Support Our Cultural Project
Reading Retreats is a non-profit cultural association which survives only through membership fees and donations from its members. Your support helps us maintain our guesthouse and keep our cultural mission alive.
The Power of Your Donation
Your contribution is more than just a donation; it is an investment in the future of our cultural heritage. By supporting Reading Retreats, you enable us to maintain our historic buildings, curate unique cultural events, and keep this sanctuary of literature and art open to the world.
Ways to Donate
Via Wire Transfer
Account: Reading Retreats in Rural Italy
Bank: Banca CREDEM
IBAN: IT67N0303257610010000537617
BIC/SWIFT: BACRIT21311
Artists and musicians from all over the world
Unforgettable themed parties
Gardening with Clark!
Donate Your 5x1000
If you are an Italian taxpayer, you can allocate the 5x1000 of your income tax to our cultural association at no additional cost to you. Simply enter our Codice Fiscale in your tax return form.
Codice Fiscale
91154310378
A Community of Support
It is only through the generosity of many people that the cultural
association Reading Retreats in Rural Italy continues to thrive.
There are a thousand ways to help:
- Andrea Bertoni, Fausto Tosi, Giorgio Cesaretti, Paola Bortoli, Stefano Martelli and other friends have loaned and given furniture.
- Book publishers ADD of Turin and especially Penguin Italia and UTET, (Italy's oldest publisher, 1791) have donated thousands of books. Thank you Simonetta Orsi and Giorgio Armaroli.
- Many musicians have performed for free and donated their CDs to the music collection.
- Recording companies including Ermitage, have donated hundreds of classical music and opera CDs.
- Artists have donated paintings, drawings and sculptures to the growing art collection. They are all mentioned here.
- Neighbours have given everything from strawberry plants to picnic tables. They also help by giving us honey or loaning us tools we don't have.
- Friends with vans or trucks help transport everything from large plants for the garden to heavy terracotta and bronze sculptures for art exhibits.
- A construction company donated tons of sand for our annual Pirate Party.
- Mattia Bagnolati designed fantastic electronic brochures and invitations for our website and Facebook. He also is our truffle man.
- Guests who come to visit leave their books behind to add to our library.
- A few authors who have never even been here but hope to come one day have sent books our way – from Australia, America, India.
Cocktails and dinner on the patio
Interns Tom and Chelsea redoing the kitchen at La Macchina Fissa
Anna preparing bouquets for a summer picnic
- Journalists write about us.
- Guests write glowing reviews for Google, TripAdvisor, and so on. We don't pay them, but sometimes it sounds like we do!
- Guests who come for an evening concert, weekend retreat or a three-month internship tell friends and family about their time here.
- People with a bit of money – any amount – sometimes send a donation our way. It helps pay for firewood, electricity, phone bills, and so on.
- Some people send donations for specific (normally fun) gifts such as a croquet set, a new rope for a swing, a set of electric bocce balls, a hammock big enough for two, a surprise fireworks show after a jazz concert.
- Gianni Borsari, a local blacksmith, donated everything from metal stakes to label our plants in the garden to a life-size cannon for our annual pirate party (and yes, it shoots!)
- A mannequin maker, Davide Bergamini, has given us lots of hands and feet and body parts for Halloween.
- Over 200 Interns from all over the world have volunteered their time and efforts to improving the association, from mowing the lawn to revamping the entire website. Many come through Interim Programs.
- John Campbell, a professional photographer from Wales, comes every year to document work at La Macchina Fissa.
- Opera, piano, art, yoga, and language teachers have brought their students here.
- Nearby farmers give us fresh fruit and vegetables and scraps for the goats.
- Our wood-burning furnace (made in Mantova) is a gift from John Kauffmann. We've named it John in his honour.
- An architect from Modena, Corrado Gianferrari, has loaned us his grandmother Armida's 1950s Zoppas woodstove. You'll find it in the kitchen.
- Over the years, the gardener and writer Maria Gabriella Buccioli has given us perennial plants and bushes for the garden.
- In 2007, Nikki Lawrence gave us an olive tree to commemorate her visit to the Castle of Galeazza.
- For over 15 years, garden writer Nancy J. Ondra has donated her books and hundreds of varieties of seeds, many hard to find anywhere else in Italy.
- The gardener Claudio Baldazzi from Moglia (Modena) has given us countless plants and seeds.
- Stephanie Mahon, editor of Gardens Illustrated, has donated many gardening books and given years of free help and advice.
- Friends from other countries renew their €15 membership every year, even if they cannot return to visit us.
- Some friends do come every year, for our Halloween party, for example, and together we scare the shit out of nearly 100 people.
This list could go on for reams.
Spreading the word is probably
the best thing of all.
Other Ways to Help
Sponsor an Event
Partner with us to host a course or support cultural events and artistic initiatives. We have a great location, you can bring your people for a day or a week.
Get in Touch
Stay at Our Retreat
It's time to unplug your devices and open that book you've been meaning to read. We have internet for when you need to reconnect to the world!
Plan Your Stay
Do an Internship
Volunteer your time and talents, gain hands-on experience, and live in Italy for one to three months. Helpers are any age and come from many countries.
Apply NowAcknowledgements
We would like to extend a special thanks to the talented photographers and filmmakers who have captured the beauty and spirit of our gardens and homes over the years: