SARDEGNA, ITALY
When you think of Sardegna, it's likely that an image of idyllic beaches and crystal clear waters comes to mind - and you'd be spot on. But when I visited the east coast of the island two years ago for, I was astounded at just how raw, untouched, and mountainous the island truly is. Driving through the interior felt like travelling back in time and witnessing the ancient origins of the island, with tiny villages few and far between and local shepherds walking the rugged hillsides with their herds of cattle or sheep.
Sardegna is home to the first identified Blue Zone, as coined by Dan Buettner and his National Geographic team, leading the search for extreme longevity. More specifically, the region is called Barbagia, located in the mountainous highlands of the island.
There are now five identified Blue Zones in the world - Sardegna (Italy), Okinawa (Japan), Nicoya Peninsula (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California), all with the highest concentration of centenarians in the world.
My decision to bring Serenità to Sardegna was an easy one - my passion for holistic health, whole foods, traditional recipes, and being in touch with our ancestry and the land, was reignited during my stay there. This western Mediterranean island and its people have been culturally isolated throughout history, and for the most part do not consider themselves to be Italian, rather “Sardo", making their culture quite unique from mainland Italy. It's a place where everything you eat is grown locally, the pace of living is slow, and connection with friends, family, and community is paramount - some of the key ingredients to their impressive longevity.
It will be an honour to bring our community of women here, to the place where “getting back to the basics” is more than a nice idea, it's their way of life and the foundation upon which the Sardi build long and happy lives.
WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE
Accommodations for 7 nights, 8 days
Transportation to and from Cagliari center
Three home-cooked meals per day, wine, tea & coffee
Daily Meditation & Mindful Movement
Group interactive workshops (guided journaling, topics vary)
Fresh pasta cooking class
Arts & crafting
Fresh cheese making workshop
Blue Zones Longevity workshop
Full-day Boat Trip to the world famous Baunei Coast beaches & Golf of Orosei
Day trip to hike the Gorropu Canyon & local beach
Local hiking/ nature walks
A CALL TO ADVENTURE
We can't fully experience Sardegna as a longevity hotspot without fully exploring its natural wonders - and this island is full of them! We'll have two full day trips - one day will be spent visiting the world famous Baunei Coast and the Gulf of Orosei beaches, not accessible by car. We'll be travelling by boat, making stops at the stunning turquoise coves, with one of our stops, Cala Mariolu, named Europe's most beautiful beach this year!
Our second day trip will be an early morning hike down into the Gorropu Canyon, the third deepest canyon in all of Europe, with a depth of 500 meters, and a length of five kilometers - truly a natural wonder. After we've traversed the mountainous gorge like a local, we'll stop at our local beach for some much well-deserved swim and lounge time.
For those feeling extra adventurous, our optional half-day trips are: a kayaking trip down Lake Cedrino (beginning just a short walk from our retreat home), and local horseback riding.
YOUR RETREAT HOME
The retreat will be held at an agriturismo (eco-lux farm stay) in the mountains of Dorgali, boarding the Blue Zone region. Perched in the mountains and overlooking Lake Cedrino, the view is surreal - and it's less than half an hour from the turquoise beaches of Cala Gonone. The agriturismo has been family owned for generations and they've transformed their 70 hectares of land into a cozy getaway with a fully functional farm.
All of the meals are made with truly 0 km ingredients - all of the produce, grains, and meat are grown on their family farm, a short walk from the agriturismo. Meals consist of a balanced local diet of fruit, vegetables, fresh sheep's cheese, legumes, whole grains, local pork, goat, and lamb, and tasty desserts.
All private or shared double rooms have en-suite bathrooms and their own verandas where you can get cozy with a book or mountain-gaze with a freshly brewed herbal tea (we love to stroll around and hand pick our herbs!)
INVESTMENT
SHARED
Double occupancy, one double bed, one single bed, en-suite bathroom, private veranda €3500
Triple occupancy, one double bed, one bunk bed, en-suite bathroom, shared patio €3200
PRIVATE
Double bed, en-suite, bathroom, private veranda €3800
Prices are per person
Payment plans are available
HOW TO SAVE YOUR SPOT
Head on over to our apply page to fill out the application form
Olivia will email you to discuss next steps, including:
Securing your spot with a €300 deposit
Completing our intake form
Setting up a payment plan for the remaining amount
For any questions, please don't hesitate to reach us at: info@serenitawellness.net
Flight
Health & travel insurance (highly recommended)
Extra activities (extra day trip, extra massage, horseback riding)
NOT INCLUDED
MEET THE TEAM
Olivia
July & October 2025
Umbria & Sardegna
Ari
July & October 2025
Umbria
Olivia is the founder and host of the Serenità Wellness Retreat, and has hosted 11 groups of women since 2018. Her career in clinical psychology, passion for holistic well-being, and love of her Italian heritage has created the foundation to bring her dream of curating wellness retreats to life.
Olivia's vision for the retreat is one where women of all ages, from all walks of life can come together in community and bond over shared joys and curiosities, embracing the possibilities that are born from a group of women inspiring each other.
During the retreat, Olivia is your go-to for all things, and hosts group workshops where reflection and sharing is deeply encouraged. Topics range and flow depending on the group of women, their interests and challenges, and the intuitive flow of the week. Topics of discussion include our reasons for "needing to retreat", self-care, womanhood, bringing to life our goals and life purpose, and tools for sustaining the retreat magic at home.
Ari’s passion and focus is the optimization of our lived experience, leading her through 20 years of exploration and training in somatic practices. At the Serenità Wellness Retreat, participants are invited enjoy a daily, vinyasa- inspired yoga practice, incorporating breathwork and meditation. The goal is never to ‘be good at yoga’, but simply and profoundly to feel and enjoy our own body.
Further, each participant will receive an hour-long Beyond Bodywork session, dedicated to multi-dimensional healing through enhanced somatic awareness and gentle release of tension. Each session is tailored to the receiver, and often involves deep tissue techniques, long flowing strokes and gentle rocking. Ari’s style is somewhat unique, evolved from her trainings with Esalen and Alchemy of Touch. Clients often report experiencing a trance-like state, and a level of relaxation far beyond more traditional massage.
Ari’s work is a constant unfolding, propelled by the belief that in healing our bodies, we ultimately heal our lives. Put another way: the release of trauma memory stored in our physical tissues allows us to rebirth into our very Highest
Version of Self. Let’s see what Magic we can create!
Melanie Wilder
October 2025
Umbria
Melanie is a woman’s coach and the founder of The BODY Cure, a method and philosophy that uses awareness of your physicality, as a means to cut through the fog of the mind.
Through her practice she supports women who want to create lives that are fully aligned with their truth, rooted in their power, and sustainably abundant (within AND without), free themselves from the complex trauma and wound-based conditioning that keeps them stuck and unable to actualize. She has developed her approach over a lifetime of her own deep and single-minded dedication to her healing and liberation from complex trauma, and is devotionally driven to guide other women through the process of knowing themselves as more than a reaction to their wounds.
“This is the linchpin; what keeps us negotiating our right to step into our worth, our power and our truth until it’s too late. When we dismantle it, we recover our access to life on our own terms, and the world needs more WOMEN living at that level, with that power, lighting a new path.”
Melanie’s workshops will focus on knowing who you are beyond and before the wounds, deepening the connection with your self-evident truth, uncoupling your core desires from the limitations familial history may have imposed you, exploring how core wounding or complex trauma have thwarted your ability to thrive in a particular area of life, and unraveling these limitations so you can take your life back.
Connect via instagram @the_body_cure