Writers’ retreats – 9 beautiful places, 9 incredible authors
Come write with me again…
In our first post on writers’ retreats, we discovered that some of our most beloved authors – such as Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie and James Joyce – had a habit of escaping the grey skies of home for somewhere warmer and more inspiring. They were motivated by various needs including sunshine, a better climate for their health conditions, escape from unwelcome social and political factors back home or, simply, peace and quiet to focus on their writing.
We’ve gathered nine more great writers, together with the places they chose as their creative sanctuaries. What they all have in common is their restlessness, courage and desire to find somewhere altogether more beautiful than where they left.
San Terenzo, Italy
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
San Terenzo, pictured above, is an attractive fishing village in the province of La Spezia. It faces the crescent-shaped Bay of Lerici and is overlooked by a small medieval castle.
The village looked very different in 1822, when it attracted the attention of one of the the major English romantic poets. Percy Shelley was a political radical and atheist. His anti-establishment writings and wayward behaviour led to him being expelled from Oxford and estranged from his wealthy family. Hounded by creditors, social disapproval and ill-health, Shelley relocated his household to Italy in the spring of 1818.
After moving his family through various cities, trailing a circle of friends and admirers behind them, Shelley finally discovered what he believed to be his perfect home, in San Terenzo. In the spring of 1822, the family rented Casa Magni, a white stucco house close to the sea.
By all accounts, the following months were among the happiest of Shelley’s life. He spent long days out on the water in his schooner, the Don Juan. Mary did not share her husband’s enthusiasm for their new lodgings, however. She described Casa Magni as a dungeon!
As it turned out, the family would only live in the house for a short time. In July 1822, ignoring the forecast of storms, Shelley set sail in the Don Juan from Livorno with his writer friend Edward Williams, returning home from a meeting with Lord Byron. They never arrived. Eventually it was confirmed that everyone on board had drowned in the storm. Shelley’s remains were cremated on the beach at Viareggio and his ashes were later interred in Rome.
Poems written by Shelley during his time at Lerici include Lines written in the Bay of Lerici and the unfinished The Triumph of Life.
Casa Magni still stands at San Terenzo, though other buildings now surround it. You can spot it in the photo above – it’s the white house with five arches. When the Shelleys lived there, it would have been isolated, with no road in front.
This stretch of coastline would later become known as the Gulf of Poets, in honour of those writers like Shelley who had fallen under its spell. It remains one of the most stunning stretches of the Ligurian coast. I can personally attest to the beauty of this area; it’s where my husband and I chose to spend our honeymoon. See my post Enchanted June – a magical honeymoon in Liguria.
Genoa, Italy
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Genoa (Genova) is a rich port city on the Mediterranean, historic capital of the Liguria region. Known as La Superba and famous for its maritime history, Genoa is Europe’s largest medieval centre, noted for its grand UNESCO-listed palaces. It’s also the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and pesto.
Charles Dickens arrived there in the summer of 1844 along with his wife Kate, her sister Georgina and his five children. After a brief time in a modest villa, the family moved to the magnificent Palazzo Peschiere, within the city walls. The palace was surrounded by beautiful flower-filled gardens and terraces.
Dickens missed London and initially found the chaotic, narrow streets and ruined palazzos of Genoa somewhat overwhelming and depressing. However, as the months passed, the city grew on him. In the end, his year in Italy had a profound impact on his literary and personal life. He described it as “a perfect dream of happiness.”
Dickens spent countless hours aimlessly wandering Genoa’s mediaeval alleyways and exploring the city’s ruined houses, piazzas and surrounding hillsides. He documented these experiences and cultural observations in his 1846 travelogue Pictures from Italy. He also wrote one of his Christmas stories in Italy – The Chimes – which was inspired by the constant ringing of Genoese church bells.
The Palazzo Peschiere can be visited on ‘Rolli Days’, when many heritage buildings in Genoa are opened to the public. You can find out when the next Rolli Day is going to be, at this page of the Visit Genoa website.
