Pilates and Pause

Deepen your practice. Restore your rhythm. Move with intelligence.

Step into five days (six nights) of purposeful movement, rest, and reconnection in the Umbrian hills. Pilates and Pause is a retreat for people who love Pilates but want to explore it more deeply with expert guidance, nourishing food, walking in the Umbrian hills, and space to simply be.

Over five days and six nights at Casa Rosa, you’ll be invited to slow down. We’ll take every opportunity to be present, during movement classes, whilst walking, swimming under a waterfall, and during moments of silence in the early morning, as the light shifts and the day begins.

What’s Included

• Daily movement sessions rooted in Pilates but often taken somewhere else entirely to deepen your awareness, skill and strength. A curated, progressive programme with Jo and Ange - experienced physiotherapists and skilled teachers
• Bodywork with Giulia - intuitive, powerful sessions delivered in a forest yurt, that release more than just muscle tension
• Walks with Ian, who shares his deep knowledge of local flora, fauna and geology
• A chance to visit a secluded local swimming spot - a hidden waterfall and natural pool, perfect for a dip or quiet pause in nature
• Optional group or 1:1 coaching conversations with Jo - lightly held spaces for reflection and support
• Two excursions:
     • Hills and Hermitage: a guided walk to Mortari sinkholes and St Francis’s hermitage above Assisi
     • Town and Table: a slower day in Assisi with lunch overlooking the valley to Perugia
• Accommodation for six nights in the peaceful hilltop setting of Casa Rosa
• Three nourishing meals a day, prepared by a local chef using seasonal ingredients
• Ample time to rest, reflect, journal, swim or simply do nothing at all

Where will we be?

We will be staying at Casa Rosa, a converted farmhouse standing on a spur above a small river in a national park, with breath-taking views over the Tescio Valley and across the wooded hills to Mount Subasio. It’s a place of imagination and calm.

​In the 1960s, the derelict farmhouse was lovingly transformed into a family home and eventually a retreat by Ella’s English mother and artist Jennifer Holmes. Her influence is ever present in pictures, murals and painted furniture, but also in the beautifully landscaped gardens.

Who It's For

This retreat is for anyone who wants to feel more present in their body and in their life. You don’t need to be a seasoned mover - just someone open to slowing down, tuning in, and letting movement become a kind of conversation with yourself.

Movement with Meaning

This isn’t Pilates in a studio with mirrors and a clock. It’s movement in the open air, under a canopy in the garden or beneath the arbour by the pool, with Mount Subasio rising in the distance. The soundtrack is music, birdsong, wind in the trees, and sometimes just silence.

These sessions are more than technique. They’re about how movement feels, not how it looks. We’ll stretch. We’ll build strength. But we’ll listen to our bodies for what’s ready to shift. Some sessions are slow and grounding. Others are strong and uplifting. All are designed to help you feel more like yourself again.

The Walks

Walking here isn’t just about fresh air and exercise. It’s a way of entering the landscape. The Umbrian hills are layered with history - woods and pastures, cliffs and ravines, wildflowers and waterfalls. You’ll walk through shaded forests, climb to wide-open views, and pause in tiny villages or quiet valleys. Ian knows this land deeply - not just the paths, but the stories beneath them.

Some walks are gentle. Others more challenging. But always with time to take in the view. This isn’t about peak-bagging. It’s about presence. Letting the land move you, while you move within it.

The Bodywork

You don’t need to explain why your shoulders are tense. Or why your mind won’t settle. You just need to lie down and let Giulia do what she does best.

Treatments take place in a wooden yurt tucked into the edge of the forest. Giulia reads bodies like books and always seems to know what’s needed.

Whether you’re holding physical tension, emotional exhaustion, or a general sense of too much, you’ll come out feeling more whole, more yourself. You don’t need to talk. You just need to show up, lie down, and be cared for.

Sample Daily Rhythm

7:30 – Sunrise meditation

8:00 – Morning movement

9:00 – Breakfast

10:30 – Walk with Ian

13:00 – Lunch

14:00 – Free time / Swim at the waterfall

16:00 – Conversation circle or 1:1 coaching

17:00 – Evening movement

19:00 – Dinner

On excursion days, the schedule will flow around our adventures.

Accommodation and Prices

Please note that the beds pictured can be separated so where twin rooms are advertised but double beds pictured, the rooms will be set up as per the written description. 

To book, select the room you wish to reserve and pay the £300 deposit. You will then be invoiced for the remaining balance 10 weeks in advance of the retreat.

Giotto - single room in 5-person upstairs apartment with shared bathroom - £1770

Giotto - shared twin room in 5-person upstairs apartment with shared bathroom - £1670

Cimabue - Single room (double bed) in 2-person cottage with shared bathroom - £2070

Lorenzetti - shared twin room in 2-bedroom cottage with shared bathroom - £1970

Masolino - shared twin room in 2-person cottage with shared bathroom - £1970

Perugino - Single occupancy (double bed) in upstairs apartment - £2220

FAQs

Read the FAQs here.