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This is part 3 of the adventures on my recent retreats in Italy and France...be sure to check out part 1 and part 2!

A Day in Tellaro

Day 6:

If you have ever been to Cinque Terre ("5 Lands" ), you probably know they are 5 beautiful villages on the Ligurian sea...the only problem is, they can be VERY crowded with tourists.

Let me tell you about a little village around the bend, also on the Ligurian sea that is very reminiscent of the Cinque Terre towns, but much less touristy! 

It's called "Tellaro", and there is a legend about this little village...During the middle ages, some pirates came to attack the tiny village. It was during the middle of the night, so most of the villagers were sound asleep. A giant octopus saved the town by climbing up the church tower and ringing the bell, to alert all the villagers. 

You can find all kinds of tributes to the octopus throughout the village like plaques, doorknobs of octopi, iron gates with octopus designs, etc. The villagers do still enjoy a tasty octopus meal, though!

We walked down the fairly steep hill to the coast, and explored the town. Some had their watercolor journals on hand to capture the beauty of the village, and others took photos for later artistic inspiration.

Locals enjoying sunbathing on a beautiful day

We had a wonderful lunch at Osteria Polpo (Italian for Octopus), with lemon/garlic sardines for starters (I actually loved these!); some kind of fish stew, and then what they call "Sea bugs" (fried up stuff from the sea...actually REALLY DELICIOUS!!)

Once we got back to the villa, we got a little R&R, then had a light dinner and played cards.

Day 7:

Full day in the studio!

We started off our day in the studio with an exercise where you do an entire small painting in only 25 strokes. It's a great lesson that forces you to be really mindful of your brush strokes, making sure you load plenty of paint onto the brush! We painted a copper tea kettle that hangs in the Italian kitchen at Casa Berti.

These are the results!

We had a group discussion about the benefits of the exercise, and what was learned from the experience.

Lunch break on the veranda.

After a full day of painting, we had a friendly (or fierce?) game of Boulle on the lawn. The competitive spirit really came out of some of us!

We enjoyed another incredible 5 course meal with chef Fabrizio.

Time to get some sleep...next we spend the day in the walled in city of Lucca!