Hyeres, France
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
Hyères – sometimes called Hyères-les-Palmiers – is a mediaeval town near Toulon in the south of France. Regarded as an unspoilt gem on the Riviera, the town is known for its 7,000 palm trees and three islands – the Îles d’Hyères, or Golden Islands. Reached by ferry, the islands offer pristine beaches and protected wilderness areas.
New York-born novelist and designer Edith Wharton was a keen traveller who spoke French, German and Italian fluently. She had moved permanently to France in 1907 after the break-up of her marriage. Based in Paris when war broke out in 1914, Edith helped look after refugees, the injured and the displaced. She set up workrooms for unemployed French women and raised thousands of dollars for the war effort. Her humanitarian work was formally recognised when the French President appointed her Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
Taking a break from the city, Edith was staying in a hotel in Hyères in 1919 when she stumbled upon the Castel Sainte-Claire, a house built into the walls of a mediaeval castle. Captivated, she secured a long lease and eventually purchased the house outright, renaming it Sainte-Claire du Château.
Over time, Edith restored the house impeccably and created a beautiful terraced garden overlooking the Mediterranean. She divided her time between Hyères and Paris until her death in 1937. Visitors to Sainte-Claire included Henry James, Jean Cocteau and André Gide.
The house still stands today and is home to the offices of the Parc National de Port-Cros. Edith’s spectacular garden is classified as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France. It’s open daily to visitors, free of charge.
Edith wrote prolifically during her time in France. She became the first female winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, with The Age of Innocence. Other novels included The mother’s recompense and Hudson River bracketed.
Grasse, France
HG Wells (1866-1946)
Grasse is a beautiful mediaeval town in Provence, located in the hills above the Riviera. It’s famous for being home to world-renowned perfume houses like Lancôme, Fragonard and Galimard, who benefit from the jasmine, roses and lavender that grow profusely in the region.
Perhaps Grasse does not sound like the kind of town that a science fiction writer would be drawn to. But it became the winter residence of choice for HG Wells, author of The time machine and War of the worlds. He built a house there called Lou Pidou with his mistress Odette Keun, who was 22 years his junior.
Lou Pidou soon became a lively cultural hub. Wells enjoyed entertaining at his hillside residence and was visited there by Arnold Bennett, Charlie Chaplin, Paul Valéry and other literary and artistic figures who lived in the area.
Odette was just one of Wells’ many lovers (another was Elizabeth von Armin, who featured in part 1 of this writers’ retreat series), but their relationship lasted nearly ten years. Wells even had two stone plaques carved with the words ‘Two lovers built this house’ – one of which was placed above the imitation fireplace in the entrance hall, the other on the terrace. He also dedicated his longest book, The world of William Clissold, to Odette.
The relationship was volatile and tempestuous, however. It ended acrimoniously in 1933, when Odette threw Wells out of the house. He returned to his London base in Regent’s Park, while she carried on living in Grasse for some years (the house was in her name).
Lou Pidou still stands today and is privately owned.
Wells’ time in the South of France was highly productive. Along with The world of William Clissold, he wrote other novels and essays including The autocracy of Mr Parham and The shape of things to come.
Cap Ferrat, France
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
Cap Ferrat is a beautiful and sought-after peninsula on the French Riviera, between the towns of Villefranche-sur-mer and Beaulieu-sur-mer, not far from Nice. I was lucky enough to spend time in Villefranche some years ago and this is definitely my favourite part of France.
I can totally understand why HG Wells’ friend, the English writer Somerset Maugham, moved permanently to Cap Ferrat in 1928. One of the 20th century’s most popular writers, Maugham had built tremendous wealth by this time. He bought a dilapidated property originally built in 1906 for Leopold II, King of Belgium, called Villa Mauresque.
Maugham’s went on to transform the Moorish-style villa into something extraordinary. He planted many trees in the garden, including avocados – which were the first in Europe to produce excellent fruit. He also installed a swimming pool and a tennis court. The grandness of Villa Mauresque required a vast team of staff, including a secretary, butler, footman, two waitresses, a chef, a chauffeur and seven gardeners.
