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My first post in forever is about the retreat I hosted in Cremona almost a month ago

Today it’s three weeks that the Cremona Retreat I hosted took place and I’m finally finding time to gather my thoughts and share some moments from a very special event.

It was the first time that I hosted an Italian immersion retreat in Cremona so for me it was unchartered territory.

I came to live in Cremona almost eight years ago and I’ve really come to love this corner of Italy. It’s a small, provincial town, forty-five minutes from Milan and it’s safe to say that it lives very much in its shadow.

Cremona is beautiful and tiny, slow-paced and provincial. Nothing happens. Cats saved by firemen on trees make the news here. For real.

The architecture and buildings are amazing, the food traditions are incredible. They’re an odd mixture of Lombardia and Emilia Romagna with a great focus on salumi and cheese. 

It’s the town of music and violins. However, the proximity to Milan leaves this stunning town a bit off the tourist trail.

My student Tara, had already joined me on my Gaeta Retreat back in September and was curious to see what life in the north was like because she wants to get to know Italy in depth. 

I had not one, but two last-minute cancellations, ( two heart-stopping moments) so I had to create the retreat around one person.

What are the benefits of a bespoke language Retreat?

What I realized very quickly was that this was a great opportunity to offer a bespoke language retreat, an extremely customized experience.

My goal was to give Tara space and breaks to rest and breathe because so much language practice in a day can be too much for the brain to take in and is very tiring.

That was one of her concerns. 

The learning potential as a learner when you’re alone is much higher because you can’t hide behind other people in a group.

You’re constantly in the spotlight. 

You’re also being constantly monitored and getting feedback and attention from the people around you. 

As a coach, I could involve Tara in more activities and take her to more places than I could have than if I could have if I’d had a group so I was excited by the possibilities.

Alone, we open up more.

It’s incredible how varied our conversations were.

My partner and dog ( the first retreat that provided pet therapy) were involved and the conversations reflected the variety in approaches,  topics and language.

Because I was at home I could involve some friends over for aperitivo but also for some visits. But more about that later on.

The days were intense, we were together at least twelve hours give or take.  But it felt like so much more than that. 

During retreats in general, it feels like time expands in the best possible sense.

Five days feels like two weeks.

I’ll try to zoom in on the main moments so you can get a taste of what it was like.

Rained on in Cremona 

Rain on the second day! It rained so so much and was chilly

And yet, two ladies were to be seen roaming the streets of Cremona looking up at beautiful palazzi and chatting non-stop. 

I gave Tara a tour of the most beautiful palazzi cremonesi, a quick glimpse of their history under the rain. We must have looked so funny and mildly insane!

The streets were empty and we used the time to go shopping for winter shoes ( hello, climate change) and chat with the shopkeepers. 

It was a great opportunity to explore the main churches, il Duomo, il Battistero and use them as language prompts to explore the feelings and thoughts they prompted. 

That’s something you can do yourself when you next come to Italy. 

• Ground yourself, in Italian, 

• Take everything in when you see a church, a painting, a work of art

• Explore

• How does it make your heart and mind feel?

• At peace? Happy? Uncomfortable? Restless? This is all good.

• What Italian words does it evoke? 

• What associations with your own culture and language do you make? Is there a gap with Italian language and culture? Take time to reflect and notice.

• The more emotional and cultural connections you can create, the more you grow and bridge the distance you feel with Italy. Having a tutor to discuss these ideas with is ideal so take notes for later.

We also took a walk to my favorite haunt Pasticceria Sanremo, where we did some other activities ( Cremonesi Famosi) that I’d prepared with the rain in mind.

Do you know what the funniest thing is? 

Looking back as I write,  I can’t help smiling because, despite all the rain, the cold, the plans out of the window, it ended up being a memorable and fun adventure that we topped up with an amazing meal at Ristorante Duomo.  

Was it the best day? I don’t know but it wasn’t the worst. 

This just goes to show how no matter how much we plan, the universe seems to always have different plans for us and that’s perfectly alright because it’s the things that went wrong the moments we end up remembering most fondly and that stick in our memories longer.

In  bottega con Philippe.

On Thursday the weather was so much better. The sun felt like such a gift after the  rain the previous day. 

We got to visit Philippe Devanneaux, a parisian liutaio who fell hopelessly in love with Cremona decades ago and now calls it home. 

I booked time with him to learn the secrets of making a good violin. 

I’m not an expert and didn’t know what to expect. I worried it might be too technical. 

Instead, it was a magical moment we spent with him. He made sure we experienced every step of the violin-making process first-hand with practical examples but also shared the emotions he feels to this day while he builds a violin.

Violins get to know us over time. Every piece of music we’ve played on them is stored in their memory. It’s all there. Violins are the only musical instrument that over time are enriched and help musicians perform better. [Philippe Devanneaux]

The Cremona Retreat is about meeting people and hearing their stories and how they intersect. 

