Helena Attlee has been writing about Italy for thirty years. Her first book was a guide to Italian gardens, written while travelling around the country with her husband, photographer Alex Ramsay, a small baby and a tent. Helena and Alex have produced many books about the cultural history of gardens all over the world. Helena’s most recent title is the award-winning Sunday Times bestseller The Land Where Lemons Grow. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme and BBC Radio 3’s Thinking Aloud. Whether working with creative writers or with graduate students at university, Helena incorporates experience-led activities into her teaching. The ideas for these activities grow out of her own writing practice, often on the move, often abroad, always developing new techniques for bringing the reality of her experiences to the page. She and Julian regularly work together, leading successful writing workshops for universities and businesses, and she also leads creative writing workshops outdoors in unusual landscapes.

Julian Evans is a biographer, travel writer and journalist. His first book was Transit of Venus, the account of a journey to the US’s Pacific nuclear-missile range at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He then wrote Semi-Invisible Man, an authorised biography of his friend Norman Lewis, author of the classic Naples ’44. He has written and presented radio and TV documentaries including BBC Radio 3’s 20-part series on the rise of the European novel, The Romantic Road, and the BBC Four film José Saramago: A Life of Resistance. He is a lead reviewer for the Daily Telegraph and has covered the war in Ukraine for Granta magazine as well as writing for the Guardian, Prospect, New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement, Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveller, and L’Atelier du Roman. He leads workshops for audiences as varied as UK universities and the Premier League.

Fees include:

• All accommodation (please chose your room below)
• Tuition with Julian and Helena
• All lunches and dinners at the castle
• Transport for all activities, 

Fees do not include:

• Flights to and from Italy The airports of Pisa, Rome, Florence and 
• Transfers to the Castle. Please contact Alexander to arrange transfers if you are not hiring a car. Transfers can be arranged from airports and local railway stations.

Please enter the code NOTWRITINGITALY to receive a reduction of €400 if you have a non-participating partner.

If you have any questions before you book, do not hesitate to get in touch with Alexander Greene alexander.greene@potentino.com