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More about this trip-
We will be staying at the Ad Astra Hotel, two floors of an ancestral family mansion wrapped in a large terrace. This spectacular venue is situated inside the largest walled garden in Europe. Each room has its own special touch: a door to the garden, access to the terrace, or perhaps a freestanding bathtub to soak in. Taking advantage of the good weather, we will start our days with breakfast on the terrace, looking out at the garden and scenic Florence skyline.
Our focus for our time together will be the theme of beauty: beauty in the natural world, beauty in ourselves, and beauty in the people we surround ourselves with. We will ask ourselves questions like: is striving for beauty in our lives inherently a shallow act? What beauty can we find in unexpected places? How can we cultivate more beauty in our lives?
This trip will be our most intimate experience yet, with only thirteen participants. Our small group will dive into the text every day through class time, silent walking, site visits, authentic Italian food, and many opportunities for quiet reflection.
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We will walk up to 5 miles each day, come rain or shine, and we recommend that pilgrims prepare for the possibility of varying temperatures by equipping with layers. We won’t rush our walks, but we expect to be tired at the end of each day.
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Pricing
The full tuition of the trip is $8,500. Only private rooms are available on this pilgrimage.
We will meet in Florence after lunch on May 11th and end programming in Florence before lunch on May 15th. Specific meeting time and location will be offered privately to pilgrims upon registration and payment.
Each pilgrim is responsible for handling their own travel expenses and arrangements prior to our meeting on May 11th and after we say goodbye on May 15th.
A Note on Pricing from the Common Ground Team:
This trip is more expensive per night than our other trips due to the cost of venues in the city of Florence as a prime tourist destination in Europe.
Furthermore, the historic quality of the hotel means it has a smaller capacity, leading to a higher staff-to-participant ratio and a more intimate and flexible experience. We chose this beautiful venue as opposed to a large commercial hotel because we value supporting boutique, locally run hotels and love the bespoke experiences they can offer to our participants.
The difference in cost between our usual trips and this one is exclusively due to the venue cost and no additional charges on our end. We understand that it is out of many people’s budgets, but we wanted to try to make this trip work to allow a small group to experience Florence.
Scholarships
We occasionally offer partial scholarships for pilgrimages. If you are interested, please fill out our form here.
Trip Faculty
Julia Argy
Faculty Leader (She/Her)
Julia is a writer from Massachusetts. Her debut novel, The One, was published by Putnam in April, 2023. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Statistics, and from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program with an MFA in Fiction. She works as the Director of Pilgrimages at Not Sorry.
Julia will serve as lead faculty for this trip.
Vanessa Zoltan
Chaplain (She/Her)
Vanessa is the CEO of Not Sorry Productions. She hosts three of our four podcasts: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Let’s Ask Taylor Swift, and Hot & Bothered. She founded Common Ground Pilgrimages in order to travel with brilliant faculty to beautiful places and talk about books with amazing pilgrims. It was a great trick she pulled off. She is also the author of the book, Praying with Jane Eyre.
Vanessa was trained as a non-denominational chaplain at Harvard Divinity School. She is a proud California girl who currently lives in MA with her gorgeous, blended family.
Vanessa will serve as chaplain for this trip.
“When I think of what life is, and how seldom love is answered by love; it is one of the moments for which the world was made.”
— E.M. Forster