Village at the Villa

The program

At a glance

Duration: 11 days, 10 nights.

Group: a small group of Lasell Village residents, with two Seemore Global group leaders.

Where you stay: a villa above Florence, then a small town on the Tuscan coast. Two hotels, two unpackings.

Meals: breakfast every day; dinner together most evenings.

Activity level: easygoing. Details below.

Price: per person, confirmed when the group is set.

Overview

Spend eleven days learning how Florence makes things. You’ll weave on looms that have run since the 1700s, pull a sheet of paper in a studio now in its sixth generation, shape clay, cook a Tuscan dinner, and hear music in a conservatory a short walk from your villa. Mornings are for the studios. Afternoons are yours.

What you’ll do

Work alongside Florentine artisans in their own studios, in groups small enough that everyone has a seat at the bench.

Live in one villa above Florence for most of the program, with the city a short ride away whenever you want it.

Travel door to door by private van, with your luggage handled for you on every move.

Program notes

The order of studio sessions may change by date. The villa and the coast hotel are named on confirmation. A few activities need a firm count in advance and are marked on the itinerary; everything else can be decided the day before. Dietary requests are met where possible; please tell us on the registration form.

Activity level

Walking up to 40 minutes a day on level ground, at your own pace, with places to sit along the way. One longer day of about 90 minutes with seated stops. Studio sessions are seated. Very little standing. Streets in the historic centers are cobbled and closed to cars. The walking for each day is listed in advance on the itinerary.

Where you stay

Most nights are at a villa above Florence. You unpack once, and our vans run into the city every hour for anyone who wants time there. On the way to the coast, we spend a morning inside a vegetable-tanned leather tannery that is normally closed to visitors.

Our last nights are in a small town ten minutes from the sea, where sculptors have sent their work to be carved in marble and cast in bronze since Michelangelo chose the quarries above it. The workshops are still here. We’ll walk the historic center with our group leader: the main square, the cathedral steps, the galleries, and the foundry district a few streets back, where a sculptor will show us how a clay model becomes a bronze. About 30 minutes of easy walking, flat, with places to sit. Afternoons are yours: the cafés on the square, the beach by a short ride, or a seat in the shade. Dinner is together, at a restaurant the town itself eats in.

The day-by-day schedule, the route and the walking table are on the Itinerary page above.

Your group leader

Kathleen Grevers designed the program and leads it. She has led educational travel for twenty years, taught at the Rhode Island School of Design for two decades, and works part-time in Florence as a dean of academic innovation. Village at the Villa is the first international learning program created for Lasell Village, and it is run with the Village’s Education office.

The dates and the cost

Dates and travel information

Departure: April 2027. Alternate: late September 2027. Exact dates are confirmed with Lasell Village and sent to enrolled participants.

Flights are booked as a group where possible, with options discussed after registration. If you book your own travel, you’ll meet the group at a set time and place on arrival day.

Price and what’s included

The price per person is confirmed when the group is set, and it does not change afterward.

Included: 10 nights’ lodging with breakfast, group dinners, all studio sessions and materials, all guides and entrances, all ground transportation by private van, and two Seemore Global group leaders for the full program.

Not included: airfare, lunches, free-afternoon outings, and travel insurance.

Rooms are priced per room. Two people sharing split the cost. A single traveler has the room alone at the same rate. There is no single supplement.

Terms

The full document is short; each section ends with the sentence it comes down to. Read it before you commit; keep a copy.

Download the Program Terms (PDF)

This is contracted through: Seemore Global, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, 5 Cedar St., PO Box 52, Hopkinton, MA 01748. Lasell Village’s Education office hosts the information sessions and runs the program with Seemore; it does not operate the travel and is not a party to the contract.

Deposit and balance: One deposit per person, taken from everyone on the same day so the travel-insurance window (see below) runs once for the whole group. Anyone who misses the deposit day may still join if a place remains, with the insurance timing explained individually. The balance is due January 15, 2027. Check, bank transfer or card; a place is released if the balance is unpaid 14 days after its due date.

For cancellations:

• Within 14 days of paying the deposit: full refund.

