Event
La Dolce Vita—The Sweet Life
La Dolce Vita—The Sweet Life
What Italy Can Teach Us About Celebrating the Holidays More Joyfully
November 21 @ 7:00 pm – November 22 @ 3:30 pm CST
$175
see additional details*
Italy is known the world over for its storied art, significant history, superb food and exquisite wines. But beyond what tourists normally see when they visit this country is an attitude of the heart known to all Italians that allows them to see and experience the sacred and poetic in simple, mundane elements of daily living.
In this retreat, spirituality author and journalist Judith Valente, who has spent considerable time living in Italy in recent years, distills what it is about the Italian lifestyle that fosters living more mindfully and joyfully, and how we can incorporate many of those attitudes and practices into our hectic American lifestyle. We will explore the sanctity with which Italians approach the dinner table, the way they prize quality over quantity, pride themselves on personal relationships as much as professional achievements and venerate the age-old practice of chiacchiera — chatting with others — as a way of staying connected and cultivating a sense of belonging and community. Italians are not afraid of taking time to simply do nothing. As Judith notes, “In Italy I learned to pay as much attention to my self-care as I do to my work.” We invite you to take this journey to Italy and come away with ideas for how to live la dolce vita, the Italian sweet life wherever you are.
*Our time together will begin with a social on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Cost includes private room and meals.
Please register by November 14.
After receiving your registration, you will receive a confirmation email from us which will include your invoice. We never want our retreat costs to be prohibitive to anyone who wants to attend our programs, so we are pleased to offer scholarships. Fill out our simple scholarship request form now!
Read about our cancellation and refund policy.
Judith Valente
Judith Valente is a journalist, poet and the author of six spirituality titles and three poetry collections. She is an oblate of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, KS, which is the subject of her award-winning memoir, Atchison Blue: A Search for Silence, A Spiritual Home and a Living Faith. She is also the author of How To Live: What The Rule of St. Benedict Teaches Us About Happiness, Meaning and Community; as well as co-author of The Art of Pausing; and How To Be, the latter two books written with Brother Paul Quenon, a monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Judith guides frequent retreats on how to live a more contemplative life in the secular world and leads the annual “Benedictine Footprints” retreat/pilgrimage to lesser-known parts of Italy. Her newest book is The Italian Soul: How to Savor the Full Joys of Life, about what we can learn from the Italian lifestyle about living more mindfully and joyfully.
