Victoria Hull is your guide to the Idler’s stunning retreat to rural Umbria, 31 October–7 November 2026

The Umbrian countryside must be one of the most enchanting places on the planet, as well as home to some of the world’s finest food produce. And we’re inviting you to take a trip there with us for the Idler Umbrian Harvest Retreat, a full week of idling, eating, walks, talks, Medieval art, wine tasting, truffle hunting and more.

We’ll meet the makers and farmers of this ancient farming countryside, known as “The Green Heart of Italy”. We’ll spend a morning picking olives and be given lunch at a local farm in a traditional cantina. We’ll sample home preserves and produce. We’ll visit the local olive press to see oil being made, and an orchard filled with ancient varieties of fruit. We’ll cook on a fire in the chestnut groves.

As well as these delicious delights to sample, there’ll also be plenty of food for thought. Our special guest Guy Standing will discuss the ancient idea of the commons and communing, while Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson will talk about Epicurean philosophy, self-sufficiency, the lessons we can learn from Virgil’s Georgics, and more.

Plus Georgia Heath will lead yoga and still life drawing sessions. Georgia is the Idler’s travel consultant and retreats manager. She is also a qualified Vinyasa and Yin yoga teacher and practising artist.

The Idler Umbrian Harvest Retreat is designed to provide great ideas for living, lots of fun, good dining and plenty of time for idling. In the afternoons you can draw autumn produce or read beside an open fire. There are local walks, a tennis court and a pool – all with beautiful views of the Umbrian hills.

Please note the itinerary below is subject to change but gives you a good idea of what we’ll be doing.

Saturday 31 October
Arrivals
Sundowner talk: Victoria Hull welcome and introduction

Sunday 1 November
Morning yoga with Georgia
Walk to chestnut groves in the hills for lunch cooked on a fire
Afternoons are for napping, drawing, reading and for the more energetic, local walks or tennis
Sundowner lecture: Tom Hodgkinson on Stoics vs Epicureans

Monday 2 November
Morning yoga with Georgia
Morning lecture: Tom on William Cobbett’s Cottage Economy and the idea of self-sufficiency
Optional trip to the local winery, Blasi Cantina
Restorative yoga with Georgia
Sundowner lecture: Guy Standing on the Commons and Commoning

Tuesday 3 November
Morning yoga with Georgia
We’ll visit the local frantoio to see extra virgin olive oil being pressed and an orchard with a harvest of ancient indigenous fruit and vine varieties still grown here. We’ll stop off at the famous Piero della Francesca painting of the pregnant Madonna so symbolic of fertility: the Madonna del Parto.
Optional cooking lessons
Sundowner lecture: Guy Standing on the Education Commons

Wednesday 4 November
Morning yoga with Georgia
Morning lecture: Tom on 12 years living on a farm in the countryside
Optional truffle hunting
Still life drawing, local walks and optional cooking lessons for stay at homes
Sundowner lecture: Tom on utopian schemes from Plato to Coleridge

Thursday 5 November
Olive picking in the morning with local farmer Marinella
Lunch at Marinella’s cantina with her own produce
Walk from Marinella’s farm to Villa Pia with views over the Umbrian hills
Optional wine tasting
Evening off

Friday 6 November
Morning yoga with Georgia
Morning lecture: Tom on farming literature from Hesiod to Socrates to Virgil to Thomas Tusser
Still life drawing with Georgia
Final feast and singalong

We’ll be staying at Villa Pia, which sits on the border of Tuscany and Umbria on the edge of the medieval village of Lippiano. Idler retreaters have been looked after here by the brilliant team for many years. The villa has gorgeous views over the Umbrian hills, a swimming pool, tennis court and extensive gardens in which to rest and read.

The retreat is all inclusive. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all provided, and you’ll be free to help yourself to fresh fruit, coffee, tea, alcohol and soft drinks at any time of the day or night.

Villa Pia’s chefs prepare delicious local Italian cuisine with the care and attention to detail that Italians are known for. All of their ingredients are locally sourced wherever possible.

The simple elegant rooms are cleaned daily.

Optional Extras
Cooking Class: Villa Pia’s cooks are local women who learned to cook from their grandmothers. They’ll be teaching you to make pasta the traditional way or to make a dish that you have enjoyed during your stay. We’ll finish the class with Prosecco. Price around 30 euros.
Massage and beauty treatments. Book on arrival.

For more details and to book your place, click here.

We’re really looking forward to seeing you there.

Retreat well,

Victoria

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A Drink with the Idler

This evening’s guest on “A Drink with the Idler” is the historian Harry Tanner, who will be chatting to Tom Hodgkinson about the origins of homophobia and the untold stories of queer love in ancient history.

Mark Vernon will also present a new Thought for the Week.

That’s Thursday 30 April, 6pm-7pm.

Find out more and book tickets here. It’s FREE to subscribers – otherwise £7.50.

How to Live Like a Stoic

The May/June 2026 issue of the Idler (#109) is available in Waitrose, Smiths and TG Jones.

Click here for your nearest stockist.