Monday morning, October 5 through Tuesday morning, October 13, 2026
Erin Lee Gafill & Tom Birmingham
8 nights total
- 7 nights – at Spannocchia, last night in Rome
- Itinerary
- Program Description
- About Spannocchia
- Registration Information
- Who We Are
- Recomended Supplies
- Award-winning, small-group instruction
- Daily Observational & Studio Painting Sessions
- All Mediums Welcome
- Stay in a fourteenth-century villa on a 1000+ acres estate of cultivated and wild lands
- Authentic Farm to Table, Family Style Meals at Spannocchia
- In Rome, 4-star lodging and an unforgettable dinner on our last night
- Your choice – Spannocchia Cooking Class or Sketch Trip to Siena
- Ground transportation to and from Rome on private coach
- One year Membership in the Spannocchia Foundation
- all lodging city taxes and fees.
- Start to finish support and service!
Program Description
Join us for a true Tuscan retreat. Together with a small group of like-minded people we will interpret the Tuscan Countryside and the 800-year-old architecture of Spannocchia in line and color.
Each day will include two sessions during which we’ll explore diverse ideas of composition, technique, and observation, using your choice of oils, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil.
Spannocchia is the perfect enviornment for our time together. We’ll share family style, farm-to-table meals in the birthplace of the slow food movement. We’ll have plenty of time each day to relax; with quiet time alone, sharing with new friends, exploring the 1000+ acre property, and diving deep into our creative practice.
You’ll gain new skills, develop new friendships, and have the opportunity to build creative habits that can last a lifetime.
Itinerary
Monday, October 5
Meet in Rome
Morning Pickup – Head to Spannocchia
Visit Orvieto, with Lunch at our favorite restaurant
Arrive at Spannocchia in time for some time to unwind, Aperitivo, and Dinner
Daily Schedule
Breakfast – buffet
Morning Painting Session
Lunch – buffet
Afternoon Painting Session
Evening Apertivo followed by
sit down Dinner
Free Day!
Breakfast
Your Choice –
Spannocchia Cooking Class
or
Sketch day in Siena
Monday, October 12
Breakfast at Spannocchia
10 am – Private Transport to Rome
3 pm – Check-in to our Roman hotel
7:30 pm – Celebratory Dinner
Tuesday Morning, October 13
Breakfast at the hotel
Arrivederci Roma!
About Spannocchia
Spannocchia’s castello is operated by The Friends of Spannocchia. You can read about them on their website. Friends of Spannocchia is a not-for proit organizaiton which preserves an ancient form of life in Tuscany that is based on community, respect for tradition, and a responsible use of resources. They seek to serve as an international model for sustainability, and for more than twenty years have hosted interns from around the world to learn about agriculture, responsible tourism, and the importance of preserving the cultural traditions of Tuscany.
As a guest on our retreat, your registration includes a one-year membership in the The Friends of Spannocchia. This membership (a $60 value) includes certain benefits, and makes you a part of perserving traditional, sustainable agricultural and community practices at Spannocchia.
Lodging at Spannocchia is in a 16th-century villa on a historic Tuscan property that includes cultivated and wild lands and miles of hiking trails.
Registration
What’s Included
- Your choice – Spannocchia Cooking School or Siena Sketch Trip
- Nine nights lodging (seven at Spannocchia, first and last night at four-star hotel in Rome)
- All meals beginning with Dinner in Rome, Sunday, October 4 through Breakfast Tuesday, Oct 13
- Ground transportation in a private coach from Rome to Spannocchia and back
- Award-winning daily instruction
- Safe and Supportive learning environment
- Nine nights lodging (seven at Spannocchia, first and last night at four-star hotel in Rome)
- All meals beginning Dinner in Rome, Sunday, October 4 through Breakfast Tuesday, Oct 13
- Apertivo at sunset each evening at Spannocchia
- Award-winning daily instruction
- Safe and Supportive learning environment
What’s Not Included
- Personal and Incidental expenses
- Airfare to and from Italy
- Painting supplies and equipment
- Travel insurance (highly reccomended)
Registration Fee
Total Registration Fee will be announced, November 15, 2025
Deposit
Double Occupancy is reserved with a $500. The balance due before July 1, 2026
Single Occupancy is reserved with a $1000. The balance before July 1, 2026
Who We Are
Erin Lee Gafill
An award-winning painter and author, Erin Gafill has inspired people around the world with her inspirational art, heartfelt stories, and uniquely engaging teaching methods. Her work bridges art, craft, and community, weaving observation, intuition, and imagination into her painting, writing, teaching, and public speaking. A fifth-generation California artist, she was born in Big Sur, California in 1963, the daughter of a beatnik and a flower child. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Carmel’s first artist-in-residence. Growing up at her grandparents’ legendary restaurant, Nepenthe, a mecca for poets, bohemians and dreamers, she drew inspiration from its ever-changing cast of characters as well as the stunning and mystical beauty of the coast.
Erin is the founder of the nonprofit Big Sur Arts Initiative, and a founding member of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA). In 2001 Erin was honored to serve as the first American Artist-in-Residence at the Hamada International Children’s Museum, Hamada, Japan.
In 2009, she and her husband Tom Birmingham were named Champions of the Arts by the Arts Council of Monterey County and were honored by the United States Congress for their service to the community through the arts.
Her exhibit Color Duets was the featured 2021 Spring/Summer show for the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California, followed the next summer by a solo exhibit, California Atmosphere at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, California. She is the author of a coffee-table art book, Color Duets, with Kaffe Fassett, and a memoir about life/work balance, Drinking from a Cold Spring, a Little Book of Hope. Both books are available at www.colorduets.com.
Tom Birmingham
Tom Birmingham is an artist, photographer, and teacher who has lived and worked in Big Sur, California for over 30 years. He has recently located to a home near the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. As a founding director of the Big Sur Arts Initiative, Tom has provided instruction and enrichment in the creative arts in a variety of mediums. For ten years he taught art in the summer children’s theater program, StageKids. He has taught photography and drawing at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, and for years he and his wife, Erin Lee Gafill taught painting and sketch on their annual retreats to Italy.
Tom was the director of the Big Sur JazzFest, founding member of Big Sur’s Hidden Garden’s Tour, and currently manages Studio One – Big Sur.
More recently, Tom is the founder of 26Letter Press, a small publishing company dedicated to printed materials celebrating and inspiring creative expression.
In the summer of 2020, Tom designed the museum exhibition and accompanying book, Color Duets – Kaffe Fassett | Erin Lee Gafill, which was the headlining show for five months at the Monterey Museum of Art.
Recommended Supplies
Mark Making
- Brushes – Oils or Acrylic – #8 and #12 Flat, #8 #12 Round, #12 Flat, 1″ wide flat Watercolor – #8 and #12 Round, #8 Flat, 1″ Flat
- Permanent Black Marker, Soft Pencil, Fast Writing Pen
- Pallete Knife
Paints
OIls and Watercolors – a cool and warm version of each primary color, for instance – Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Quinacradone Magenta, Ultra Marine Blue, Phthalo Blue
Mediums – Oils – Liquin & Odorless Mineral Sprirts; Acrylics – Mat Medium
Paper & Supports
- 7″ x 10″ Multi-media sketchbook
- 2 full sheets watercolor paper
- multiple canvas or panel surfaces – 8″ x 10″ / 9″ x 12″ etc.
Miscellaneous
- Paper Towels
- Painter’s Tape
- Watercolor Palette
- Oil or Acrylic Palette
- Glue Stick
- Scissors
- Medium Cup
- Water Bottle
- Water Cup
- Portable Easel