#24 w-report NUNS the Word
Our guest critic finds some peace of mind at a monastery-inspired hotel in Umbria
A few days ago I was listening to Elise Loehnen interviewing Pico Iyer about his timely new book Aflame: Learning from Silence on her podcast Pulling the Thread. For a large part of their discussion, he raved about a Benedictine monastery he goes to regularly in Big Sur for several days of silent retreat. It sounded like heaven. Even three days of solitude, he said, is helpful, and then paraphrased a quote from Thomas Merton: “when your mind is silent, then the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real…”
While there are quite a few monastic retreats out there, beginners might feel more comfortable trying a few days at the Eremito in Umbria (about 270 euros all inclusive) which was opened in 2013 by the adventurous fashion designer turned hotelier Marcello Murzilli. Our friend, the hospitality consultant Jeremy Silverman, went on his own last summer; we asked him to give us the skinny.
GUEST HOTEL CRITIC: Jeremy Silverman
Last summer I found myself in a major slump—both in terms of energy and inspiration-and knew I needed to do something about it. Yet, the wellness landscape these days is overwhelming. There are retreats for everything: losing weight; yoga and meditation; exercising; life hacks; communal adventures; freezing yourself. Yet none of them really spoke to me. Eremito, which was recommended by a friend, turned out to be exactly what I was looking for: essentially a “time out” from daily life.
Eremito is Italian for hermit, which is the perfect word to describe the experience that the hotel delivers to guests – purposeful solitude and simplicity. Considering that in my regular life – family vacations included – I have had almost no experience with solitude or simplicity, I was apprehensive about the trip. It seemed a bit indulgent to leave everything behind. With two school-aged children, an erratic home office professional situation, a long list of domestic duties and an overly clingy labradoodle I could not even imagine what being alone, or left alone, would do to my frazzled brain. Would my wife and kids suffer some catastrophe while I was unreachable folded up in a lotus position? Would Mabel (the labradoodle) who I was sure loved me the most, follow my scent from Berlin to rural Italy? Spoiler alert: everybody, including Mabel, was just fine.
Twenty minutes before I even arrived at Eremito, which is surrounded by vast forestland, cellular service faded away, but from the moment I entered the soothing entry hall of worn ancient stone, all my anxieties did too. Built in the traditions of a 13th century monastery, the hotel provides solo travelers comfortable accommodations, nourishing and tasty meals, opportunities for movement, and as much space as one could want.
The guest rooms are in the original “cells,” where the monks once lived, and each contains a single bed, small stone workspace and a simple bathroom. They are sparsely furnished but in a tasteful way. My room had a calming view over the wild hills of the region and a front row seat to the nightly symphony of cicadas outside.
Depending on the season, the communal meals – prepared from ingredients grown on property - are served under a grapevine-covered pergola, with the silent dinner service taking place in a medievalesque candlelit dining room on top of a soundtrack of Gregorian chant. Daily activities, which are all entirely optional, begin with a dynamic yoga class, followed by a spiritual ceremony in the monastery’s chapel tower and then breakfast. The rest of the day can be spent reading, walking the many kilometers of trails in the area, sleeping, writing, or indulging in the wellness area which features a thermal spring-fed bath and steam sauna reserved for individual use. A local masseuse is also available for various bodywork treatments.
I am not an especially quiet or pensive person so the thought of being silent for days made me somewhat uneasy. I have some friends who have gone on ten day long Vipassana retreats of meditation of silence; this level of discipline was not what I was looking for. But Eremito is not a dogmatic place. For the most part, I embraced the solitude. If I did speak to someone at no point was I scolded or told to stop talking. After a dinner eaten in silence, it was typical for guests to sit outside around a fire, sip on Eremito’s signature spiced apple beverage, gaze up at the endless sky and fall into discussion. (During colder months, there are several fireplace-equipped rooms for lounging on cushions).
The other guests that I met were international, people I might have also met at any of the most luxurious hotels in Europe. Like the kinship a good private club can engender, there was an immediate rapport among the group with easy conversation, and zero judgement for taking time to be alone.
Meanwhile the staff at Eremito consists of Marcello – the hotel’s owner - a real character -and the attentive manager who oversees the administrative and logistic aspects of a guest’s stay. The rest of the hospitality is performed by a small ever-changing crew who find their way to the hotel. During my stay, the two lovely Argentine women working there were discrete, warm and very accommodating to any additional needs. To work at Eremito- even for a few weeks or months- seems to be inspired by a feeling similar to that of the guests – a wish for simplicity, a calm daily pace, and time spent deliberately.
Based on the three days that I spent at Eremito, I came to believe that Marcello’s vision for Eremito is inspired by his love for nature and natural beauty, moments of deep personal contemplation and a curiosity about the human condition. In my discussions with him, he dismissed the hotelification of other former places of worship, preferring to keep the ascetic and monastic spirit alive, without necessarily proselytizing a particular faith.
Departing the hotel and driving the curvy potholed road back to the autostrada (the hotel is a two hour drive from the airports of Rome or Florence) was the buffer I needed to recalibrate to real life. I could not help but wish I had stayed longer; a key takeaway was that the longer one stays, the more profound the experience can be. That being said, three days was enough of a toe-dip into an experience that allowed me to glimpse a bit of light and press a reset button. For those of us in need of a “time out”, but are unsure where to go, Eremito might just be the right place.
W REPORT SUMS IT UP: EREMITO IS IDEAL FOR SOMEONE DREAMING OF A SILENT RETREAT OR A STAY IN A BUDDHIST MONASTERY BUT WANTS TO JUST PUT THEIR TOE IN FIRST—OR REALLY CAN’T GET AWAY FOR MORE THAN A FEW DAYS.
UP NEXT IN THE W REPORT: A TALE OF TWO SOUTH TYROLS
STAY CALM!
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