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6 Feb 2025
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Description
We just bought a whole valley 22 hectares of river nature oasis in southern Sicily between Modica and Ragusa. Its one of the most beautiful ecosystems I have seen in Sicily, with so many different bird, plant and water life species. The Valley or how we lovingly call it "il Nido" which means the nest in Italian, is the vision to create is a nature sanctuary that offers people in phases of life transition or challenging times a space to rest, recharge and reorientate themselves and connect back with their passion. After having lived for several years in different meditation & yoga centers, a longing grew to create a physical place that provides some external structure, yet also gives a lot of freedom and playfulness for internal processes and discoveries to unfold. So it is also a place of community and the creative arts. Here, we provide a peaceful and serene environment for individuals to reflect, heal, and find inspiration amidst nature's beauty. The Opening is planned in March 2025, so until then its just maintaining the place, cleaning up and getting things ready. It's a gifting-economy based project that does not run on capitalistic principals of making profit or even earning money. The land and infrastructure was gifted in oder to start the project.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Charity workFarmingCultureSelf developmentSustainabilityTechnologyVegetarian or veganPolitics / Social justiceLGBTQPerforming artsPhotographyPlant careMusicDIY & craftsArt & designCooking & foodGardeningDrawing & paintingCarpentryAnimalsBeachCyclingOutdoor activitiesHikingMountainSailing / BoatingYoga / WellnessNatureCampingDancingUN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
This really is meant to be a space of co-creation and a bit of an experiment. Although I have a background in the high-performing field of entrepreneurship and this could be done in a very structured and "productive" way, this is not what I'm in for this time. I've seen over the years how the collective, that also works intuitively is much more powerful than a set of structured thoughts. They are a good team our left and right brain, but this time I wanna give more space to the right brain: the creative, intuitive, artistic, emotional, non-verbal and imaginative. If this resonates with you, you are in the right place. Productivity has come to me in the last years more through following my passions rather than the linear structure. We are in the liminal here.
Also from time to time we take the car for a trip to the beach, go to community and cultural events in the town or savour a granita in Modica. A bit of Dolce Vita is always needed and the locals here have become good friend of mine, so we hang out and have a dinner together.
I can give offer meditation and yoga classes, philosophical and pragmatic talks, vegan cooking, lots of wilderness survival skills stuff :), somatic body work, music (we have a music studio and instruments here), campfire, laughs, stories, a ear to listen, and looots of time to dance and play and create. Knowledge in building things, entrepreneurship, holocracy and many other fun project management and communication tools, and some insights from a few years of dedicated climate and social justice activism... But at the same time, I also wanna make this just as much of an interesting creative space for you rather than just an work exchange.Help
We'd love for a minimum commitment of 2-3 weeks, even better one to two months, to keep the integrity and family feeling of the group.
Im looking for some enthusiastic souls, to enjoy this beautiful nature with me, go on valley explorations, baths and campfires, and have fun doing some clean-up, building and beautifying action for around 4-5h a day. This is all very flexible. This place used to be sort of a ecotourism place with a big restaurant before Covid hit, now it has been closed for the past 5 years. So you would be the very very first on this land to start the "bringing-this-place-back-to-life" party! Woooho!
This is a co-created space so there is not a fixed idea of what needs to be done first, it should be more of an exploration also for you what you feel drawn to contributing, so you can also basically choose and shape your own daily schedule.
Tasks you choose might be: cutting trees, collecting trash, building furniture or wooden platforms and A-frame cabins, repairing stone walls and fences, cleaning the floors and land, various painting and carpentry tasks, building an outdoor fire place and pool, permaculture, landscaping, creating art, beautifying, repotting plants, cooking, be the DJ, hosting a workshop, dressing-up and make sure we all have great costumes... its all welcome!
