A rare creative agriturismo experience in wild Tuscany | Hotel, organic farm, restaurant and art foundation.
Published: August 7, 2019
Throughout the months of July/August 2019, Villa Lena hosts clay workshops in the artist studios and ceramics studio; a fun experimental workshop for kids that focuses on the imaginative qualities of clay!
Read morePublished: August 5, 2019
Experience the healing, joyous and empowering energy of yoga twice a day at Villa Lena. Enjoy our brand new indoor studio and outside yoga deck, immersed in the Tuscan landscape. Complimentary practices including mindful movement workshop with Eleanor Bauer – explore the importance of the link between mind and body in a practice of honouring and honing our sensory embodied intelligences.
Read morePublished: June 5, 2019
The Tuscan countryside is defined by the sky, but more specifically by the sun. During clear skies, the sun casts a sharp shadow that defines interior and exterior spaces and during overcast days, the melancholy is enhanced by the soft shadows and atmosphere of the surrounding hills.
Read morePublished: May 27, 2019
It is buried in the soil deep in the dark where the truth lies, quietly observing us. A forest of Silent Witnesses that root themselves in nature; a nature defined by the rhythm of the seasons. Somewhere, we stumble upon a web of myths and secrets, an enchanted territory divided by two poles— beauty and fear. Fairy-tales grown from the ground, and beside them, traces of quotidian life in the display of natural phenomena.
Read morePublished: May 16, 2019
Music has just as big a part to play on the Villa Lena creative schedule as the visual arts do. This year we’ve made sure that we always have musically talented individuals residing in the villa throughout the season. Catch a DJ set in the newly renovated Fattoria, an intimate candlelit acoustic gig in the Villa, or a soulful jazz performance by the pool. There’s something for everyone here.
Read morePublished: May 2, 2019
Designed by internationally recognised architects Hesselbrand, the new design is set to enhance the social interaction between guests throughout the site, diversify the estate’s hosting capability and improve sustainability. The new Fattoria bedrooms add a deluxe offering to the estate, that perfectly complements the other accommodation options available from simpler San Michele bedrooms to the larger family-style Renacchi apartments.
Read morePublished: April 16, 2019
There was this wooden table, tiny and a little too quirky to exist in that space; one of those tables made with randomly nailed strips. The surface was of an ashy flesh tone, almost shocking – I had never seen wood with a similar nuance – the object was collocated outside, in the large garden of the Villa. Four clumsy stools accompanied the table: little variable parallelepiped made with the same poor material. There were other four or five identical models of the same table.
Read morePublished: April 5, 2019
The Villa Lena Foundation is over the moon to announce an exciting jam-packed schedule for the upcoming season in 2019. We have hand-picked a selection of creative practitioners spanning across all creative disciplines to join us from April through to November to live and create at Villa Lena.
Read morePublished: March 25, 2019
The Venice Biennale is one of the most important dates on the global art calendar, and for the first time ever Villa Lena will be hosting an exclusive Biennale after party!
We invite guests who have spent the busy pre-opening week at the biennale, to wind down over a long weekend at the beautifully wild and peacefully remote Villa Lena, where we will be offering a programme of plant-themed activities.
Read morePublished: March 19, 2019
Q: Kris, what brought you to Villa Lena?
A: I was doing some looking into residencies in the U.S. to start I have always wanted to work on a farm and be able to cook with the ingredients in a locavore kind of way. I was accepted into one residency in upstate New York but as I came to think I continued to do more research on chef-in-residency programs around the world. As I surfed the web Villa Lena show up in my search, I did what anyone would do and I clicked the link: it was “Amore a prima vista”! I was captured immediately I just knew I had to continue to read what this 19th-century Italian villa located in Palaia, Italy was about. Through this research, I put in some work (literally) and actually got in contact with the owner Lena Evstafieva we had a Skype interview and next thing you know I was set for 2018 Aug-October chef-in-residence. The ortos, the pigs, the agriculture, the ethos, land, community, farmers, butchers, hunters, cuisine, artist are what all brought me to the Villa.
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