DRAWING with PLACE, Molise, Italy

Italy Creative Retreats with The Museum of Loss and Renewal
Lead by artist, curator, and educator Tracy Mackenna

DRAWING with PLACE 2026
7 nights / 8 days in Italy’s undiscovered Molise region
Fri 09 Oct 2026 – Fri 16 Oct 2026
€1500,00 Euro

Time and space, curated with care by award-winning educator and artist Tracy Mackenna, to explore drawing and mark-making in the remarkable National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.

Our creative retreat gives you a period of dedicated time and space, providing a careful balance of guided workshops and uninterrupted personal time. It is designed to help you step out of your daily routine, to decelerate, so you can focus your energy through creativity and rest to heighten senses and increase inspiration.

DRAWING with PLACE invites you to take the time to slow down by experiencing and investigating place through drawing. All forms of drawing are encouraged, activated through experimentation, play, trial and error. Being and working in the ancient and contemporary environment of Molise will stimulate deep consideration of time, perspective, and personal and environmental well-being.

There are just six places available with participants housed in excellent accommodation in Collemacchia village, and superb studio spaces on hand.

Drawing with Place

DRAWING with PLACE is a retreat that has been carefully designed to provide structured workshops that explore and question what drawing is and can be. It will suit all those who are developing, extending and challenging their drawing practices. Support and encouragement are at the heart of the week, under the careful guidance of Tracy Mackenna, curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal. We welcome participants who think through drawing, and for whom drawing is a way to investigate and understand place, and from practitioners who have a strong interest in drawing as an area of practice.

The municipality of Filignano in Italy’s Molise region is a truly special place, with a unique mix of both calming and dramatic natural environments. The Creative Retreat is centred in the village of Collemacchia, home to Tracy Mackenna’s family for centuries. With virtually no tourism in the region, the area is remarkable for its unspoiled access to flora and fauna and world-class Samnite and Roman archaeological sites. The local community is strong and welcomes The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s participants whole-heartedly.

Nestled in the Apennine mountains, citizens have undergone waves of economic migration. This has resulted in a vibrant multi-lingual Italian community whose members move seamlessly between the village and their homes in e.g. Rome, Naples, Paris, Brussels, Philadelphia, Melbourne, Glasgow.

Your Week in Collemacchia

DRAWING with PLACE will encourage and support you to be inventive, experimental, to have fun and take risks, all the while being attentive to your remarkable surroundings, and to your own needs. 

Arrive on the first day to a warm welcome from Tracy, and to settle into your accommodation. Evening activities will include drinks on the roof terrace, introductions, and orientation – all in the spirit of relaxing conversation. 

Every morning we will step into the remarkable mountain environment that is part of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Abundant in wildlife, flora and fauna, archaeological sites and naturally re-wilding forest, Tracy’s life-long knowledge will be shared during walks and at sites frequented only by local inhabitants. We will consider scale, perspective, observation, attentiveness and what it means to slow down. These locations will be the sites of a series of tailored drawing exercises. Indoor working spaces next to your accommodation will enable you to experiment, get mucky and test ideas.

Each afternoon is time for you to explore by walking, working indoors or outdoors, accessing the fantastic books and artist’s publications in the on-site library, recording, or simply just being. Late afternoon gatherings are moments to share and discuss and are optional so you shape the space, pattern and time you need during the week. Evening gatherings in the Autumn warmth are an invitation to converse and reflect in the cradle of the mountains, watched by deer, wild boar, horses and myriad bird species.

The Creative Retreat offers a carefully balanced itinerary, with workshops that focus on historical and contemporary ways of drawing, discussion, presentation, making and sharing. Participants will be introduced to the stunning natural landscape around Collemacchia, accessible from the doorstep via ancient pathways, and to world-class archaeological sites. By walking, listening, looking and making, participants will activate drawing and mark-making in multiple ways.

Information on how to travel to Collemacchia can be found on the web page tabs.

Your Tutor

Tracy Mackenna is a highly experienced, award-winning artist, curator, educator, and publisher. Drawing and mark-making run through everything she does, including framed work for exhibition, large-scale site-specific installation, illustration, note-making and annotation. She works individually and in collaboration and her passion is gathering people together to create energy that leads to the unexpected. Through Tracy’s experience and generous approaches, she will share ways of working, uses of materials, and invitations to think and engage with the environment, allowing you to build on your own practices.

Visits to local and regional collections and museums will be part of the week’s activities, where drawing exercises will take place.

Post-Booking Information

You will receive confirmation of your booking within 48 hours.

The web page tabs contain useful information about the retreat, your journey to Collemacchia, and about the local area.

Before your arrival, a detailed schedule for the week will be emailed to you.

A 50% non-refundable deposit of the full price is required at the time of booking. The balance will be due 12 weeks prior to the workshop. We will email an invoice link to you and payments can be made securely by credit/debit card through our online platform.

To help you with your travel arrangements, you should be in Venafro (closest train and intercity bus stations to Collemacchia) for approximately 15:30 on the first day of the Creative Retreat. Local taxi information for the 20 minute drive to Collemacchia is available in the ‘Travel’ tab on the web page. Check-in to accommodation in Collemacchia is from 16:00 on the first day and check-out is by 10:00 on the final day.

Walking around Collemacchia’s glorious and ancient soft grassy paths take your through truly remarkable terrain. Please do come prepared to walk, taking variable weather conditions into account.
If you have any access needs, please do let us know.

You will be staying in single rooms in excellent self-catering accommodation in the village of Collemacchia, Molise. Work spaces are integrated into the accommodation buildings or to be found a couple of minutes walk away. The wonderful and well-stocked Supermarket Milena is in the village of Filignano, 1km from Collemacchia. It is run by Milena, Assunta and Patrizia who are very welcoming and accommodating. It provides all you will need for a week’s stay. Right next door is Caffè del Borgo, our local Bar. Run by the delightful Adua and team, it is the heart of the community.

Basic materials such as a range of papers, pencils and charcoals will be provided, so be sure to bring your preferred papers, sketchbooks and tools.

To give you ample time to experience the environment in your own way, our daily sessions will start at 10am and finish at lunch time. There will be multiple optional occasions for gathering and sharing in the late afternoons and evenings.

Itineraries may change slightly due to weather.

Please read the Booking Conditions tab on the web page which include our Terms and Conditions and Cancellation Policy before booking.

By acknowledging these conditions at the time of booking, you agree to and are bound by them.

Any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to email Tracy at tracy@tracy.mackenna.studio who will respond promptly.