By meeting Philippe, I think it was so important to involve the music, emotions and the physical act of touching and feeling the changes we make to wood while speaking in another language.  

I also find it fascinating that for so much talk of AI and machines, it’s impossible to replicate the violins that were made by Stradivari in Cremona centuries ago. Or made by people today.

Humans are not that easily replaced and that hour in Philippe’s shop was a powerful reminder of this.

In a palazzo cremonese

Another thing that day we did was visit Villa Affaitati. 

I was very excited to be able to offer this tour because it’s something that isn’t available for tourists.

I live just on the outskirts of Cremona, where the football player, Gianluca Vialli grew up. 

He spent his summers here in this palazzo dating back to the fifteenth century. 

He was discovered as a young player for La Cremonese and he went on to become a big champion for Juventus and then trainer for Azzurri, the Italian national team. 

But he’d always come back to spend his summer holidays here at Villa Affaitati. He passed away prematurely last year and was such an amazing human being who tried to continue giving to his community. 

I contacted his niece Bianca, who has kept che palazzo going by starting a wedding events business within the place. She lives at Villa Affaitati with her partner Matteo and her little boy. I got in touch with her for a tiny tour. 

It was fascinating to see it from the inside, see a palazzo that’s not a museum, it's a place where people actually live and breathe in to this day.  She shared what life is like and how her wedding business works.

 

Lungo il Po

The whole time we were joined by my partner Guido and my dog, Jaime. 

We couldn’t miss out on seeing the grande fiume, as people here in Cremona call it. 

Il fiume Po may not be grande by world standards but it’s the longest river in Italy and it has shaped the identity and the economy of the north of Italy.

The day was wonderful and we stopped to have lunch along the river. I can’t say what made the day special. 

Maybe it was the family-run trattoria.  After serving us, the staff stopped and had their own lunch at the table next to us and it all felt very informal and cozy. 

Maybe it was the beautiful sunny day. 

It was one of those endless Italian lunches.

We sat down at 1 pm and somehow at 4 we were still there finishing up a gelato and trying to make our way back home but it was hard to end the conversations that were so interesting. Tara has sooo many interests and so do we.  

Guido and Tara are both very soft-spoken so at times, many times, I felt like I was the deaf person at the table. I’d just watch them move their lips and wonder what they were saying. :) 

Fun fact about Italy. Being a soft-spoken person makes you a bit of an oddity. in Rome, my partner often gets mistaken for a foreigner due to his extreme shyness and low voice. 

Breakfast and aperitivo under the Duomo

Prendere il caffé under the torrazzo every morning is incredible. 

Sometimes the days were so beautiful, it felt a pity to leave, I’d just organize some assignments at the café with the Duomo as a backdrop. 

Watching people go by and eavesdropping on other tables’ conversations is a wonderful language learning activity while you’re soaking in the sun.

In the evenings, while we were taking our aperitivo, there were such crowds even on Thursday, drawn by the lovely weather, that it felt like summer. 

I saw some friends and couldn’t call them to say hello because there were too many people and they couldn’t hear me, that’s the sort of evening it was.

On the first day, we climbed up the torrazzo and it was so humbling to see how tall this building is and how it towers over the city and the view after climbing more than 500 stairs, is beautiful. 

I hadn’t been up there in years and I regretted the long absence immediately.

Formaggi e Sorrisi 

The last day, Cremona was hosting a cheese fair, Formaggi e Sorrisi, cheese and smiles ( well, what else?). The main streets of town were invaded by stands of cheese-makers from all over Italy offering samples of their products. 

People who know me, know that I have a strong passion for cheese. I’m at my happiest with a glass of good prosecco, a plate of cheese, and a good conversation. That’s the best life has to offer as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, Tara and I had just tasted a very good selection of cheese bathed in white wine, one made with tartufo and another that I forget what kind when we were stopped by two people who interviewed us on what we’d just eaten and where we came from.

We had this incredibly inspired look of people who’ve just finished eating something really tasty.

Tara and I thought they were just taking pictures, they hadn’t actually identified themselves or anything, so we didn’t think anything about it and we just went on our way.

However, the next day, when Tara had left, people stopped me in the shops and at the cafè saying they had seen me on TV, because we’d been interviewed by Rai 3!! 

It’s just a tiny 2-second snippet but it’s a fun memory.

Which just goes to show you what retreats are like. Beautiful language adventures that can lead you in all sorts of directions while improving your Italian.

Here’s the video from Rai Rai 3 if you’re interested. 

We’re at 0.59. :) 

So, this is it.

If joining a retreat with me is something that calls to you, join my Retreat waiting list.

I have September dates for Gaeta and Cremona but I’m also taking reservations for 2025. I’d love to have you join.