Sicily 2024, Italy

I live here in a house called Vela Vega, some days ago we were 10 people living here.

There are two apartments with their own kitchen and bathroom and two rooms on the ground floor with a shared kitchen and bathroom and three rooms upstairs with a shared kitchen and bathroom.

Both large kitchens are shared kitchens for everyone, so we cook and eat together once a day in the evening, and then we can sit together in the shared living room or on the balcony. So people cook, shop and wash up together and the costs are shared equally.

Let’s call it a community house with some place to retreat. You can stay here in different ways, as I said, in a shared room (there is also one 4-person room) or in an apartment. But you can also participate in different ways, as volunteers are welcome.

Either you pay in full, then only cooking and eating together is obligatory, or you help out for around 20 hours a week, then you only pay for food.

When I arrived there were 10 of us, two of whom had just left. 8 people will stay until the end of January, then 4 people will leave. At least three more people will be added at the beginning of February and the rest is currently still up in the air.

The house is located at a distance of 200m to the sea and there are only dunes between us and the ocean. It has a beautiful permaculture garden, which was created by the owner's son and is maintained by the volunteers.

The owner has a small bungalow on the property right next to the villa where she lives. There are currently 4 volunteers, but from February on, there will only be three.

In any case, I think so far that it is a successful mix of community and retreat but I can tell more end of February 😉.Read more