Like Wells, Maugham loved entertaining. His guest list included prominent political and literary figures of the time, such as Winston Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Lord Beaverbrook, TS. Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Ian Fleming, Noël Coward and Virginia Woolf. That said, he had no illusions about the other side of this glamorous region, describing it as ‘a sunny place for shady people’!
Maugham lived at Villa Mauresque until his death. He wrote many works there, including Cakes and ale, The razor’s edge and his memoir The summing up. He said that the views were so beautiful that he had to brick up the window of his study in order to be able to concentrate on his writing!
You can read about this area in my blog post on Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Taormina, Sicily
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
Perched dramatically on a rocky cliff high above the Ionian Sea, Taormina is often called the “Jewel of Sicily.” With its striking views of Mount Etna, winding medieval streets and ancient ruins, it’s been a magnetic sanctuary for writers, artists, and travellers for centuries.
One of them was the visionary novelist DH Lawrence. He rented the top floor of a villa, Fontana Vecchia, named after an old spring in the garden. After the trauma and deprivation of the war years in England, Sicily felt like paradise. The villa’s terrace enjoyed stunning views across the Strait of Messina towards the mountains of Calabria. Lawrence loved the stillness of Taormina. “I like this place more than any other. I feel I have lived here for 100,000 years”, he wrote. (Though he ended up staying for only two, being a restless wanderer).
The villa’s garden was full of pink gladioli, snapdragons and orchids. The natural setting even inspired Lawrence’s famous poem Snake, after a close encounter with a yellow snake at his garden trough. He wrote numerous other poems, short stories and travel pieces at the villa, such as Sea and Sardinia. He also commenced Lady Chatterley’s lover at this time.
The Fontana Vecchia still stands today, bearing a plaque commemorating its most famous tenant.
Asolo, Italy
Freya Stark (1893-1993)
Asolo is a gem of the Veneto – a beautifully-preserved hill town of stone arcades, Renaissance palaces, a cathedral and a bell tower, set among vineyards and olive groves about 50 miles north of Venice. From the top of the hill, on a clear day, you can see Venice in one direction and snow-capped Alps to the north.
Writer and traveller Freya Stark had been familiar with the town since childhood. Her painter father Robert had moved the family there in the early 1890s, inspired by his friend Pen Browning (son of the poet Robert, who had written poems about Asolo). Freya was often sick as a child and spent 3 months in hospital after a freak factory accident led to the loss of her right ear. She found an outlet in reading and became fascinated with the Orient after reading One thousand and one nights.
Freya grew up to be an avid traveller and explorer. She was one of the first Western women to travel alone through the forbidden territories of the Middle East: the Syrian Desert, the Valleys of the Assassins in Persia and the ancient incense routes of southern Arabia. Her life was spent in perpetual motion – boarding ships, riding donkeys and navigating deserts on horseback. She stayed in the homes of sheikhs and tribal leaders who received this solitary British woman with a respect that surprised many.
Freya’s gift came not just from her sense of adventure but from her empathy with others. Her precise, poetic prose made her travel books classics of the genre. She was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s gold medal, the CBE, and eventually the DBE in the Queen’s 1972 New Year Honours. She died in Asolo a few months after her hundredth birthday.
Freya’s finest travel writing was published during her years of active exploration, with Asolo as her base between journeys. Titles included The valleys of the assassins, The southern gates of Arabia and Baghdad sketches. In retirement, she produced her eight-volume collected Letters (1974–82) and The journey’s echo, a selection of her travel writings.
You can get married at Freya’s former home, which is now an events venue known as Villa Freya. You can also take a guided tour of the lovely gardens.
Antibes, France
Graham Greene (1904-1991)
Antibes is a charming town on the French Riviera, west of Nice. It has a mediaeval old centre surrounded by 10th century ramparts. It’s also home to Europe’s largest yachting harbour, Port Vauban, where many luxury superyachts are moored.
British writer Graham Greene, author of The end of the affair, The power and the glory and The quiet American, lived there for 24 years. He declared it to be ‘the only town I could have lived in.’ He had originally left Britain in 1965 as a tax exile, after a bad investment wiped out his life savings. That said, it wasn’t just fear of the taxman that drove Greene to Antibes. It was the lure of a woman called Yvonne Cloetta, his long-term (married) lover, who lived nearby in Juan-les-Pins.
