The Art of Nourishment
Plant based cooking and mindfulness to transform the way you nourish yourself, on and beyond the plate.
10-12 April 2026
Villa Sambuca
Teachers:
Chiara Nalin, Simone Cipriani
Chiara is a teacher of Meditation and Awareness.
For over twenty-five years, she has walked a path of inner exploration and daily practice, deeply rooted in the major contemplative traditions of the East.
After a long career in corporate leadership, and supported by the empowerment of her teacher Rishi Choni Dorje, she chose to devote her life to the study and transmission of meditation as a path to self-knowledge and liberation.
Her journey includes extended silent retreats and profound introspective practices, which have nurtured a direct understanding of the mind and its inner workings.
Alongside her deep immersion in Eastern contemplative lineages, Chiara has embraced contemporary approaches to awareness.
She is a certified teacher of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, and has completed the Inner MBA with New York University’s Mindful NYU, the Evolutionary Systemic Coaching training (ICF ACTP), and the Somatic Experiencing® program. She is also trained in Social Presencing Theater, which blends awareness practices with systemic transformation.
Today, Chiara supports individuals and groups through a unique integration of meditation, somatic work, and contemplative practices.
In her retreats and programs, she creates safe and profound spaces where people can slow down, find clarity, and reconnect with their true essence—with simplicity, presence, and kindness.
Born in Livorno, Simone discovered his passion for cooking early on, inspired by his restaurateur father.
After training in top Italian kitchens, he explored Michelin-starred restaurants, global cuisines, and television programs—always guided by one principle: respect—for ingredients, people, and the planet.
In 2018, Food & Wine named him one of Italy’s most influential under-35 chefs. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Der Feinschmecker, Gambero Rosso, and more.
At Valle Benedetta Retreat Center, Simone curates the gastronomic vision of our restaurant:
an ethical, plant-based cuisine that nurtures wellbeing, celebrates seasonality, and honors the earth.
More info:
10-12 April 2026
Villa Sambuca
Check-in: Friday from 3 p.m. Start time: 5 p.m. Check-out: Sunday by 2:30 p.m.
Language: Italian
Included:
Full Board (Vegan Cuisine)
Accommodation: 2 nights
Practices and teachings
Slow Down, Cook, Listen
Eating is one of the most daily and repeated gestures of our lives. And yet we often move through it without presence.
Nourishing ourselves has become fast and automatic. We eat quickly, distracted, often guided by habit or emotion. We finish our meals without truly remembering their taste. In doing so, we lose contact with what we welcome into our body.
But food is not only matter. It is energy that becomes movement, thought and emotion.
This retreat is an invitation to return to the root of nourishment, expanding the concept beyond diet or detox.
To nourish yourself means to recognize what supports and regenerates you, and what, even subtly, consumes you.
This is true for the food you choose each day, but also for the thoughts, stimuli and rhythms that shape your life.
Through foraging, seasonal plant based cooking and mindfulness practices, we will explore nourishment as an integrated experience:
awareness of the body, through the act of cooking and eating;
awareness of the mind, through meditation and presence practices.
What You Will Experience During the Retreat
- Guided foraging in nature
A mindful walk to recognize and gather wild herbs, rediscovering the direct connection between what grows from the earth and what we bring to the table. - Plant based cooking classes
Shared preparation of meals and exploration of the principles of seasonal plant based cuisine: awareness, balance, sustainability and flavor. - Mindfulness practices and guided meditation
Sessions dedicated to listening to the body and the breath, observing mental patterns and refining the quality of attention. Meditation is not separate from daily life. It is a tool to recognize how we nourish ourselves, inwardly as well. - Mindful eating experiences
The meal as practice: slowing down, sensing, recognizing physical and emotional hunger, listening to satiety and subtle sensations. - Spaces for dialogue and reflection
Shared reflections on what nourishes and what consumes us, not only food, but thoughts, rhythms and relationships. - Moments of nature, silence and integration
Allowing the experience to settle with simplicity and depth.
Why Join
In this meeting between nature, plant based cooking and meditation practice, the gestures of gathering, preparing and eating intertwine with inner listening.
This retreat will help you recognize what no longer nourishes you and create space for new, more aligned and sustainable choices.
You will slow down, observe and restore balance, letting go of habits that no longer serve you and bringing home new awareness and small, concrete commitments.
During the Retreat You Will Learn To:
- Recognize automatisms in the way you eat.
- Cook simple, seasonal and nourishing plant based dishes.
- Bring presence and slowness into the moment of eating.
- Integrate small daily rituals of awareness.
- Understand nourishment as an experience that involves both body and mind.
An Accessible and Respectful Approach
The cooking and meditation practices are open to everyone, including those with no previous experience.
Meditation is offered in a simple and grounded way, as a training of attention rather than a technique to perform.
Plant based cooking is experienced as shared exploration, not as an ideological model.
The intention is not to offer rules, diets or models to follow, but to create an experiential space where you can clearly observe what nourishes you and what weighs you down.
Listen to What Truly Nourishes You
Come and experience a simple and grounded time to nourish body and mind with greater presence.
Bring back into your daily life a more conscious way of choosing, cooking and living.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Program Fee (Accommodation not included)
To allow everyone to participate according to their own possibilities, at Valle Benedetta we adopt a conscious participation model, conceived as a contribution to the cost of the retreat program.
We invite you to select the fee that best aligns with your current resources.
SUSTAINABLE LEVEL: This rate covers the actual costs of the retreat – €230
SUPPORTER LEVEL: For those who are able to contribute also on behalf of others – €280
SUPPORTED LEVEL: For those who need financial support – €180
PLEASE NOTE: On the booking page, the Sustainable Level will be preselected by default. You may freely change it after selecting your room type.
The program cost refers exclusively to the activities, practices, and facilitation of the experience.
FULL BOARD ACCOMMODATION COST
The cost of full board accommodation varies depending on the room type:
- Quadruple room: €90 (per person, per night)
- Double room: from €115 (per person, per night)
- Single room: from €180 (per person, per night)
All details and room availability can be consulted directly on the booking page.