RENSING BORSEDA CULTURAL EXCHANGE RESIDENCY
Borseda, Italy
We are currently not accepting applications for the summer season in either Rensing Center location, Pickens or Borseda.
Please check back soon to learn about future opportunities.
THE PROGRAM
The Rensing Center’s Borseda Program offers residencies of three weeks to three months from March through October for professional artists, writers, and ecologists. Residents are provided with living and work space and given the opportunity to learn about the traditions of Borseda, Liguria, in the mountains of Northern Italy, the home of the Slow Food movement. In the spirit of cultural exchange, residents are encouraged to engage with and chronicle this special community. Applicants should be self-reliant artists and nature lovers looking for a secluded community in which to work on independent projects. The cost of the residency is $200 a week. We offer a discounted rate of $150 per week for 4 weeks or longer. Basic Italian highly recommended.
YOU
What this village has is ancient wisdom and an aging population of Italians with a twinkle in their eye. What it needs are enthusiastic visitors with a passion for preserving traditions, learning about cultures, and walking lightly with nature.
ABOUT BORSEDA
A necklace of terraces and terracotta rooftops covers the slopes of this Ligurian village, where locals take great pride in their gardens and the sustainable farming practices of their ancestors, foraging for chestnuts and mushrooms in the surrounding forests and making bread, cheese, and honey in town. Lucky visitors may be invited to sit on the jury for their annual tomato competition. The wine in Borseda wears no label and contains no sulfites. “Nothing in here but grape!” they’ll tell you, plunking a bottle on your table. As for the water, we can’t claim the local spring is the actual fountain of youth, but it may explain why those buried in the churchyard lived well into their nineties. Local longevity may also be explained by the hills they climb all their lives, or the pleasure they take in the simplest tasks, or the company they keep in this bighearted and interdependent community. Nearby is the Italian Riviera, including the Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Residents can also plan day trips to Lucca, Pisa, Florence, Parma, and Genoa.
Additional images of Borseda and the surrounding region and villages:
