Italy’s artisan food culture is woven into everyday life, and we take you beyond the obvious to discover local producers, hidden cheese caves, and family-run kitchens where time slows and meals unfold over hours. Guests share in hands-on cooking lessons rooted in regional traditions, enjoy long, unhurried tables paired with local wines like Montefalco and Grechetto, and explore small shops where flavors become meaningful, edible memories to bring home.

Casa Della Zia is located in Vallo di Nera, in the green heart of Umbria—less than two hours north of Rome and under three hours south of Florence. Surrounded by forested valleys and olive groves, it’s a quiet, stone-walled village far from the crowds.

From here, we visit nearby hill towns like Assisi, Spoleto, Trevi, Deruta, Scheggino, and Montefalco moving at an unhurried pace and experiencing Umbria as it’s lived, not rushed.

Every stay is intentionally customized, designed around your interests and pace. Choose from painting, sketching, yoga, or cooking as a guiding focus — or start from scratch and let us build a retreat together. From hands-on experiences and slow, shared meals to time set aside for exploration, rest, and inspiration, each retreat is shaped to feel personal, immersive, and unhurried — very much like life in Umbria itself.

Immerse yourself in the history of the Italian countryside. Casa della Zia is a home fitted snugly into the jigsaw puzzle of Vallo di Nera, built in the mid 1500s. Centered around the castle of Vallo and four churches from the 12th-15th centuries, it feels as if you are traveling back in time as you walk the stone streets surrounded by fortress walls and stone homes. Nearby villages each have their own unique history to tell, with museums, art, and artisans that continue to flourish amidst the Roman infrastructure.