Another video about Civitella Ranieri can be found on the Mission & History page of this website as well as on our Youtube Channel.
Civitella is an international residency program for writers, composers, and visual artists. Since 1995, Civitella has hosted more than 1,000 Fellows and Director’s Guests. Civitella Ranieri enables its Fellows to pursue their work and to exchange ideas in a unique and inspiring setting.
“Every once in a while, if you are lucky, you get to experience a place so beautiful that you get an overwhelming sense that the creativity of the universe, of nature, is more splendid than anything anyone could have imagined. This is home. A place in time, remembered with those with whom you shared it. Such is, and will be, Civitella, my Civitella.”
Civitella Ranieri is an international residency program bringing together visual artists, writers, and composers to work independently and communally without judgment or interruption.
Civitella offers a peaceful and welcoming sojourn in which its community can deepen connections to one another and to the world around them. The environment is one of concentrated self-directed work and honest exchange.
-Hospitable environment and welcoming culture
-Supportive and generous exchange of ideas
-Inclusion of all cultures, histories, and identities
-Authentic, healthy, regional food
The upper Tiber valley in Umbria is our setting. Civitella Ranieri is lodged in a beautiful thick-walled 15th century Castle – a fortress that provided protection, sustenance, and renewal to generations of the Ranieri family and its extended community. Our founder, Ursula Corning, continued that legacy by providing guests from around the world both solitude and community in a strikingly simple and beautiful environment.  The focus at Civitella is on work and conversation that transcend disciplines, cultures, and geography in an intimate and welcoming setting. A stay at Civitella fosters curiosity and connections.
Fellows are proposed through an international nomination and jury process, and, upon selection, are invited to spend six weeks between May and October at the castle. Travel, lodging, and meals are provided. Each artist joins 12-15 Fellows and Director’s Guests.
News & Events
We invite you to celebrate our Fellows by joining us at any of our events.
Each session at Civitella brings together accomplished international artists, writers, and composers at emerging and established moments in their careers.Â
“There is no place that takes such good care of its Guests and Fellows as Civitella Ranieri does; no place that offers so much and demands so little in return. There is no place that I know of where such a profound relief from the cares and distractions of daily life are possible and where work, even one’s best work, can be done, with pleasure and without interruption.”
Civitella Ranieri Fellowships are awarded through a careful nomination and jury process by a rotating group of distinguished artists, academics, and critics that ensures access to a highly diverse group of emerging and accomplished candidates from around the world.
“At Civitella I worked hard, laughed hard, and was consistently amazed- by the beauty of the landscape in which we lived, the food we ate, and the art we visited, by the talent and intelligence of my fellow residents, and the effort and care that the Civitella staff exerted to feed me, teach me, and think of everything I might need so I could think only of my work.”
Located just outside the small city of Umbertide, the Ranieri castle is one of the best-preserved castles in Umbria.
“Civitella is geographically rich, and this asset cannot be overemphasized. The regular forays into the Renaissance landscape are stimulating, of course, but also soothing… to seamlessly blend work and play.”
2026 Alumni Artist Party
February 19th, 2026 — Last night Civitella Ranieri celebrated the return of the Annual Alumni Artist Party with a gathering of 120+ past and future Fellows, Director's Guests, friends of Civitella, and staff from Italy and New York City. The evening was marked by the...
Thank you for giving artists the time and space to reflect, experiment, and dream
January 30th, 2026 — Thank you for giving the gift of Civitella. Because of your generosity, Civitella had its best end-of-year campaign yet, raising more than $74,000. Future Civitellians will be buttressed by this support—the first of which are the...
Meet the 2026 Civitella Ranieri Fellows & Director’s Guests
January 30th, 2026 — As Civitella begins preparations for the 2026 Fellowship season, we are proud to introduce this year's four cohorts of Fellows. The class includes Civitella's first Fellow from Fiji as well as eleven Director's Guests. Executive Director Heather...