Dear burnt out couples,
When your family faces health challenges, the weight can feel overwhelming — the research, the changes, the constant worry about making the right choices. This fall, escape together to our private Tuscan villa where couples have raised vibrantly healthy families for centuries, learning their time-tested wisdom for creating homes where wellness happens naturally. Through sun-drenched mornings making pasta with Italian nonnas, walking ancient vineyard paths hand-in-hand, harvesting herbs that become your family's medicine, and lingering over candlelit dinners that restore your connection, you'll discover how healing becomes joyful when shared.
Learn together why Italian children thrive, how traditional foods truly nourish, and why the nervous system healing that happens around their family tables might matter more than any supplement. Seven transformative days with several other couples who understand the journey toward family wellness — returning home united with practical skills, century-old recipes that will become beloved traditions, and the confidence that comes from learning side-by-side. Because when parents are aligned and inspired, the whole family thrives.
What You'll Come Home As:
• United healers with a shared vision for your family's wellness
• Confident cooks who can make medicine from simple ingredients
• Nervous systems that remember how to rest and digest
• Partners who divide the wellness work without overwhelm
• Parents who trust ancient wisdom over Google searches
• Believers in slow medicine — that healing happens in daily rhythms
• Holders of Italian secrets — why their families thrive without trying so hard
• Connected lovers again — not just co-managers of illness
• Equipped with protocols you both understand and can implement
• Part of a community — couples who become lifelong wellness allies
• Carriers of generational wisdom — recipes and remedies to pass down
• Leaders of a home where meals heal and rest is sacred
• Living testimonies that health isn't found in perfection but in presence
• Restored in faith — trusting God's design over modern panic
• Parents who model peace — showing your children that wellness isn't worry If your heart is calling for this experience, join me this Fall!!
Schedule
Sunday, October 18
Day 1 — Arrive & Gather
3:30 PM — Private Pickup in Florence
Your Tuscan experience begins as we gather in Florence and leave the city behind, winding through the rolling hills, vineyards, and cypress-lined roads of the countryside.
4:00 PM — Arrival & Check-In at Casavecchia
Settle into your room and take time to explore the estate, breathe in the countryside, and ease into the slower rhythm of Tuscany.
5:00 PM — Welcome Gathering & Tuscan Snacks
Meet your hosts and fellow guests over a relaxed spread of local cheeses, seasonal bites, fresh bread, and refreshments. This is your first chance to gather around the table and simply enjoy being here.
7:00 PM — Welcome Dinner
Come together for our first dinner—a beautiful, leisurely meal inspired by the flavors and traditions of the Tuscan countryside.
8:00 PM — Campfire Circle: Introductions & Intentions
As the sun sets, we’ll gather around the fire beneath the Tuscan sky. We’ll share introductions, talk about what brought each of us here, and set our intentions for the days ahead—a quiet beginning to a week of connection, nourishment, and returning to what matters most.
Monday, October 19
DAY 2 — NOURISH & CONNECT
Food, tradition, and the art of building a life together
7:00 AM — Slow Morning Coffee & Tea
Wake slowly to the Tuscan countryside with fresh coffee and tea waiting for you. Enjoy the quiet of the villa, wander the grounds, or simply sit together before the day begins.
8:00 AM — Morning Yoga
Begin with gentle movement and breath, surrounded by the stillness of the Tuscan hills—a chance to become present, grounded, and connected.
9:00 AM — Breakfast & Morning Devotional: The Marriage Union
Gather around the breakfast table for a beautiful morning meal followed by a devotional with Brett Kelly exploring marriage as a union—two people with different strengths, gifts, and roles choosing to build one shared life.
10:30 AM — Tuscan Market Morning
We’ll visit a nearby village and local market, wandering the stalls, meeting local vendors, and experiencing the ingredients and rhythms of everyday Tuscan life. Each couple will choose fresh, seasonal ingredients for a little challenge waiting back at the villa.
1:00 PM — Market-to-Table Couples Cooking Competition
Back at the villa, couples will turn their market finds into lunch. Working together, you’ll create a dish inspired by what you discovered that morning—then gather around the table to taste, laugh, and crown a winning couple.
3:00 PM — Olive Oil Tasting & Villa Tour
Step deeper into Tuscan food traditions with a guided olive oil tasting and tour of the historic villa and grounds, learning about the land, its history, and the traditions that have shaped life here.
5:00 PM — Handmade Pasta Class
Roll up your sleeves for an intimate pasta-making class. Learn traditional techniques, work side-by-side with your partner, and create the pasta we’ll enjoy together that evening.
7:00 PM — Dinner at the Villa
Gather around the table for a long, candlelit Tuscan dinner featuring the pasta you made together, good conversation, and the simple pleasure of sharing a meal without rushing anywhere.
8:30 PM — Evening Circle: Choosing Each Other
End the day gathered together for our nightly circle. Tonight we’ll reflect on partnership, what it means to truly choose one another, and one thing we want to bring more intentionally into our marriages. A quiet moment to reconnect before retiring for the evening.