Unlike some of our other authors, Greene deliberately chose a very simple life in Antibes. He bought a 1-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of a modern block called the Résidence des Fleurs. From the balcony, he could see the distant masts of Port Vauban. Visitors were often shocked that a world-famous author would have such a modest home.
Greene set himself a strict routine. He wrote every morning, aiming for 300 to 500 words. At exactly one o’clock, he would walk down to the port to have lunch at his favorite spot, Chez Félix. He always sat at the same table, drinking local wine and gossiping with visiting friends like fellow author Michael Mewshaw. Staff treated him like family.
Greene’s first major publication after moving to Antibes was May we borrow your husband? and other comedies of the sexual life, which was set in the town. His later novels, including Travels with my aunt, The honorary consul, The human factor and Doctor Fischer of Geneva were also written during his Antibes years. He also wrote his autobiography, Ways of escape, there.
Corfu, Greece
Gerald Durrell (1925-1995)
The island of Corfu is situated in the Ionian Sea, off the north-west coast of Greece. Its history has seen periods of rule by the Venetians, French and British, with the Venetian period in particular leaving its mark – and making Corfu somewhat different from other Greek islands. British naturalist and broadcaster Gerald Durrell lived there as a child with his family for four years during the 1930s.
The Durrell family were mourning the death of their father and husband, Lawrence Samuel Durrell, when the idea of moving to Corfu was first mooted. Oldest son Lawrence and his partner Nancy were attracted to the island by friends who had already moved there. Lawrence managed to persuade his mother that a move would be a good fresh start for them all. In 1935, Lawrence and Nancy left the UK first, followed by the rest of the family a few days later.
Young Gerald, already a budding naturalist after becoming fascinated with wildlife during the family’s years in India, adored Corfu. He spent lots of time with family friend Dr Theodore Stephanides, who introduced him to local nature. While Lawrence was busy writing poetry and novels on the terrace, young Gerald was collecting scorpions, toads, geckoes, owls and assorted other creatures, keeping his insects in matchboxes.
The Durrells lived in Corfu until the threat of war forced them to return to the UK in 1939. It was not until 1956 that Gerald Gerald wrote his first book about his life in Corfu, entitled My family and other animals. This book gave me my first yearnings to travel. I read it as a teenager and loved Gerald’s lively accounts of the island’s landscape, the pastel-coloured villas in which the family lived and the hilarious stories of him scaring his sister Margot with his insects and creatures, many of which ended up in the family home.
Gerald wrote two other books about the Corfu years: The garden of the Gods and Birds, beasts and relatives. Lawrence wrote his own memoir of his life on Corfu, Prospero’s cell. The brothers are commemorated with a plaque and two bronze busts in the Boschetto Garden, Corfu Town – often referred to as ‘The Durrell Garden.’
Final thoughts
Just as with our selection in part 1 of this post, I’m full of admiration for the spirit of these great writers. In particular, those writing in the Victorian era must have found their class-ridden, conservative societies very constraining – and it would have taken courage and a leap of faith to leave. No wonder they all turned out to be rebels, often defying convention and sometimes courting scandal!
Those who lived through the wars would also have endured very tough times. I take my hat off to Edith, who went from a glamorous Manhattan upbringing to the grim reality of war-torn Paris. And especially, Freya, who was a truly ground-breaking explorer, a woman in a man’s world. No wonder Alice Steinbach, whose book Without reservations I reviewed in a separate post, became such a fan of Freya’s after discovering her incredible writings.
For more travel book reviews, see our Travel books and authors section.
Take a writer’s retreat of your own
Gerald Durrell’s books about his family’s years in Corfu were televised by British TV channel ITV. The house used during filming, to represent one of the villas that the family lived in, can be rented by the public.
Imagine taking yourself off to this villa, 10 minutes away from Corfu Town, to write your masterpiece! It can be hired through Ionian Estates and is known as The Durrell House.
Alternatively, there are writing retreats held at other beautiful places around the world, like Vista Mundo in Costa Rica.
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