Our story
The
Sandri-Cotič family
Giacomo
Sandri
Giacomo is a medical herbalist and holistic bodyworker based in Bristol, UK. He is a passionate explorer of human health, holistic nutrition, primal living and of the relationship between medicinal plants and humans. He believes that the key to reach independence and personal empowerment lies in retrieving the connection with our environment, with our food and ultimately with our Higher self.
He regularly runs workshops on intuitive herbalism and herbal tea ceremonies.
Francesco
Sandri
Francesco holds a MSc in Global Development and has a marked interest in researching socio-environmental conflicts and travel journalism. He spent the majority of his early twenties through the warmth, the smell and the colourful realities of many countries of Latin America. Moreover, he has a deep knowledge of, a passion for and a connection with the Alpine environment and the ancient livelihood of their inhabitants, which he developed during several months of hermitage at Cason di Tul.
Marta
Sandri
Marta is a yoga teacher specialised in Hatha yoga and a creative facilitator that works mainly with creative writing and free conscious movement; she studied Therapeutic arts in England and she did her yoga teacher training in India.
Currently, she’s developing a dance and sound healing project in Spain, where she is currently exploring forms of sustainable livelihood within a eco-community.
ABOUT THE LOCATION: CARNIA AND CASON DI TUL
The retreat will take place at Cason di Tul, a 150 years old building located in the heart of the North Eastern Italian Alps within a small and pristine mountainous area of outstanding beauty called Carnia.
The building, characterized by its stone and wood structure, used to be a stable for cattle grazing on high altitude pastures and is located in the middle of the enchanting Val Pesarina at 900m above sea level. Val Pesarina is a rare pearl of the Alps. Despite its exceptional beauty, reflected in the view of its Pesarinian Dolomites mountain range and in its flowering renaissance’s hamlets, the valley escaped the commercialization brought by mass tourism. Its deep-rooted culture is still lived and alive, with operating high-altitude shepherd’s cottages (malgas) and a 400-years old clock factory that awards it the title of “the valley of time”. The ancient past of the valley coexists and continuously merges with its vibrant present.
Since 2010 the Sandri family decided to convert this abandoned old stable into an alpine chalet of outstanding beauty. Since then, the house and the land have hosted a plethora of wellbeing retreats and activities such as shamanic journeying, family constellations, QiGong, mindfulness and Yoga courses.
The rugged and wild forested land around the house is composed by thick woodland of spruce, silver fir and beech trees, and is home to a fantastic range of animals such as stags, foxes, eagles, owls, vultures and bears (very rare!).
The bottom of the valley is blessed by the crystalline course of the Pesarina river, that flows a few meters away from the Cason di Tul and immerses it with the calming and bubbling sound of its icy young waters.