WORKSHOPS

An exploration of land, art and myth


5-10 October 2025
Dimora Casanoja
Noci, Puglia


To be in the body is to be in dialogue with the Earth. To move with love is to make space for becoming.

• JOIN US BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO:
  archaeochoreology@gmail.com or francesca.mariano1@gmail.com
• 
  

Join us this coming October in Noci, Puglia, a land where limestone lays the grounds of history and tradition, olive groves cradle the wind, and the sea carves devotional forms into the cliffs. Here, we invite you to slow down, tune in, and step into an intimate conversation between body, land, and cosmos.

La Pietra che Respira is a space for those seeking embodied connection through movement, mythopoetics, and sensorial presence. It unfolds as a living score of gestures, traces, and temporary altars: an embodied cartography of becoming.

Our Practices

Each day opens with breath and body tuning through Qi Gong meditation. The process unfolds through somatic exercises, land-responsive art explorations, pilgrimages to ancient sites and improvisational practices that attune us to the genius loci of this territory.

Mapping the Inner Landscape: Through drawing, journaling, and movement we explore the terrain of memory, intuition, and the mythical landscape.

Landscape Explorations: We walk, dance, and rest in the living architecture of the Valle d’Itria and its coastlines, reading stone, water, and vegetation as sacred text.

Stargazing as Invocation: Nights are held under the vast southern sky, in silence or song, listening to the constellations like a distant kin.

Ritual Architecture: We create ephemeral designs and offerings in dialogue with land and elements.


Excursions

Together, we’ll journey to places where the wild sea meets mythology: hidden coves, grottos, and tidal pools where we’ll swim, listen, and create subtle acts of devotion. 




ABOUT US

Francesca Mariano is a movement and sound artist whose work bridges somatics, mythology, and landscape-based practices. She has trained with movement pioneer Anna Halprin and she is the founder of Archaeo Choreology, an ongoing independent project dedicated to exploring the embodied relationship between land, myth, and earth-based traditions through community engagement, ritual art practices, and site-specific research. The project fosters the communication between art and health. Over the years, Archaeo Choreology has cultivated an alternative mode of learning that weaves together mythology, dance, sound, spirituality, and architecture. Through workshops, gatherings, and collaborative explorations, the project has activated diverse geographies, including spaces as Orto Botanico Palermo, Museo Madre for the Biennale Architettura, Les Urbaines Losanna, Nuova Atlantide Bomarzo, Nextones Val d’Ossola, Iklectic London, Combo Milan and many more. Each iteration is shaped in dialogue with place, inviting participants into a collective inquiry on how we remember, move with, and reimagine the land we inhabit.

Collina is a project born almost spontaneously within the grounds of Dimora Casanoja, an ancient Apulian farmhouse nestled in greenery where one can rediscover the simplicity and genuine pleasures of good living.
It's a place where travelers, artists, and curators come together to live experiences, engage in dialogue, create, and share. It serves as a container for cultural and artistic activities/events (artistic residencies, yoga, events) with a strong identity that goes beyond the classic image of Apulia. It belongs to Collina.
It's a way of inhabiting spaces based on sharing and respecting one's way of life and place of origin. Its primary objective is waste reduction, utilizing the products the territory offers (vegetable garden and orchard). For this reason, guests are asked to use resources consciously.
https://nestitaly.com/dimora-casanoja/

This retreat is for anyone who longs for restoration and reconnection to the world that holds us. No formal dance or art training is required. Just a willingness to listen, feel, and be transformed.

Whether you come to soften, ignite, remember, or begin again, you will be held, in community, in practice, and in the quiet magnificence of the land.


WHAT TO BRING
Hiking shoes
Bathing suit & beach towel
Journal
A jacket for the evening
(More details and informations will be disclosed upon enrollment)


DETAILS AND APPLICATION
Dates: 5-10 October 2025
Location: Dimora Casanoja Noci, Puglia. A private masseria surrounded by oak forest and ancient stones
Limited to 12 participants

EARLY BIRD BEFORE JUNE 20th
-950 Euro for those who are okay with sharing a kingsize bed with a friend
(please notify the names of the person who you will be sharing with)
- 1100 for a single spot. All accommodations are in shared rooms.

REGULAR AFTER JUNE 20th
-1050 for those who are okay with sharing a kingsize bed with a friend
(please notify the names of the person who will be sharing),
-1200 for a single spot. All accommodations are in shared rooms.


*Includes accommodation, delicious and healthy daily breakfast, lunch and dinner (lunch will be prepared as a community practice), workshops, excursions, and workshop materials.

TRAVEL
The closest Airport is BARI (Puglia) and the closest trainstations are Noci and Putignano.
Plans for airport/train station pick ups can be arranged in advance and are excluded from the retreat’s fee.
 

Booking & Payment Terms
To confirm your place, we require a non-refundable deposit of 250 euro. This deposit secures your reservation and is considered a down payment toward the full amount. The remaining balance can be settled before arrival.
To ensure accessibility, the full balance can be paid in two installments. All info via email. 

Cancellation Policy
If you need to cancel your reservation, please notify us at least 14 days before the retreat start date. In this case, if you have already paid the full amount, 50% of the total cost will be refunded. Cancellations made less than 14 days before the retreat are non-refundable. We appreciate your understanding and your commitment to honoring the space we’re creating together.

@archaeochoreology