Workshop & Program Overview 

Our art Workshops and Retreats are for individuals who are seeking a guided class experience in Italy. Our programs facilitate artistic growth through intensive immersion in focused instruction and interaction, independent work, and the rich history, culture, and traditions of Italy.

We use the terms, “Workshops” and “Retreats” interchangeably in describing these guided experiences as they are each reflective of intuitive differences in approach, duration, and teaching style of our faculty.

These terms, however, are neither “set in stone,” nor are they mutually exclusive. Our offerings are guided by world-renowned artists, thinkers, writers, and craftsmen. They are focused experiences, and expectations are high. Nonetheless, our mountain perch and the ancient village is a place where one cannot escape reflection or overlook a sense of contemplation and solitude – even when in the company of others engaged in the same pursuit.

The whole village serves as our campus: a preserved medieval hill-town with fantastic panoramas everywhere you look, Monte Castello is a friendly, safe but lively little village perfectly situated for immersion in Italian life. Offering a glimpse of age-old rhythms of life rarely experienced by foreigners as well as an active environment for young people. ICA is perfectly situated for healthful recreation activities as well, including yoga and ballroom dance. An approximately one-mile trail that runs along the old castle wall circles the village and walking, jogging, and biking opportunities abound on the surrounding country roads. ICA can provide motorized mountain bike rentals as well. The nearby town Todi offers shopping, an Olympic-size swimming pool, world-class sports facilities, and numerous entertainment options.

We believe that the value of studying the Arts, Humanities, and Natural Sciences in Italy is not easily defined by any single approach or aesthetic. Surrounded by some of the greatest masterworks of Western art, eating great food, and drinking great wine, in the same places that some of the greatest thinkers in human history wrote and discussed, our minds are opened to new directions of conceptual growth, to more expansive avenues of communication, and to more creative and sophisticated ways of thought and expression. Learn more about exploring the arts through immersive art workshops in Italy here.