6 Day New Year Yoga and Meditation Retreat in Sacred Forests, National Park of Casentino, Italy

Accommodation

Check-in Time:

14:00

Check-out Time:

11:00

You will stay in a charming and elegant Tuscany farmhouse at the border of the Natural Park of Sacred Forest of Casentino Tuscany"Il Colle delle Stellin"I

mmersed in the Tuscan hills a few steps from Arezzo, surrounded by evocative medieval villages such as Poppi and Bibbiena and the famous Hermitage of La Verna and Camaldoli, overlooking the majestic Casentinesi Forest National Park, lies the La Collina delle Stelle farmhouse.

Program

You will practice traditional yoga and meditation with Francesca and experience the magical music of harmonium and devotional mantras. This yoga retreat will be a beautiful start to the New Year. This yoga retreat's language of instruction will be in both English and Italian.

Yoga retreat and meditation

On the way to the charming Sacred Forest of Casentino to Holi Hermitage of La Verna of Saint Francis of Assisi and the Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli. Between fairy tales and spirituality in the heart of Italy that saints and artists have loved so much. Together breathe silence, peace, spirituality, and simplicity, and finally, reopen your eyes to admire the canticle of Francis of Assisi.

To meet Francesca Marchi Scuola Yoga Shivapuri Satyananda yoga and spend the most important days of the year with messages of peace, traditional yoga, and meditation with Francesca, the magic of the music of harmonium and devotional mantras.

Pampered and warmed by the flavors and recipes of your vegetarian or vegan cuisine, by the scents of herbal teas and spiced teas of the atmosphere of the Christmas holidays on the way inside and out toward places of reflection and beauty,

Sample daily schedule

December 28th

16:00 Arrival and settling into the room
16:30 - 17:00 Tea and festive spices
18:00 - 20:00 Presentation of the program: On the way to the New Year: yoga and meditation
20:30 Vegan festive dinner with tea, spices, and festive sweets in front of the fireplace

December 29th

07:00 - 09:30 Mantra Sadhana - Morning yoga: asanas and pranayama
09:00 - 10:00 Relaxing breakfast
Free time, silent walks, or village festivities
17:00 - 18:00 Tea and holiday spices
18:00 - 20:00 Yoga and meditation
20:30 Holiday vegetarian dinner
Tea, spices, and holiday sweets in front of the fireplace

December 30th

07:00 - 09:30 Mantra Sadhana - Morning yoga: asanas and pranayama
09:00 - 10:00 Relaxing breakfast
Free time or sacred Hermitage of La Verna and silent walk
17:00 - 18:00 Tea and festive spices
18:00 - 20:00 Yoga and meditation
20:30 Festive vegetarian dinner
Tea, spices, and holiday sweets in front of the fireplace

December 31st

07:00 - 09:30 Mantra Sadhana - Morning yoga: asanas and pranayama
09:00 - 10:00 New Year's Eve breakfast
Relax free time - Silent walks or festivities in the villages
16:00 - 17:00 Tea and holiday spices
17:00 - 20:00 Meditation for the end and beginning of the year
Havan prayer to the fire
20:30 Aperitif and New Year's Eve dinner
Silence and together towards midnight
Mantras, songs, and lights to welcome the New Year

January 1st

07:00 - 09:00 Meditation for the beginning of the year
Havan prayer to the fire
09:00 - 10:00 January 1st breakfast
Relax free time - January 1st walks or Assisi of the holidays
17:00 - 18:00 Tea and spices of the Holidays
18:00 - 20:00 Yoga and meditation of the beginning of the New Year
20:30 Dinner of the beginning of the New Year
Tea, spices, and holiday sweets in front of the fireplace

January 2nd

07:00 - 09:00 Sankalpa and Mantra Sadhana - Morning yoga: asanas and pranayama
End of the program
09:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
10:00 - 12:00 Greetings and departures
Free time and basic program same as January 1st

Instructors

Francesca Marchi

1 Certificate Show Hide

Francesca Marchi (sn.Shivapuri) has been studying and practicing yoga since 1977. Having met and recognized her as Guru Sw. Satyananda Saraswati in 1985, she follows the Satyananda yoga tradition. She made numerous trips to India from 1981 to 2009 with long residential periods at Bihar School of Yoga. During these periods, she studied and collaborated with the BSY in the still-living presence of Sw. Satyananda. She has been teaching yoga since '93 and in 2001 she founded her own yoga school. From 2001 to today, she has taught various levels and holds numerous yoga retreats.

Location

Francesca Marchi Scuola Yoga Shivapuri satyananda yoga is pleased to invite you to spend the most beautiful and magical days of the year together to celebrate and celebrate the beginning of a new path made of dreams and desires that become reality in the places and woods that preserve one of the most beautiful stories of their spirituality: the story of Francis of Assisi and his companions on his journey and research.

