Victoria Hull looks forward to a mini pilgrimage on the Idler’s 2025 Spring Retreat

As a rich young man in Assisi in the twelfth century, St Francis gave up all his worldly goods in order to spread a message of peace, universal love and respect for the natural world.

In homage to St Francis’s radical ideas, we have created the first Idler mini pilgrimage retreat to take place in May 2025.

From our base at Villa Pia in Umbria, we will walk three stretches of the Via di Francesco pilgrimage route with a local guide. We’ll start at an ancient hermitage in the hills and finish at Assisi. Along the way we’ll pass through olive and chestnut groves, orchards, vineyards and tobacco fields and we’ll see some of the very greatest Renaissance art.

Villa Pia is the home of Idler Retreats. It has extensive gardens, a swimming pool, tennis court, delicious food and a brilliant team who look after us. Walking days will alternate with days at the villa. Here we’ll listen to talks from Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson and philosopher Mark Vernon on St Francis and his legacy.

Along with Tom and Mark the mini-pilgrimage retreat will be hosted by me, Victoria Hull.

Dates are 17-24 May 2025.

Find out more about the Idler Spring Retreat here.