We’re packing our favorite needles and a sense of adventure—because Tuscany is calling! Over eight days, we’ll stitch together a retreat that celebrates both tradition and renewal: learning from Italy’s centuries-old fiber arts while also exploring the region’s creative turn toward sustainable, “green” textiles. From marble quarries and medieval towns to olive groves, cashmere farms, and Florence’s lively streets, we’ll see how craft, history, and environmental care are woven together in everyday life. Along the way, we’ll share cozy knitting sessions, hands-on workshops, and meals around long tables—the perfect recipe for inspiration, camaraderie, and a fresh perspective on what “green stitches” can mean.

To Register 

A Registration Form and a non-refundable $1000 deposit are required to join the trip. Once you submit your online registration and deposit payment is received, your spot on the tour is secure. See our Terms & Conditions HERE.

Have questions? Please contact us at info@rowantreetravel.com

This tour has been announced as a "Go!" Unless otherwise stated, our regular Terms & Conditions apply to this trip and for any cancellations.

Tour Activity Level 

We would describe this trip as a Woolly Wander.

Mobility Comfort Level = Mobility Level 3+

• Some short walks with uneven cobblestone streets.

• Limited access to ground floor accommodations.

• Walking tours approximately 1 mile, involving standing and walking over a roughly 2 hour period.

Review our Tour Activity and Mobility Comfort Levels here.

Travel Insurance 

Rowan Tree Travel highly recommends purchasing travel insurance. You may purchase through our preferred partner Arch RoamRight by clicking here or through your own provider.

Arranging Your Flights 

In order to gather easily for the tour, we provide an arrival and departure "window" at a major transportation hub - typically an international airport at your destination country. Flights scheduled outside the provided windows may result in additional transportation costs and missed tour activities. For this reason, we greatly appreciate your cooperation in booking travel that accommodates our specifications. 

Please Note the Following 

Rowan Tree Travel reserves the right to alter any part of this itinerary in order to address weather conditions, unforeseen circumstances or to improve the participant experience.

A Zesty Beginning

We’ll arrive at our villa retreat just outside Lucca, a gracious country home surrounded by olive groves and views of the Tuscan hills. With its terracotta floors, airy sitting rooms, and gardens made for evening strolls, our villa will be our haven for the first part of the journey. We’ll dive straight into the fun with a limoncello-making class—a cheerful icebreaker that will get us laughing, chatting, and mixing (in more ways than one). Afterwards, we’ll gather on the terrace for a relaxed welcome dinner, where local wine and conversation will flow as the sun sets behind the hills.

Behind Lucca's Walls

We’ll head into charming Lucca, a small city that feels like a secret gem tucked into northern Tuscany. Still encircled by its broad Renaissance walls, the town is known for its cobblestone lanes, leafy promenades, and a skyline dotted with medieval towers. We’ll step into the Palazzo Mansi, a Baroque palace where frescoed halls and historic textiles tell stories of Lucca’s past as a wealthy silk center. Afterwards, we’ll pause for lunch in town, savoring the easy rhythm of Tuscan life. The afternoon will be ours to enjoy—whether strolling along the tree-lined walls, browsing artisan shops, or simply people-watching in a lively piazza over an espresso. In the evening, we’ll return to our Villa before heading out for an “apericena” - a relaxed Tuscan tradition somewhere between aperitivo and dinner, with wine, small plates, and good conversation. If the Luccan scheduling gods are with us, we may be able to attend a Puccini concert, a moving tribute to the composer who was born here in Lucca.

Fabrics Old and New

After breakfast, we’ll set out for Prato, long celebrated as the textile heart of Italy. At the Textile Museum, we’ll trace the story of cloth through centuries—medieval silks, Renaissance brocades, and the innovations that fueled the city’s prosperity. We’ll discover how Prato is shaping the future with recycled yarns and sustainable production, an inspiring glimpse of tradition meeting renewal. Before we leave, we’ll gather the threads of our own story by creating a personalized kit—with yarns spun especially for us and paired with an original design to take home. Back at the villa, we’ll have time to admire our treasures and perhaps even cast on our first stitches in the shaded courtyard, or cozy sitting rooms.

Workshop and Woodcraft

The morning will be devoted to a knitting workshop led by Hailey at the villa, where bright rooms and garden terraces will hum with quiet creativity. After a home-cooked lunch, and if scheduling allows, we’ll meet a skilled olive-wood artisan who transforms this humble local resource into polished treasures. If not, instead we’ll enjoy an olive oil tasting, another way of savoring the fruits of the Tuscan land. By evening, we’ll return to the villa for time to wander the gardens, or simply settle in with stitches and stories.

Marble and Meadows

We’ll journey north to the Carrara quarries, where dazzling white marble has been extracted since Roman times and carved into masterpieces by the likes of Michelangelo. The scale of the quarries, carved deep into the mountains, will remind us how profoundly Tuscany’s landscape has shaped its art. After a pause by the Ligurian coast, we’ll head inland to a sheep farm, where we’ll meet the flock and learn how wool is tended with care for both animals and pasture. As dusk falls, we’ll return to the villa one last time, enjoying its familiar comforts before we move on to the next chapter of our journey.

Goats, Cashmere & Florence by Night

We’ll bid farewell to the villa and wind into the Chianti hills, where gentle slopes are dotted with vineyards and olive groves. Here we’ll meet the goats that provide Tuscany’s rarest fiber—cashmere—and learn how careful stewardship of land and animals makes it possible. A rustic farm lunch will give us time to savor the scenery before we travel on to Florence. After settling into our city-center hotel, we’ll join local knitters for an evening stitch gathering in a restored cloister, where contemporary Tuscan yarns will be on display with a sustainable twist.

Leather, Landmarks and Farewell Toasts

Our morning will begin in a Florentine workshop, where we’ll try our hand at leather crafting—a tradition that has thrived here since the Renaissance. After a countryside lunch, we’ll return to Florence for an afternoon walking tour, uncovering both the famous landmarks and the hidden corners that bring the city to life. As evening falls, we’ll raise a glass together at a cozy wine bar before sharing a farewell dinner in a traditional osteria—toasting not only Tuscany, but the green threads that connect its past and future.

Arrivederci!

We’ll say our goodbyes and depart at leisure. Some of us will linger in Florence for one last museum visit or shopping stop, while others will head straight to the airport. Whatever our path, we’ll carry home the stitches of friendship, craft, and the memory of days spent at the villa in Tuscany’s heart.

Hailey, a professor of studio art, specializes in painting, printmaking, drawing, knitting, and crochet, and is currently based in Florence, Italy. From childhood, her artistic journey has been intertwined with the tactile allure of yarn crafts, working with yarn since she was 7 years old. Her true passion lies in transforming intricate designs into wearable pieces of art, crafted with simplicity and ease. She grew up in the United States, but has found her home in Tuscany. She is fluent in English and Italian, and she loves to share the rich and historic Italian culture around yarn and fabrics with others. When she’s not working or knitting/crocheting, she enjoys being in the outdoors, and exploring Italy in an attempt to try all of the different local cuisines. 

Sydney is a knitter, spinner, crocheter, dyer, and felter. She loves to explore how different local cultures work with fiber.  At one time Sydney managed Quail Hill Farm including sheep for fiber and meat as well as pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, too many cats and dogs, plus various types of poultry. She took her sheep wool from shearing to dying, using her own dye plants, to spinning to knitted garments.  Sydney grew up in NYC and Switzerland and is fluent in French, Italian, and German. She worked for many years as a French teacher and mentor in Waldorf Schools. Before that she worked as a financier on Wall Street and she now uses those skills for strategic planning at Rowan Tree.