During the workshops, our base is located in the southern town of Gravina in Puglia. The town, built of golden tufa stone, crops up over a thread of rupestrian dwellings and a ravine that winds towards open wheat fields and the sounds of evening swallows.
With its ancient roots in the Peucetii culture and its position on the Appian way from Rome to the Mediterranean sea, Gravina is dense with history, archaeology and the arts. Emperor Frederick II chose the surrounding plateaus as his personal hunting grounds, referring to the area as “Grana dat et Vina”- meaning the land of wheat and wine.
An hour inland from both the Adriatic and Ionian coasts and neighbour to the Unesco World Heritage site of Matera, Gravina has been home through history to the Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, and North Africans. One of its native residents, Vincenzo Maria Orsini, went on to become Pope Benedict XIII.
Our Workshop Residence
Our home in Gravina is in the heart of the historic centre, inside a beautifully preserved 15th-century palazzo that blends old-world character with modern comfort. Inside, bright salons, spacious bedrooms, shared bathrooms, and a dining room that opens onto balconies overlooking the old town that unfolds below — houses organically settled along the gentle slope of the ravine, a mosaic of stone walls, archways, and tiled roofs that catch the shifting light. Beyond them, the countryside: olive groves, almond trees, and the distant shimmer of wheat fields under the southern sun.
Meals are prepared in our kitchen and shared around a long communal table, where conversation flows easily, stories unfold, and new friendships are made. From our front door, a short stroll leads you to the piazza, perfect for an early-morning espresso or an evening Peroni, while the sounds of local life — laughter, debate, and talk of food — drift through the narrow streets.
A short walk away, the Ponte Acquedotto, a graceful stone footbridge spanning the ravine, connects our neighbourhood to the open countryside and its wealth of archaeological treasures.
Here, the people of Gravina share more than their landscape — they share their crops for our kitchen, their dialect and stories, their family recipes, and their generosity. This is where our workshops take root: in a living dialogue between place, people, and tradition.
Bedrooms and bathrooms at the palazzo are shared.
Other accommodations, single rooms with private bathrooms, can be arranged separately in the B&B above the palazzo or in the vicinity.
Our restoration studio in a local convent is adjacent to the Palazzo and where we work on paintings during their restoration process. Our hands-on work and research is conducted onsite on the underground Byzantine frescos of Fornello, Carpentino, and wall paintings at 17th-century Masseria Jesce are located in the countryside. The barn of Masseria La Selva serves as our bottega for practice with lime plaster fresco making during our Art Restoration workshop.
Rising with the morning church bells we head out of town with the farmers’ procession of tractors on their way to the orchards, caves, and fields to our open school of history and gastronomical knowledge.