carefully crafted workshops in le Marche
a decade of experience specialized in artist retreats
As featured in
Why Le Marche?
This undiscovered valley is filled with a rich cultural history, wonderful local festivals, and fascinating archaeological sites. Cities like Rome and Venice are beautiful and a wonderful part of Italian culture, but if you want to experience something different, look no further than Le Marche. While you take in the sites, fill up on some of the best food and wine that Italy has to offer, all guided by your personal tour guide and International Sommelier, Piero.
What do you get with an Internationally Certified Sommelier as your guide in a small town in Italy? Truffle hunts, wine lessons, and meticulously planned wine and menu pairings to give you a unique 5-star dining experience. Piero meets with every chef prior to your tour to hand-pick the perfect Italian wines – not for each meal, but for each course! Sit back, relax, and let your taste buds enjoy!
Artist Tours
join some of your favorite artists in Italy for private workshops and retreats
2024 workshop calendar
Watercolor Sketching in Le Marche
New dates!! May 4-9, 2025
Felix Scheinberg
Drawing & sketching, exploring figure and architecture through playful expansion of your own knowledge. Communicating “basics” and drawing experiments. We discover our surroundings together, take the time to look closely again, to learn to see.
Basics and Protools are taught; Technology and art, reflection and observation. We draw, sketch and watercolour. We bring traditional and modern techniques into play. We rediscover fineliners and colored pencils and learn the basics of working with ink and watercolor.
„Dare to sketch" is a workshop that appeals to both beginners and experts. Basics, tricks and tips come into their own as well as dealing with the first, so frightening, white sheets and the expectations that overwhelm us all too readily in the run-up to the art.
mary whyte in puglia
May 19-25, 2024
Mary Whyte
Mary Whyte (b. 1953) is an American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people. Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR. In 2013, Whyte was one of ten artists worldwide invited to travel to China and exhibit her watercolors at the Nanning Art Museum in Nanning, Guangxi.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Portrait Society of America's Gold Medal, the Carolinas Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Award, and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts.
Whyte received the 2020 National DAR Medal of Honor and the 2020 NSDAR Women in the Arts Award. In 2021 Mary Whyte received an honorary doctorate degree from Converse University in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Ann Moeller The Out Door Portrait
9-15 June 2024
Ann Moeller Steverson
Join Ann Moeller Steverson for this seven-day Plein air portrait workshop. Moeller will instruct how to match the colors of nature and create beautiful soft skin tones with a rainbow of paints. Explore outdoor settings and create beautiful scenarios for a photoshoot and color study with a model. You will practice getting your own best shots and making an exciting studio reference. Learn photo editing for sight size, matching color, and scaling prints for creating the best reference material for a studio painting. You will leave with the knowledge you need, multiple color studies, and excellent photo references of color for getting started on painting outdoor portraits of your own.
italian light en plein air watercolor
16-22 June 2024
Geoffrey Allen
I am excited to announce my Italian workshop, hosted by @italianatours , an American/ Italian couple , Piero and Katie, who have created a very special experience blending all the brilliance that Italy has to offer; historic scenery, truffle hunts, local food artisans, and regional wineries, with exploring the Italian landscape through art workshops
figures in sunlight
September 8-14, 2024
Graham Berry
My paintings are inspired by the effect of light and shadow on our environment, creating dynamic shapes and colours, I especially enjoy painting people going about their everyday lives and I hope to inspire you to see future paintings everywhere you look.
In this workshop I will show you how to simplify scenes, to see things just as shapes and colours, eliminate unnecessary detail and take the fear out of painting people.
Share with you my passion for watercolour painting and to pass on the knowledge and skills gained from over 40years as a professional Illustrator and Artist. At the end of each day you will have a completed painting that you will be proud to hang on your wall and the confidence to put people in your own paintings.
Happy painting.
jacqueline sullivan tour Puglia
September 15-21, 2024
Jacqueline Sullivan
Come with me on a fabulous painting and touring excursion in Salento, Italy in the Puglia region. This area is a cultural, historic and creative wonderland, known for its hill towns, centuries old farmlands and miles of the Mediterranean coast. We will focus our artists’ eyes on the stunningly beautiful countryside and villages for inspiration. This is an abstract painting class, although students’ work could be semi-realistic. We’ll spend some time taking in the landscape and photographing our surroundings. We will then return to the studio and try to paint our response to that landscape, We’ll work in acrylics, using fluid acrylics and textural mediums to create both visual and actual textures. We’ll study the horizon lines in our photos and start building our paintings there. We will explore our emotional response to the beauty of the area and paint from that perspective. These will be moments that bring you wonder and inspiration that fills your soul and feeds your creative muse. Time will also be spent on some tours of the area and we will experience the local food and wine specialties.
