Yoga at the Castle
7-day yoga retreat in Tuscany
June 1-8, 2025
Highlights:
Daily yoga sessions and workshops, including all equipment
Unique activities discovering Tuscany
7 nights’ shared accommodation
Welcome aperitivo, breakfast, lunch, dinner with local ingredients
Wine, olive oil and honey tasting
Cost:
Double room, sharing - €2650 (based on 15 participants)
Double room, sharing - €3100 (based on 10 participants)
All the details
Cost is per person sharing a double room. Single rooms are available with a small supplement payable
Each day features two yoga sessions and a yoga workshop as well as daily activities in the local area and free time to do your own thing
The retreat runs Sunday to Sunday. After your arrival at Montespertoli, you settle into your accommodation and then we meet together for a welcome aperitivo followed by dinner. The program begins on Monday and ends with a final morning yoga class on the following Sunday followed by a farewell breakfast.
Retreat Location
Castello Sonnino
Food
Wholesome seasonal meals as indicated in the program
(dietary requirements catered for)
What’s included
Daily morning and afternoon yoga sessions
Daily yoga workshop
Daily local activities including visit to local museum, excursion to
San Gimignano, walking food tour of Florence, hot springs dayWine, olive oil, vinegar and honey tastings
7 nights’ accommodation
Breakfast daily, 5 lunches and 4 dinners
A welcome aperitivo
A cocktail evening (Saturday)
Transfers to Montespertoli can be arranged at additional cost
Who is this retreat for?
This retreat caters for all levels from beginner to advanced
You will need to have a moderate level of physical fitness
Please consult your doctor to make sure that you are fit enough to engage in the program bearing in mind that it will take place in summer where daily temperatures will sit in the high 20s/low 30s degrees celsius
Unfortunately, we cannot cater for people with restricted mobility
Join us at the Castle
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Matt Absalom
Your tour leader
Matt Absalom has been leading educational group tours to Italy since 2001. He has a dedicated yoga practice which began in the late 1990s with Ashtanga Yoga and since 2012 he has been a Bikram Yoga practitioner. He combines his interest in yoga with his professional work as an Italian university teacher and researcher. He is also a civil celebrant. Matt is very excited to bring you to Tuscany to experience this unique opportunity to practice yoga and get to know Italy off the beaten track
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Sarah Madden
Your teacher
Sarah Madden has been a passionate student of the human body and movement for over 20 years. She holds a Bachelor of Paramedicine, a Bachelor of Behavioural Science, and a Diploma in Remedial Therapies.
She began practicing yoga in 1999 and made the leap to teaching in 2008. She has taught throughout Australia and internationally and has completed training in various styles, including Bikram, beginning and advanced, Vinyasa, Hatha, and Restorative Yoga. The forever student Sarah has completed further education with Jules Mitchell and Yoga Detour. She is also a Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist and Kinstretch instructor.
Sarah is a busy mum of two active boys and a Paramedic. She runs anatomy and physiology programs for yoga teacher training and continuing education for movement teachers. -
Alessandro Ciaurri
Your teacher
Alessandro Ciaurri began practicing yoga in his youth and attended different hatha yoga schools such as Baba Bolenath in Jaipur, Śri Vathathiri Maharishi’s Semplified Kundalini Yoga” and Paola Porta Casucci’s Iyengar Yoga.
In 2006 he met Manju Jois whom he travelled with throughout Europe as a practitioner up until 2012 before becoming his assistant in 2014. He is the only Italian certified teacher to have received Śri Manju Jois blessing to provide teacher training.
He is the co-founder, with his wife Chiara Paolini, of Ashtanga Yoga Firenze, which provides both Ashtanga yoga classes but also teacher training. Since 2014, he has been involved in training yoga teachers in Italy (Florence, Palermo, Udine) and in Switzerland (Lugano and Lausanne). Alessandro regularly hold workshops and intensive training course throughout Europe and his teaching style is straightforward and inclusive. -
Chiara Paolini
Your teacher
In 2010 Chiara Paolini completed her Diploma as a yoga teacher at the first school of Ashtanga Yoga in Bologna. Since then she has been teaching Ashtanga Yoga non-stop at all levels (adults, children, disabled youth, pregnancy and pre/post partum) in group classes in a serie of centres as well as private and public schools.