This place has so much potential and actually I cant wait breathing back fresh air and enthusiasm into it, but at the same time it can also seem like a daunting task as the place is huge, its really a whole valley, so it takes a good portion of optimism, lightness, playfulness and pragmatic problem-solving mindset as the infrastructure is very basic at the moment. We have a 4x4 car as its a rough road into the valley (3km off-road) and we have the basic powertools, including a little generator and a big battery to run some lights in the evening and charge devices. Most of the work would be done outside on the property, the weather is sunny most days. In the nights it already gets a bit chilly, but we can provide more blankets and we should have a wooden stove at some point.Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.Accommodation
There is a house will full infrastructure including an industrial kitchen, bathrooms, cold showers ( let me know if you wanna install a hot water boiler :-)) .
You are the right person if you are okay with the little infrastructure. A nice tent with a comfy bed will be provided that you can place anywhere on the property, its lovely to hear the sounds of the river and the birds in the morning. We have five spots in tents available.
From now onwards the group will be around 4-6 people. So one would be in charge for cooking the meals each day. We can rotate every day. Kitchen will be plant-based. There will be enough food and snacks, you can also let me know what your wishes are and we shop accordingly. If you want additional foods (cheese, eggs...) you can purchase them in the Modica nearby, will go there about 2 times per week, its a 25min drive or you can take the car yourself.What else ...
TIMELINE
The idea and wish is to spend mornings until our first meeting in silence to allow for contemplation and spaciousness. If there is the longing, we can also make space for a shared morning practice (meditation, yoga, movement..). We then have a checkin every morning at 10AM where everyone shares their ideas and inspirations for the day. We collectively get some sh*t done until 1.30PM when we have lunch together and celebrate what we have achieved. Afternoons are completely open to you: Explore the valley, go to Modica or Ragusa, go on walks, hang out together, play games, journal, create, swim or continue your task of the day. Yet overall the afternoon is meant to be a open space also for leisure and relaxation if that is what you long for. The idea is that the whole project will later on run on gifting economy and generally also guest follow their intuitive impulse. Let's see :) high hopes, haha well we gotta start with something and I'm bored of the current capitalistic system, and just wanna playfully try out new ways. From around March 2025 we should be able to start hosting the first guests.
ALCOHOL AND SMOKE-FREE ESTATE
We understand that this is a bold move, yet we would like for it to align with the vision of creating a space for inner contemplation, self-discovery, and reflection. Therefore this is a place where substance use, including alcohol, tabacco, recreational drugs and plant medicine is not taking place (there might be some exceptions in the future). Why? In many of our daily lives, consuming substances—especially in social group settings— has become normalised, sometimes even encouraged. If you feel open to it, consider this an opportunity to explore a different way of being, to experience yourself in a new context, and perhaps even become curious about how it feels to be without these influences. When I first spent three months in an environment like this, it profoundly shifted my relationship with myself and how I choose to engage with substances moving forward.
If you think you may find it very challenging to go without any substance during your stay, let's have a chat. It doesn’t automatically mean you can’t come, but we do ask that you let us know in advance so we can have an open conversation.
ACCESSIBILITY / GETTING AROUND
There is a car you can always use as its 25min drive and a 3km quite rough 4x4 road up the hill to reach Modica. The ocean is 35min by car. There is a daily direct night train from Milano to Siracusa. The next airport is Catania with a direct bus to Modica 4-5 times a day. For the love of our dear mother Earth we highly encourage travel by train, boat, carpooling.A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have very fast Starlink internet, 120 mbps
Can possibly accept pets
We are open to pets as long as they are good with other animals.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (3)
I have had many workaway experiences and this was definitely one of the outstanding ones where I could feel the project as my own and where I would find myself using "we" and "us" instead of "I" and "me". When I got there we were a team of four and the project was at its very beginning, we faced lots of… read more
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I have had many workaway experiences and this was definitely one of the outstanding ones where I could feel the project as my own and where I would find myself using "we" and "us" instead of "I" and "me". When I got there we were a team of four and the project was at its very beginning, we faced lots of… read more