Wednesday, October 21
DAY 4 — REALIGN & RESTORE
Creating the rhythms that allow our families to heal - VOLTERRA
7:00 AM — Slow Morning Coffee & Tea
Wake slowly with coffee and tea waiting at the villa. Take a quiet moment together before the day begins—to walk, journal, pray, or simply enjoy the stillness of the Tuscan morning.
8:00 AM — Morning Yoga
Begin the day with gentle movement and breath, creating space to slow down, reconnect with your body, and become intentional about the day ahead.
9:00 AM — Breakfast & Morning Devotional: Realigning Our Family Priorities
Over breakfast, we’ll explore what happens when the things we say matter most—our marriage, children, faith, health, and home—aren’t reflected in the way we actually spend our time.
10:30 AM — Depart for Volterra
Travel through the rolling Tuscan countryside toward the ancient hilltop town of Volterra.
11:30 AM — Explore Volterra
Wander the stone streets, artisan shops, historic churches, and beautiful piazzas of one of Tuscany’s most storied towns. Take your time. There is nowhere else you need to be.
1:00 PM — Free Time & Lunch in Volterra
Spend the afternoon as a couple. Find a little trattoria for lunch, browse local shops, stop for gelato, or simply wander without an itinerary.
This unstructured time is intentional—a chance to practice something we often forget how to do at home: slow down and enjoy the person we chose to build our life with.
5:00 PM — Return to the Villa
Return to Casavecchia for time to rest, refresh, and enjoy the property before dinner.
7:00 PM — Dinner at the Villa
Gather around the table for another long Tuscan dinner, enjoying seasonal food, candlelight, and conversation together.
8:30 PM — Campfire Circle: Creating Our Family Rhythm
Tonight’s circle turns reflection into action.
Together as couples, we’ll look honestly at the current rhythm of our homes: What is taking too much of our time and energy? What have we unintentionally made a priority? What important things keep getting pushed aside? And what does our family need more of in order to thrive?
Each couple will begin creating their own Healing Priorities for home.
Thursday, October 22
DAY 5 — NOURISH
Returning to real food, ancient wisdom & the family table
7:00 AM — Optional Hot Air Balloon over Tuscany
For those who choose to join, rise before the rest of the villa for an unforgettable flight over the Tuscan countryside. Watch the morning light move across vineyards, olive groves, hilltop villages, and patchwork fields as Tuscany wakes beneath you.
For everyone else, enjoy a slow morning at the villa with coffee, tea, and time to rest.
8:00 AM — Morning Yoga
Begin the morning with gentle movement, stretching, and breath—another opportunity to reconnect with your body and the natural rhythms we so often lose in everyday life.
9:00 AM — Breakfast
Gather around the table for a nourishing breakfast made with simple, seasonal ingredients. No formal teaching this morning—just time to eat slowly and enjoy one another.
10:00 AM — Hike Through the Tuscan Countryside
Set out on a two-hour hike through the landscape surrounding the villa. Walk among olive groves, vineyards, fields, and wooded paths while experiencing the land that has sustained families here for generations.
Today is about remembering that health isn’t found in one perfect food or routine. It is built through a way of life—movement, sunlight, real food, community, rest, purpose, and connection to the natural world.
1:00 PM — Lunch at the Villa
Return hungry for a relaxed seasonal lunch around the table.
2:00 PM — Siesta & Free Time
The afternoon slows down. Swim, nap, read beneath an olive tree, spend time with your spouse, journal, or simply do nothing.
Rest is part of nourishment too.
3:00 PM — Bread Workshop: From Grain to Loaf
Gather in the kitchen for one of the signature experiences of the retreat.
Jessica will introduce the art of baking with fresh-milled whole grains and explore why bread was once one of the most foundational foods of the family table.
Together, we’ll mill whole grains into flour, learn the fundamentals of working with fresh-milled flour, mix and shape dough, and bake beautiful loaves to share.
7:00 PM Gather for a beautiful dinner celebrating simple ingredients and food prepared with intention—including the bread made together that afternoon.
Tonight, the table itself becomes part of the lesson: nourishment is about more than nutrients. The family table can be a place of conversation, belonging, tradition, gratitude, and connection.
8:30 PM — Evening Circle: What Will Our Family Table Become?
For our nightly circle, we’ll reflect on the role food currently plays in our homes—and what we want it to become.
What would change if the family table became one of the most protected places in our home?
Tuesday, October 20
DAY 3 — ROOTS & LEGACY
Healing the home and changing what we pass to the next generation
7:00 AM — Slow Morning Coffee & Tea
Wake to another quiet morning in the Tuscan countryside with coffee and tea waiting. Take time to sit together, wander the grounds, journal, or simply enjoy the stillness before the day begins.
8:30 AM — Breakfast & Teaching: Healing Our Children & Grandchildren
Over breakfast, Jessica will lead a conversation about the extraordinary influence we have within our homes—and how changing the way we nourish, live, connect, and care for our families can affect generations.