In 2011 she co-founded, with her husband Alessandro Ciaurri, the Associazione Ashtanga Yoga Firenze (https://www.ashtangayogafirenze.com/) which focuses on traditional Ashtanga Yoga practice as prescribed by Sri K Patthabi Jois and then Manju Jois.
In 2016 she opened Ayfikids to spread yoga within schools. She organises and teaches together with Alessandro intensive yoga courses throughout yoga as well as teaching training at their studio in Florence. She also organises workshops with internationally renowned yoga masters hosted at AYFI. Since 2022, following advanced qualifications as a teaching assistant for disabled students, Chiara also teaches high school.
Her passions all come together in a practice which focuses on inclusion and the honing of the arts of listening and concentration.
Typical daily schedule
07:00 Morning yoga session
08:30 Breakfast
09:30 Local activities
12:00 Lunch
Free time
16:00 Afternoon yoga session
17:30 Evening yoga workshop (alignment, breathing, etc.)
19:30 Dinner
Things to do in your spare time
Visit the small town of Montespertoli
Drive/take the bus to nearby characteristic villages and hill towns
Experience the Chianti wine region
Sit by the municipal pool
Follow the local walking paths
Cycle through the Tuscan countryside
Enjoy some relaxing downtime
What’s not included
Airfare to and from Italy
Passport, visa or other travel tax expenses
Airport transfers
Travel insurance
Meals other than those indicated in the program
Spare time activities
Payment information
All prices are in Euros
Payments are made directly to Castello Sonnino via PayPal
There are no other options for payment
To make a booking
To make a booking you must complete the booking form and pay a deposit of 25% of the total price
The deposit is non-refundable, if you cancel the booking
Full payment is due by May 1, 2025.
Cancellation policy
For cancellations by you once full payment has been made:
o 30-14 days before start – 50% refund
o 14-7 days before start – 25% refund
o 7-0 days before start – no refund
If the program is cancelled by the organisers, a full refund will be made. We are, however, not responsible for any other expenses due to cancellation such as airline tickets, loss of income, or any other costs related to the trip.
Travel insurance
It is strongly recommended that you invest in travel insurance to cover cancellation, baggage loss and damage, etc.
Liability
The organiser of this tour is Matt Absalom in collaboration with Castello Sonnino and teachers, Sarah Madden, Alessandro Ciaurri and Chiara Paolini.
The organisers and teachers of Yoga at the Castle will not be liable for any claim (e.g. sickness, injury, death, damage or loss) arising from any change, delay, detention, breakdown, cancellation, failure, accident, act, omission or negligence of any such service provider however caused (contingencies). You must take out adequate travel insurance against such contingencies.
Our liability in respect to this tour will be limited to the refund of amounts received from you less all non-refundable costs and charges and the costs of any substituted event or alternate services provided.
We reserve the sole discretion to cancel the tour or to modify the itinerary in any way we consider appropriate. Exceptionally, tour costs may be revised, subject to unexpected price increases or exchange rate fluctuations.
Directions
Castello Sonnino is a perfectly preserved historic wine estate that overlooks the Chianti Hills. Just 20 minutes from Florence, Volterra and San Gimignano on the road to Pisa and Livorno. The de Renzis Sonnino family has been living in the rooms of the Castello di Montespertoli since the beginning of the 19th century when it was purchased by Isacco Sonnino. It was the home of the great statesman Sidney Sonnino during the years of his government. In 1987 the arrival of Baron Alessandro and Baroness Caterina de Renzis Sonnino, with their children Virginia and Leone, marked the start of a new phase in the life of the Castle. Today the property is the result of the commitment of Baron Alessandro and Baroness Caterina de Renzis Sonnino who restored the mansion. Castello Sonnino is one of the leading producers of Chianti Montespertoli D.O.C.G. and high quality olive oil.
Castello Sonnino is located at Via Volterrana Nord n.6/A 50025 Montespertoli (Firenze). This is easily reachable by car or by bus from Florence – more details will be provided on booking.
CONTACT
For further information or to make a booking please complete the form below
