Guest review: Wilma her stay in Palazzo di Varignana

Walking and settling in

My first day starts with movement. Over 13,500 steps, walking through the estate's vineyards. I'd never managed that at home. The advice for the week is clear: niente vino. Instead, I drink tea, water with lemon and a green juice. I did bring my laptop, but it stays untouched on day one. The stack of books wins.

Learning to eat with attention

After a morning outdoors comes a Herbal Stamp massage, and yes, take 'stamp' quite literally. The morning ends with a guided lunch built around mindful eating. I talk about my habits at home, admitting I often eat lunch in the car. Here, I eat wearing a blindfold: what do you actually taste, what are you eating? Strange at first, but a good lesson. The person guiding me is warm and unhurried, and makes it clear that nothing is required of me except to pay attention.

The afternoon leaves room for myself, in the sun, with a book. Het blijft toch je familie? looks at family patterns and grieving the loss of a relationship that's still technically alive, drawing on both research and practice. New perspectives, and new openings, whether that means holding on to the people who are still there or rebuilding a relationship further down the line. Not light reading, but the calm of this week gives me space to sit with it without feeling overwhelmed.

What my body is telling me

The most important insight of the week comes from the Italian yoga teacher. Over two sessions, he shows me how hard my shoulders have been working, and how stubbornly my stomach has been left out of the equation. Stand tall, drop the shoulders, relax, let the stomach do the work. Practise, one side, then the other. I trained as a teacher years ago and learned proper belly breathing back then, and assumed I'd kept it up. I hadn't, not remotely. Hunched over a screen, tense, running everything from the head, the rest of the body might as well not exist. Perhaps that says something about this era. A firm neck and shoulder massage afterwards lets me feel how different it can be.

That evening I carry on reading Mens blijven tussen systemen (Hubeek, 2026), about how education, too, increasingly focuses on knowledge alone, on the mind, tested again and again to measure what children know. It raises questions about what that approach actually encourages in their development. To hold our own in an age of screens and AI, the author argues, knowledge on its own isn't enough. It takes the whole person. It ties in closely with what I felt in my own body that morning.

Nature, stillness and one small surprise

The next morning I head out for a walk through the olive grove, past the lawns and the herb garden, up and down the hillside. A genuinely good start to the day. Back at the estate, a chakra massage follows, something I hadn't quite pictured beforehand, but which leaves me mostly with a sense of calm. I round off the day with a healthy lunch on the terrace, reading, glancing up now and then at the people around me. There's noticeably more activity on the estate that day, guests there for some special occasion. I let it pass me by and enjoy my own pace instead. 

The closing conversation

At the end of the week comes a thorough closing conversation with Dr Annamaria, along with a clear report on where I stand. It feels like looking into a sharp but familiar mirror. Full of passion, intensity, openness, reflection: those are worth holding on to. An overdeveloped sense of responsibility and guilt: that I can leave behind. Afterwards, a dessert with pralines, and a glass of Pinot Grigio Rosé at the bar. 

The last day

Waking without an alarm says enough on its own. Breakfast with salmon, then out for the longest walking route I've done all week, along a path that climbs a little higher. Having a view over the landscape feels reassuring. Later, some time by the pool, feet up, eyes closed, in the sun, for as long as it lasts. 

Then comes the reckoning with a less healthy habit: how did I manage to pack quite so many clothes? I'd picked up a few more things during the week too, so I end up buying an extra bag just to fit it all in. A useful lesson for next time. Before leaving, one last lunch in the sun, while some footage is also being filmed of my week here, to be used at a later date.

What I'm taking home

Stand tall. Shoulders down. Let the stomach do the work. Pack less. And above all: hold on to what's already there. To simply be, with and for other people, full of passion, with quality, and to keep going. Less is more. 

Palazzo di Varignana

Palazzo di Varignana sits in the rolling countryside near Bologna, around a 30-minute drive from the city. The estate is built around a villa dating from 1705 and covers 20 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and seven swimming pools. Its wellness programmes were developed by lifestyle expert Dr Annamaria Acquaviva and rest on five pillars: nutrition, inner balance, movement, sleep and supplements. The Versana Spa was named the best spa in Italy in 2020.