*PLUS BONUS COMPANION PACKAGE
write your story in italy
October 6-12, 2024
Jen Knox
Find community, clarity, and inspiration with a small group of writers for this mindful creativity and touring excursion in LaMarche, Italy. Diving deep into the history and culture of the area, we will enjoy remarkable views, fine dining, and storytelling. Our writing workshops will begin with a focus on dissolving creative blocks via unique prompts that complement the experience of the tour. Whether you write fiction or creative nonfiction, this experience will reinvigorate your creative reserves and help you to refine your craft, write new work, and learn strategies to revise and share your writing. Every day, there will be an optional mindful creativity practice offered, including meditation and gentle yoga before our workshop. Toward the end of the tour, we will share our work and set goals for creating a sustainable creative practice. Sign up today!
Carmen Gardner in Le Marche
22-27 October 2024
Carmen Gardner
More than an informative and “ traditional painting workshop,”culture, history, art and creativity will come alive when you join Carmen Gardner, award-winning artist and teacher, and Italian Tours for a week-long adventure in the Marche area of Italy. The incredible Italian countryside provides an incomparable setting, filled with magic and inspiration. Over the centuries the Central Italian region of the Marche has been home to ancient civilizations, warring medieval lords and refined Renaissance rulers. Sandwiched between the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, and Abruzzo on the landside and the Adriatic on the seaside Marche’s rolling hills have been attracting settlers since the dawn of time.Participants will learn a variety of techniques in both water color and/or oil as we explore the infinite possibilities for creative expression
realism in watercolor - painting a still life
11-17 November 2024
Laurin McCracken
This is a workshop for artists who are interested in learning to paint in the realistic style of the Dutch and Flemish still life painters of the 16th and 7th century. Participants will learn how to see, draw and paint objects in realistic detail. Participants will paint a simple still life of a silver and crystal with fruit from a photo provided. Participants will use a projected image to trace the still life on to their paper.
Laurin will teach the British, Two-Brush technique of how to make things look round and three dimensional. He will also share information about the history of realistic still life painting and its current popularity in the world market. You will also learn to create deep black backgrounds.
2025 workshop calendar
Watercolor Sketching in Le Marche
feat. felix scheinberger
may 4-9, 2025
painting the impression of italian life in watercolor
feat. keiko tanabe
may 10-16, 2025
how to make a visually powerful image in italy
feat. john cosby
coming soon
expressive charcoal drawing workshop
feat. zin lim
september 15-21, 2025
Thomas Schaller and the magic of salento
feat. thomas schaller
may 25 - 31, 2025
Italian Sketchbook Retreat
feat. rod moore
august 25-31, 2025
designing evocative watercolors in italy
feat. alexis lavine
june 15 - 21, 2025
Some of our Locations for the Studio
The workshops, meetings with artists, painting and writing courses, will be held in Urbania, in one of the studios available according to the municipality agenda. They are all historical buildings, with many interesting stories to explore!
Food and Wine Tours
Luxurious private food and wine tours through italy’s hidden wine country
Summer Food & Wine Tours
2023 new dates available!
Escape the over-crowded, big cities and immerse yourself in local culture. From extensive cheese and olive oil tastings with the Einstein of Cheese, to Raphael's childhood home, to local festivals with music and dining in the streets, discover the secret treasures of my home, Le Marche, in a truly off-the-beaten-path adventure.
Fall Truffle & Wine Tours
2023 new dates available!
Come join us for the world-renowned white truffle festival! During the fall, the rich perfume of truffles wafts through the streets of Le Marche, and wine enthusiasts flock to enjoy the prized Verdicchio, smoked Passito, and vino di Visciole of the region. Eat and drink everything in sight while exploring surrounding gems like the medieval Castello della Pieve, Unesco World Heritage site of Urbania, and the mysterious of "The Church of the Dead.” #foodieswanted
Custom Tours
customize your journey in italy and live like a local
Personalized Tours with a Private Guide
Looking to add on to an existing trip in Rome, Florence, or Venice? Would you like to explore small-town Italy without the crowds of some of the major cities? We have curated mini packages that focus on exploring the Italian countryside, wine tastings, cooking classes, and cultural activities without needing to worry about hotels or transportation.
we can’t wait for you to join us!
