Residency programme · Spring

Spring Alchemy

Art & Presence in Molise

en plein air, in the first green

22–26 April

Bagnoli del Trigno, Molise

€600

Read about it

Francesco Polazzi seated beside one of his canvases in front of a graffitied brick wall — Pl. I Seated with a canvas against a graffitied wall

Bagnoli del Trigno in Molise, its stone houses stacked beneath a ruined castle and a church tower perched on a rock pinnacle — Pl. II Bagnoli del Trigno on its rock spur

Francesco Polazzi painting at an easel against a stone wall, in black and white — Pl. III Painting at an easel against a stone wall

Francesco Polazzi standing in a gallery in front of four of his paintings of Italian hill towns — Pl. IV In a gallery, before four hill-town paintings

Francesco Polazzi in his studio, surrounded by easels and stacked canvases — Pl. V The studio — easels, stacked canvases, trestles

Two weathered wooden doorways in an old pale stone wall, with terracotta pots of greenery beside them on a quiet paved square. — Pl. VI Old doorways in pale stone

The bell tower of Bagnoli del Trigno standing on its limestone crag above the village rooftops. — Pl. VII The bell tower on its crag, Bagnoli

A cobbled village street at dusk, a crowd gathered under festoon lights at the far end. — Pl. VIII Evening, and the street fills up

People gathered around a firepit in the garden after dark. — Pl. IX Hands and bare feet around the firepit

In the soft, awakening light of late April, when Bagnoli del Trigno — a timeless hilltop jewel of Molise cradled in the Trigno valley and kissed by winding ancient stone and spring’s first green — becomes a living, breathing canvas, we invite you to join a celebration of art, presence, and imagination.

This is a residency for those who feel art not just as a practice but as a way of being — an ontological joy that ripples through body and mind, form and colour, breath and step. You’ll be guided by Francesco Polazzi, a painter and thinker whose work blends figurative and abstract, imagination and memory, philosophy and playful creative rebellion. Educated in literature, philosophy and fine arts, and active across Europe, Polazzi approaches painting as a dialogue — a conversation that is forever in motion, alive with possibility.

Over five luminous days, 22–26 April, you’ll rise with the light for gentle morning meditations, letting the quiet quality of dawn settle into your awareness. Mornings will unfold into walks through the vibrant spring landscape, where hilltop vistas, flowering meadows, and the whispering Trigno remind us that creativity is, at its core, an attentiveness to what is alive.

Afternoons breathe with en plein air painting — a chance to watch shadow and hue shift over stone and sky — and one-to-one tutorials with Francesco, where your unique voice in paint and thought can flourish in shared exploration. Between sessions, shared meals will nourish both body and conversation, weaving camaraderie out of local flavours and laughter at communal tables. As evening descends, the residency gathers around the bonfire in the garden: flickering warmth beneath a vault of stars, a place for storytelling, reflection, rhythms of song, and the simple bliss of being together in creation.

All art materials, meals, and accommodation are included — so you can move freely between moments of quiet introspection and bursts of expressive joy without the weight of logistics. Come with an open heart and curious hands; here, in the gentle embrace of Molise’s spring, we’ll see what colour the world stirs in you.

Spring Alchemy

Ask us about Spring Alchemy

Or reach us here

The rest of the year