It’s been a month since I returned from my NextTribe adventure in Umbria, Italy. Though I’ve told my story dozens of times, I never tire of talking about it: I get to relive the whole week of comfort, creativity, and delightful encounters with our other travelers at the villa, and in the picturesque surrounding towns.

NextTribe takes small groups of women ages 45+ on fun, immersive trips across the country and around the world. There’s still space for our fall trip to this gorgeous villa in Umbria. Learn more here.

I’ve been a member of NextTribe since Jeannie Ralston first founded it in Austin over eight years ago. While I’ve been very active locally, I had never joined one of our European trips until this year. When I saw the description of the Creativity Retreat in Umbria my heart started racing a little. As a former art kid, and a creative sequence major in college, I’ve long been drawn to all aspects of creativity. In my retirement years, I aspire to incorporate artistic expression into my everyday life as often and as much as possible.

Taking the Plunge

So I took the plunge with the encouragement of another (creative) member of the Austin NextTribe community. I was so fortunate to have Carolyn Kilday as my “ride or die” travel companion. I’ve known Carolyn—a professor of graphic design—for 30+ years, but I’d never spent much one-on-one time with her until she retired and started coming to our events in Austin. As luck would have it, we were compatible in every way. 

We explored and shot photos and tried foods we couldn’t pronounce.

Before the Umbria trip started, we spent two weeks retracing some of her previous trips to Florence, where she’d taken groups of art students over the years. She knew Florence and Cinque Terre well, and she handled all of our reservations. She nudged me to try to capture the ever-changing seascape with Japanese watercolors. We explored and shot photos and tried foods we couldn’t pronounce. Carolyn also knows the Italian train system so well, even a one-day train strike didn’t stop her: she deftly navigated us all around Italy like a native.

After our two-week journey as a traveling duo, our Italian adventure continued when we met our driver and the other NextTribe travelers at the train station in Perugia! We immediately started chatting and catching everyone up on our adventures.

Waking Up in a Dream

Castiglione Ugolino, our new hilltop home, is owned by a NextTriber from Austin who has spent the last 30 years lovingly restoring it with her husband. It is the most beautiful place I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying my head. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the photos just don’t do it justice. The 360-degree view from this peaceful hilltop estate is breathtaking: a shroud of morning mist over gentle slopes and farmland, fragrant flora, and lovely  ancient villas, churches and castles in the towns below.

Our homebase for the week, the Castiglione Ugolino is a centuries-old, meticulously renovated luxury villa surrounded by a grove of olive trees. When we got to our shared room, Carolyn and I discovered handmade Italian paper journals. How will we fill these beautiful, blank accordion-folded pages over the next week? 

We were awestruck as we discovered the sanctuary, adorned with hand-painted, restored frescoes dating back to the eleventh century. How could we not be inspired? 

We spent our days waking to the scent of strong Italian coffee and a spread of local fruits, yogurts and pastries Italians are known for. Austin NextTriber Vanessa Sinclair (who joined this trip in 2024 with her mom) made sure we were well-cared for and fed in the morning, a level of luxury that a visitor to an Instagram-worthy place like this could easily get accustomed to! 

The villa is large and spacious, and we delighted in exploring the many rooms and outbuildings. We were awestruck as we discovered the sanctuary, adorned with hand-painted, restored frescoes dating back to the eleventh century. How could we not be inspired?  I loved that we had the freedom to come and go as we wished. Some of the NextTribers worked in the early morning, others late at night. Throughout the estate there were plenty of quiet spots–inside and poolside–to journal, write and sketch. (Heaven!) All of our modern life concerns and distractions melted away as we immersed ourselves in villa life. 

Exploring the Senses

Each day we focused on a different sense; touch, sight, smell, sound and taste. We gathered each morning to discuss the plans for the day, what we learned from the previous day, and then we were off on our own creative adventure.  

I adored the almost daily trips into nearby villages, (with a team of handsome, fun Italian drivers we felt like rockstars) such as wandering the cobblestone streets of Gubbio, and taking the slightly terrifying funicular up Monte Igino, with its desiccated saint in a glass coffin at the top, and ancient Roman ruins on the way down. 

Each day we focused on a different sense; touch, sight, smell, sound and taste.

We visited the medieval city of Assisi, the city of saints, and were able to take a tour of the Basilica of San Francisco, a UNESCO site. Because we had artist and art historian Shannon Faseler guiding us, and our host Jen Vickers who interpreted for us as we interacted with locals, we were always learning about the incredible centuries-old history of the region. 

One day at the villa, we found ourselves up to our elbows in eggs and flour as we learned to make pasta  from a delightful local nonna named Rosa. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more delicious meal than the pastas and sauces we made ourselves, paired with lovely local wines. Other meals away from the villa were often visual and gastronomic feasts: simple and elegant dishes  that sustained us while we explored other villages in our region. 

Each meal seemed to outshine the one from the previous day. One of my favorites was the Chiesa del Carmine, a vineyard restaurant just a lovely stroll down the hill from the Villa. We met the owners, their young Michelin-starred chef, and had the most amazing lunch and wine pairing.

Meeting Local Women

One of my favorite aspects of NextTribe’s travel is the focus on meeting local women, and in this case female artists and artisans. In Perugia we visited weavers using looms from the 14th Century. And they were somehow both chic and goofy, traditional and modern, continuing the art of replicating centuries-old patterns, while also creating very hip new designs.

Everywhere we went, our NextTribe guides introduced us to ateliers housing families who have been creating and working out of lovely, picturesque and ancient buildings, continuing their family’s creative traditions in the modern world. We met typographers, printers, art glass painters, along with more weavers and lacemakers.

My daily journal was bursting with descriptions of all our activities. 

Living the Dolce Vita

Several of the villages we visited had Market Days, such as Todi, and we eagerly shopped for local goods and vintage clothing. A few lucky NextTribers found vintage leather jackets that they eagerly snatched up for a song. (On our final night we had an impromptu style show after dinner at the villa, as we were toasting each other and saying our goodbyes.) 

After our final dinner in the chapel of the Villa, some of us shared our week’s creative project; the long, accordion folded journals now contained collages, watercolors, prints and lettering. Each one different, each one a delightful expression of the NextTriber’s Umbrian creative journey.

We were a fun, lively and creative group who truly bonded during our daily gatherings, and silly shenanigans.

The 15 NextTribe attendees came from all over the U.S., many first-timers, many who didn’t know a soul when we first gathered. We were a fun, lively and creative group who truly bonded during our daily gatherings, and silly shenanigans.

While still in Umbria I reflected on the aspects of Umbrian life that I hope to take back to my own small town life in Texas: 

I will wake up early, and try to identify new bird calls. I will seek out the history of old churches and historic sites. I will meet true artisans, especially women, who are creating art using both traditional and new methods. 

I will create art every day, and push myself to try to express myself in new (or old) media. I will gladly try new cuisines, and it’s not too much of a stretch to try a new flavor of gelato as often as I can. (Even my tiny Texas town has a local, family-owned gelateria!) And most importantly, I will gladly sit in a cafe with a friend, putting away our cell phones and just talk, eat, drink and enjoy the dolce vita!