About us

Located in a 15th century castle in the Umbrian region of Italy, Civitella is a residency program for international writers, composers, and visual artists. Since 1995, Civitella has hosted more than 1000 Fellows and Director’s Guests. The Center enables its Fellows to pursue their work and to exchange ideas in a unique and inspiring setting. 

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. Only nominated candidates may apply and a review jury makes selections.

Emerging talent, mid-career Fellows, and senior, established professionals are all sought to round out the community of any given group. English is the common language. The Foundation pays for all major expenses for all Fellows who are our guests.  This is the nature of our commitment to international artists, writers, and composers. The Fellowship, paid for in full by the Foundation, includes travel, room and board, studio and work space. Civitella is a private non-profit organization operating in Italy and is not a commercial entity.  It is not a hotel, agriturismo, or space open to the general public. Its hospitality is reserved to Fellows, Director’s Guests, and the occasional honored guest.

Learn more from our downloadable Civitella Brochure.

“The Civitella Ranieri Fellowship reconnected me with my art. The quiet, the ambiance of peace, the evening conversations with other fellows, a mix of genres. I came at the start of the autumn and found the slow change in temperature revivifying. I started a new novel here, and I cannot wait to jump back into it when I return home.”

Eghosa Imasuen (Fellow 2018)

Selection

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. 

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Since its inception in 1995, Civitella Ranieri has been committed to seeking diverse populations of Fellows from worldwide locations and backgrounds who encompass a wide range of beliefs, orientations, and values. Diversity begins with our choice of world-wide nominators and our selection of jurors who embrace the Foundation’s values of inclusion and diversity. We foster an environment of dignity, tolerance, and kindness, striving to be fair and inclusive to all. By facilitating an environment where diversity and inclusion are our priority, we encourage conversations, ideas, and perspectives, that would not be fostered otherwise; conversations that change the course of one’s life and work for the better.

“My experience at Civitella was exhilarating at every turn. That residency could not have come at a better time. I had just completed a cycle of work so stressfull, I was near collapse. Getting far away was just what I needed. Getting away to Italia was a dream. The new friends my wife and I made, the places we went to, the things we saw, have enriched our lives in ways we will savor for a long long time. Everyone made us feel so special.”

Kerry James Marshall (Fellow 1998)

Our Environmental Policy

We are committed to sustainability and to minimizing our impact on the environment.

We are committed to reducing waste by:

  • Limiting single-use plastics
  • Encouraging individuals to dictate portion sizes, carefully planning meal quantities, and incorporating leftovers into our menus
  • Composting organic food scraps
  • Recycling and reusing paper, metal, plastic, batteries, and glass
  • Collecting rainwater to water the lawns and gardens
  • Encouraging Fellows to participate in environmentally conscious behaviors, such as turning off lights when leaving a room, and taking short showers

We are committed to conserving energy:

  • Replacing most standard lightbulbs with LEDs
  • Keeping the heating system off from May 1st to October 31 in compliance with Italian law
  • Maintaining a heating system temperature of no more than 20°C / 68°F at any time
  • Progressing towards self-sufficiency by expanding our vegetable garden
  • Moving towards the use of electric transportation, as well as encouraging biking, walking, and carpooling
  • Transitioning to remote control of all thermostats
  • Using seasonal produce organically grown and/or locally sourced for our food program

Supporting local farmers and producers of cheese, wine, meat, eggs, flour, and olive oil, and traveling no more than 50 kilometers to secure the best, healthiest products available.

“To be a fellow at Civitella Ranieri is to be reminded that while the forces of creativity can be difficult to court, there are rare environments where receptivity to these forces widens and where one is afforded the inner latitude to recognize and invite them in. I am beyond grateful for the rhythms my life and writing practice took on here, for the slow walks across the dry Umbrian hillside, the generous stretches of time reading in the shade of olive and cypress trees, and for the privilege of stillness and routine that brought lines and poems to my door, when I was present to receive them. Civitella has been a haven and a gift, in more ways than I can know or put to language.“

Jenny Xie (Fellow 2018)