a time of refreshment, of revival and regrouping, so we’ll be asking the important questions, :
• What do you want to do with your words?
• What are your goals?
• What is it you want–and need–to write?
We’ll ask these questions and more to help you make your novel or memoir the best it can be. And we’ll do it all in the inspirational quiet and beauty of Tuscany.
About Us
Here I am in the third person: Bret Lott is the internationally bestselling author of fifteen books: eight novels, four memoirs, and three story collections. His novel Jewel was an Oprah Book Club pick and was made into a film starring Cicely Tyson and Farrah Fawcett, and his memoir Fathers, Sons and Brothers: The Men In My Family was named Notable Twentieth-Century American Literary Nonfiction in Best American Essays of the Century, 2000. He has been teaching writing for nearly four decades at the College of Charleston, and has led workshops and retreats all over the United States as well as in Italy, France, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bahrain and Israel. He has also spoken on Flannery O’Connor at The White House, served on the National Council on the Arts, and was a Senior American Scholar and writer in residence at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. His work has been translated into eight languages. But here’s the most important thing he wants you to know: he loves teaching, he loves writing, and he loves Italy. He and Melanie will make sure participants have a terrific and meaningful time on the Tuscany Writing Retreat.
Melanie Is the real brains behind the outfit, and serves as the director of the Tuscany Writing Retreat. Together we’ve lived in the south of France, taken a sabbatical in Ireland, and traveled to at least a dozen countries. But we’ve stayed in Italy more times than we can count–really, last time we tried we lost track around 18 or 19. We’ve been married for 44 years now, and she has been my first reader—and first critic—since we began dating and I shared a short story I’d written in an effort to impress her. When she returned it to me, gave a small rueful laugh and slowly shook her head at the failure in her hands, I knew I was in love: she was honest about my work, and has remained so through all these years. Her background in business, having worked with architects in historic Charleston, the safe water nonprofit organization Water Mission, and alongside engineers and artists alike makes her especially set for helping retreaters as we move toward and then settle in to this very special week in Tuscany.
Melanie & Bret
The Retreat
What We’ll Be Up To
Both our Writing Fiction and Writing Nonfiction retreats are gatherings of writers who want to explore the blessing of how putting words together just so can feed us, transform us and sometimes challenge us too. This week spent in the 18th century villa overlooking the gentle hills of the Val d’Orcia will be a time of creativity and craft, of good food and good conversation, of beautiful views and a quiet place to write, all to help you discover how best to tell the story you have to tell. Afternoon outings will serve to enliven our imaginations and deepen our appreciation of this incredibly beautiful and beloved region of Italy. I have always found the most inspiration in quiet, and a room with a view. Of course a glass of good wine with friends at the end of the day helps a great deal too.
Our Time in Tuscany
Each day begins with quiet time to write, whether in your room or a common area or outside in a hideaway overlooking the hills of Val d’Orcia. Breakfast is provided by the villa, and can be enjoyed in the breakfast room or outside where you can take in a view you won’t believe.
Midmorning
Midmorning we’ll gather to work on the elements of craft and of art, and the way one informs the other for us to best write the stories we need to write. We’ll have prompts, sharing of work, and an ongoing conversation about what it means to write, and to be a writer.
Lunch
We’ll share lunch either at the villa or out for a picnic in the Tuscan countryside. Afternoons are given over to outings that include a winery tour and tasting in the Tuscan countryside; a cooking class in a restaurant atop a hill overlooking the Val d’Orcia; and excursions to nearby Montepulciano, Pienza and Montechiello. Or, of course, you can choose simply to spend time taking a walk in the parklands of the villa to be inspired and reflect and look into the distant hills, and relax. Oh, and you can write.
We’ll also make time to meet one on one with me to talk about your writing, projects you may be working on or have finished or are contemplating, or just to have a conversation uninterrupted. And if you like, you can send me 20 pages of your project before we meet for an even more concentrated time of discussion.
Late Afternoons
Late afternoons we can share aperitivo together, where we’ll talk about writing and books and the day we’ve just spent. Dinner will be served at the villa or in town, with a final special digustazione–a wine pairing dinner–our last night together. In the evenings we may meet for a salon to further explore the practice of writing. Or, of course, one can find a cozy spot to keep on writing.
Kind words from participants in our first retreat!
“The Tuscany Writing Retreat was an unforgettable experience. With world-class accommodations at the stunning Villa Poggiano, set in the heart of Tuscany, it was truly a dream come true for me as a writer. The idyllic surroundings, exquisite food, and the camaraderie shared with fellow writers created a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Without a doubt, it stands as one of the best experiences of my life.”
Connie P.
“The Tuscany Writing Retreat was a magnificent combination of challenging teaching, interesting group interaction, fine food, and excursions into historic towns and walled villages in the most charming part of Italy. Bret Lott did a fantastic job as both a teacher and travel host. My wife and I are happy we chose to attend.”
Dave P.
The Villa
Built in the 18th century as a summer house, the villa belonged to the noble Gagnoni family of Siena. Old maps show that the house was called Villa Gagnoni and its property consisted of 200 hectares of land, producing both wine and olive oil. When the Savini Family purchased the property in 2001, it was nearly abandoned and in a state of almost total decline. The restoration of the house took two years, and another six months for the pool. In 2003 they opened the villa for guests as an inn. “Villa Poggiano is not a hotel,” Stefania Savini emphasizes, “but a home we wish to share with guests to our beautiful Montepulciano area, where life is simple, the silence magical, and the daily pattern of one’s days follows the time-honored rhythms of nature. These are some of the memories that I hope my guests will take away with them.
Montepulciano
Montepulciano is one of Tuscany’s prettiest towns, strung along a ridge at 605 meters above sea level and surrounded by walls and fortifications designed by Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio. Montepulciano is well known for its Renaissance buildings and lovely churches, but is especially renowned for the “Vino Nobile” Montepulciano wines.