9:30 AM — Bike Through the Tuscan Countryside
Set out together for a guided ride through the hills, vineyards, olive groves, and small villages surrounding the estate. This is Tuscany at its simplest—open air, beautiful landscapes, old stone farmhouses, and time to experience the countryside at a slower pace.
1:00 PM — Countryside Lunch
Pause along the route for a leisurely lunch featuring seasonal, regional food. Rest your legs, linger around the table, and enjoy the landscape before making our way back toward the villa.
2:30 PM — Return to the Villa
Arrive home with time to refresh, change, rest by the pool, or enjoy a quiet hour together before the evening experience begins.
3:00 PM — Tuscan Truffle Hunt
Head into the woods with a local truffle hunter and trained truffle dogs to experience one of Tuscany’s oldest culinary traditions. Learn how truffles grow, why this knowledge has been passed through generations, and experience the anticipation of uncovering something extraordinary hidden beneath the earth.
5:00 PM — Aperitivo & Free Time
Return to the villa for a relaxed aperitivo and time to unwind before dinner.
7:00 PM — Truffle Dinner
Gather for an intimate candlelit dinner celebrating the truffles discovered that afternoon. Course by course, we’ll experience this treasured ingredient in the way it has been enjoyed here for generations—slowly, seasonally, and around a shared table.
8:30 PM — Campfire Circle: What Will We Pass Down?
As night settles over the villa, gather around the fire for our nightly circle.
Tonight we turn toward legacy.
What did we inherit from the families who came before us—both things we want to preserve and patterns we want to change? What do we want our children to remember about growing up in our home?
Friday, October 23
DAY 6 — RESTORE & RETURN
Carrying what we’ve rediscovered back home
7:00 AM — Slow Morning Coffee & Tea
Begin our final full day slowly. Coffee and tea will be waiting as you enjoy a quiet morning at the villa—time to reflect on the week, walk the grounds, or sit together before the day begins.
8:00 AM — Morning Yoga
Our final morning practice will focus on restoration, gratitude, and presence—creating space to recognize what has shifted during our time together.
9:00 AM — Breakfast
Gather around the table for a leisurely breakfast before departing for a day devoted to rest and renewal.
10:30 AM — Depart for Asmana Wellness World
Today we step away from schedules, responsibilities, and productivity and give ourselves permission to simply rest.
Enjoy the thermal pools, saunas, steam rooms, relaxation spaces, and wellness experiences at Asmana.
After a week spent talking about caring for our marriages, children, homes, and health, today is also a reminder:
We cannot continually pour into our families without creating space to be restored ourselves.
1:00 PM — Lunch at the Spa
Enjoy lunch at your leisure before a final hour of relaxation together.
2:30 PM — Return to the Villa
3:00 PM — Free Time & Bringing It Home Workshop
Spend the afternoon resting, packing, swimming, or enjoying the villa—or join us for an optional workshop designed to turn the inspiration of the week into something sustainable at home.
We’ll revisit the ideas recorded in our retreat journals and begin simplifying them into a realistic plan.
7:00 PM — Celebration Dinner
Dress up for our final evening together and head out for a special Tuscan dinner.
Tonight is a celebration—not simply of the places we’ve visited or food we’ve eaten, but of the relationships strengthened, conversations begun, and vision created during our week together.
Eat slowly. Raise a glass. Take pictures. Laugh. And celebrate the life you are building together.
8:30 PM — Closing Circle: The Life We Choose From Here
For our final circle, we’ll gather one last time and look back at the journey of the week.
We began with our marriage.
We considered what we are passing to the next generation.
We realigned the priorities and rhythms of our home.
We rediscovered nourishment and the family table.
And now we ask:
What will actually be different when we go home?
Day 7 - Departures
7:00 am - Coffee & Tea Ready
9:00 am - Breakfast - goodbye circle
9:00 am - Florence Drop Offs
10:30 am Final Check Out of Villa
*these costs are not included in the cost
Jessica Kelly
Retreat Host
Jessica Kelly is the founder of The Kitchen Gardens, an online educational platform helping families reclaim their health through scratch cooking, land stewardship, and intentional living—rooted in faith, simplicity, and the wisdom of the old ways.
A devoted follower of Jesus, homeschool mama, and experienced nurse & health educator, Jessica believes true wellness begins at home. Not in fads or fear, but around the kitchen table—through nourishing food, shared work, and skills that strengthen both body and soul.
Her teaching centers on deep scratch cooking, traditional baking, and using the homestead as a living classroom where children learn responsibility, resilience, and reverence for the land. Through everyday rhythms—baking bread, tending animals, growing food—Jessica equips families to live healthier, more connected lives while passing down practical skills that endure.
Through The Kitchen Gardens, Jessica invites families to slow down, return to what is time-tested, and rediscover the joy, dignity, and healing found in doing life the old way—together.