• From day 15 until 75 days before departure: full refund less the deposit.

• 74 to 46 days before departure: 50% of the program fee.

• 45 days or fewer before departure: no refund.

In writing, by email or letter; the date received sets the schedule. A confirmed place can be transferred to another resident at no charge up to 45 days out. Refunds go back to the method used to pay, within 14 days. If Seemore cancels the program, every payment is returned in full within 14 days.

Travel insurance, required.

Trip cancellation for at least the program fee, emergency medical abroad of at least $100,000, evacuation of at least $250,000. Most insurers waive the pre-existing-condition exclusion only if the policy is bought within 14 to 21 days of the first payment; that is why every deposit is taken on one day. Seemore does not sell insurance and receives nothing from any insurer.

Compare policies at insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com. Original Medicare generally stops at the US border; some Medigap plans offer limited emergency cover abroad. The declaration page is due with the balance.

Health and mobility.

The program is built for people who walk comfortably for up to 40 minutes on level ground, with one longer day of about 90 minutes with seated stops. With the balance, each participant sends a health declaration, a physician's letter dated within 90 days of departure, a medication list, and the name of an emergency contact and health-care proxy with a copy of the proxy document. Seemore carries a sealed copy, opens it only in a medical emergency, and destroys it within 30 days of the return date.

Emergencies.

The program directors carry a 24-hour phone, printed on a card given to each participant on day one. In a medical emergency a director arranges care, goes to the hospital with you, and calls the people you named. By enrolling, each participant authorizes Seemore to arrange emergency medical treatment on their behalf when they are unable to consent; costs are the participant’s and are what travel insurance covers.

Health information is shared with medical staff and your named contacts, and with no one else. A hospital is under 25 minutes by van from each place we stay.

Conduct and photographs.

Participants are adults traveling by choice. Please be on time for the vans, tell a director if you leave the day's plan, and treat the workshop hosts as the professionals they are. Whether your photograph may be used is your choice, made on the registration form.

Leaving the program.

If a participant’s conduct or health puts the participant or the group at risk, Seemore may end that person’s participation. Travel home is arranged with the participant and the named contact and is at the participant’s cost; days missed are not refunded, and travel insurance is there for exactly this.

Group size.

The program runs with a small group. If the minimum group is not confirmed by January 20, 2027, Seemore cancels and every payment is returned in full within 14 days.

Changes.

Hosts, hotels and drivers sometimes change plans; when one does, Seemore replaces it with a visit of equal standard. If a change removes something central (a workshop day or a night's lodging), the group hears in writing and the difference comes back.

Events outside anyone's control.

Strikes, weather, a government travel warning, illness at a host... if one stops part of the program, Seemore returns whatever hotels and hosts refund. Travel insurance is there for exactly this.

Leaving early.

Days missed after departure are not refunded; travel insurance covers interruption.

Risk.

Travel carries risk: stone steps, uneven streets, traffic, tools in a working studio. Each participant accepts those risks and releases Seemore Global, its directors and staff from claims for ordinary negligence. Gross negligence is never released.

Who does what.

Hotels, drivers and workshop hosts are independent businesses. Seemore chooses them with care and answers for its own staff and its own decisions. Airlines, hotels, drivers and workshop hosts apply their own conditions of carriage and service, and those conditions bind each participant while in their care.

Passports.

A passport valid at least six months past the return date. The EU now registers non-EU travelers at the border (fingerprints and a photo on first entry), and by 2027 Americans may also need ETIAS, the EU’s online travel authorization, which is applied for before departure. Passports and authorizations are each participant’s responsibility; Seemore sends reminders.

Law and disputes.

Massachusetts law applies. A disagreement goes first to a conversation, then to mediation in Boston, then to the Massachusetts courts.

The registration form

How to enroll

Enrollment is handled through Lasell Village’s Education office, and residents receive the registration link directly. The form takes a few minutes: contact details, emergency contact and health-care proxy, a box to tick for each agreement, and a typed signature. A dated copy comes to your inbox the moment it is sent. Please read the Program Terms before you begin.

Questions: Kathleen Grevers · kathleen@seemoreglobal.com · (508) 963-4678