A story that talks about simplicity and renunciation which invites you to close your eyes to see and discover the beauty that surrounds you and which is called LifeGuests in an ancient farmhouse exclusively for you. Immerse in the beauty of the Tuscan landscape between San Sepolcro, Arezzo, and nearby Umbria, surrounded by woods and olive groves a short distance from the two most important hermitages in the spiritual heart of Italy: the Sacred Hermitage of La Verna, the only hermitage that Francis of Assisi received as a gift from Count Orlando of Romagna, and the Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli.

Here, you are on the edge of the Casentinesi Forests, one of the most beautiful national natural parks of all, known asthe "Path of the Sacred Forests". Here, winter is magical often the forests are white with an immaculate blanket of snow which makes the Paths to the Hermitages real pilgrimages in the company of silence, where the beauty and energy of nature meet you little human beings.

You will go through the passage from the Old to the New Year together, surrounded by the fairytale atmosphere of the Christmas holidays, which in these places takes you back centuries to when Francis of Assisi created the first Nativity scene. This is where they wait for you to offer yoga to everyone, the great yoga that was given to me many years ago the great yoga which belongs to no one and which continues to flow from heart to heart, the ancient yoga of millennia and millennia that humbly wants to give every human being the key to reach your true home: your heart.

+−

Food

During this retreat, you will be provided with breakfasts and dinners included in the price. There will also be a New Year's dinner and celebration at midnight included. Italian Tuscan good quality wine will be served at dinner.

The following meals are included:

Breakfast
Dinner
Drinks

The following drinks are included:

Water
Coffee
Tea

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Vegetarian
Vegan

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation

Spa treatments

Spa is available at an extra cost of 35 EUR. If you are interested in booking a massage, kindly ask for more information about costs, etc. before your arrival.

What's included

Yoga program
Meditation and devotional songs with harmonium and prayer to the fire
5 nights accommodation
Daily breakfast and dinner
Aperitif, dinner, and New Year's Eve toast (with Ajni veg Home restaurant)
Transfers from and to Bibbiena station (during common hours and on official dates)
1 room cleaning and change of linen in the mid-week for long stays of a minimum of 6 nights
CSEN membership card 2024-2025
Tourist tax

What's not included

Airport transfers
Taxi at different times than the scheduled one
Extra cleaning and linen change (optional, cost 15 EUR each time)
Flights
Entrances to museums, churches, and snow excursions organized in La Verna

How to get there

Recommended Airports

RMI

Federico Fellini International Airport

64 km

Transfer not provided

PSA

Pisa International Airport (Galileo Galilei Airport)

120 km

Transfer not provided

PEG

Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi – Umbria International Airport

88 km

Transfer not provided

Driving directions from Bologna

From the North:
Arriving in Bologna, take the A14 Motorway towards Ancona and exit at Cesena Nord.
Then take the E45 road towards Rome.
Drive until the exit for Pieve Santo Stefano, then exit and drive along the SS208 road toward Chiusi de La Verna.
Follow the road signs to Bibbiena, and at 7 kilometers, there is the entrance to the farmhouse (on the right).

From the North (alternative route):

Arrive in Bologna, take the A14 Motorway towards Ancona, and exit at Cesena Nord.
Then take the E45 road towards Rome.
Exit at Bagno di Romagna, and following the road signs to Bibbiena, drive through the Mandrioli Pass along the SS71 road.
Once in Bibbiena, follow the road signs to the Hospital along the SS208 road, and at 7 kilometers, there is the entrance to the farmhouse (on the right).

Driving directions from the West:

Take the A1 Motorway and exit at Firenze Sud.
Follow the road signs to Pontassieve along the SS70 road, driving through the Consuma Pass.
Continue to Poppi and then to Bibbiena.
Follow the road signs to the Hospital along the SS208 road, and at 7 kilometers, there is the entrance to the farmhouse (on the left).

Driving directions from the South:

Take the A1 Motorway and exit towards Arezzo.
Drive through the Arno Valley along the SS71 Umbro-Casentinese road towards Bibbiena.
Follow the road signs to the Hospital along the SS208 road, and at 7 kilometers, there is the entrance to the farmhouse (on the left).

Arrival by train

Arrive at Arezzo Railway Station and then take the local train to Bibbiena (the timetable lists Pratovecchio-Stia as the last stop). From the train station, there are buses to Chiusi della Verna that stop at the entrance of the farmhouse.

Arrival by bus

From the Central Railway Station square in Florence, SITA Company operates buses from Florence to Bibbiena.

Arrival by Taxi

From the train station, the Francesca Marchi Scuola Yoga team can arrange a taxi pickup to the farmhouse.

Distances from the farmhouse:

Bibbiena old town center, 4 kilometers
Poppi, 10 kilometers
Camaldoli, 20 kilometers
La Verna, 10 kilometers
Arezzo, 30 kilometers
Firenze, 60 kilometers
Siena, 100 kilometers
Pisa Airport, 148 kilometers
Forlì Airport, 133 kilometers

Cancellation Policy

A reservation requires a deposit of 30% of the total price.
The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.

Explore