Empowering people to safeguard traditions deeply rooted in quality of life and sustainability.
Empowering people to safeguard traditions deeply rooted in quality of life and sustainability.
At the Tuscan Heritage Foundation, our mission is to preserve and promote Tuscany’s rich cultural heritage. We pursue this mission through educational programs, small-group learning residencies, and artist residencies that support study, research, and hands-on engagement with the region’s land, history, and traditions.
Your support and contributions enable us to meet our goals and fund our mission. Your donation is tax deductible.The Tuscan Heritage Foundation is a fiscally sponsored project of MarinCreates, a California nonprofit corporation exempt from federal tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service #99-3474022
At the Tuscan Heritage Foundation, we develop interactive programs that share Tuscany's elegant vision of sustainability, a tradition that has endured for millennia. This dolce far niente culture has, perhaps ironically, given rise to some of the world’s most iconic landscapes, foods, arts, and delightful creations. Come experience a home and landscape rooted in history—one that offers timeless lessons for building a sustainable future.
The Tuscan Heritage Foundation offers cultural learning programs that support thoughtful engagement with Italian heritage, landscape, and ways of life. Our work encourages deeper understanding of ourselves, our environment, and our shared human connections.
These programs are designed for cultural travelers, lifelong learners, and creative professionals who value depth, curiosity, and sustained engagement with place through study, conversation, and shared practice.
The Foundation offers seven-day small-group learning gatherings focused on Tuscan culture, landscape, and traditions, along with artist and writer residencies of two to four weeks that support research, study, and creative practice. Programs also include hands-on workshops in Italian heritage, Tuscan foodways, agriculture, art, and craft, as well as educational sessions in sustainable land stewardship and soil-carbon practices.
Your support helps make possible a teaching kitchen dedicated to Tuscan culinary heritage and food education; the revitalization of the orchard and food forest as living classrooms for hands-on agricultural learning; on-site quarters for visiting teachers and staff to support sustained educational programs; the careful renewal of the pool and natural spring cold plunge to ensure safety, wellness, and restoration; and the creation of accessible, inspiring spaces for learning, creativity, and reflection.
A living heritage site in the heart of Tuscany, lovingly restored in Tuscan style by Remo Tani and Mirella Benvenuti. The Foundation continues their legacy through careful stewardship of this historic villa just south of Florence, with furnishings, materials, linens, and food sourced in Tuscany supporting local makers, growers, and long-standing regional traditions.
For more than 2,500 years, Italian perennial agriculture has sustained landscapes, communities, and an extraordinary quality of food and life. Rooted in olive groves, orchards, and vineyards, these systems offer enduring lessons in stewardship, resilience, and care. We invite you to join a small learning group in early November for the olive harvest—an opportunity to study, participate, and reflect on this living tradition at its most meaningful moment.
Good Things Pressed, written by founder Daisy Carlson, explores Tuscany's rich history and traditions—its food, fashion, and art—all refined and elevated under pressure.
The Tuscan Heritage Foundation was founded by Daisy Carlson, whose design and import company, Daisy Arts Inc., specialized in traditional Italian crafts. An avid art historian and advocate for sustainable, perennial agriculture rooted in historic Tuscan landscapes, she has long championed the preservation of culture and place. In honor of Remo Tani and Mirella Benvenuti—who embraced her as family, made the villa possible, and instilled in her the values of Italian life—she established the Tuscan Heritage Foundation to create an authentic environment for travelers seeking a deeper connection to Tuscany’s heritage and
way of life.
December 2025 , April - May 2026 | FULL
We are opening the villa for volunteer gatherings to prepare it for future guests. Come for a volunteer week, designed for friends, supporters, and creative collaborators who want to help bring the Tuscan Heritage vision to life while enjoying the beauty of the region.
Offering Includes:
Olive harvesting and pressing at nearby castle.
Workshops on Tuscan culinary traditions, agriculture, art and craft
Information on sustainable land stewardship and soil carbon practices. Time to visit Florence. Go home with a liter of olive oil and many fine memories.
November 1-7, 2026
Let Tuscany inspire your creativity and expand your personal vocabulary of expression. Hosted at a historic villa just south of Florence. This residency blends cultural immersion, hands-on learning, and time for your own creative practice. Start your day with yoga and meditation, wander the orchard and learn more about sustainable land stewardship and soil carbon practices. Paint the landscape, compose a song.
Offerings includes:
Daily workshops on Tuscan culinary traditions, agriculture, art and craft. Information on sustainable land stewardship & soil carbon practices.
Daily hands on workshop & practicum. Visits to local farms and vineyards.
Tour of Florence. Informal yoga and meditation.
May 23 - 29 Contribution $4500 per person
Retreat offerings include: Workshops on Tuscan culinary traditions, agriculture, art and craft.
Learn to make 6 Tuscan dishes at a local restaurant. Includes information on sustainable land stewardship & soil carbon practices.
Daily hands on workshops at the villa. Tour of Florence. Time for yoga and mediation.
June 1-7Contribution $4500 per person
June 20–27 · Limited enrollment
Sculpt a figure or portrait in clay with Konrad Dunton in an immersive, studio-focused experience designed for serious makers and passionate learners. The program includes six four-hour sculpting sessions with a live model, a guided visit to Florence centered on sculpture and technique.
Private Cultural Booking · 1–5 days · Maximum six guests
A bespoke cultural journey with Daisy and Dante, anchored at the villa and extending into Tuscany’s most respected ateliers, producers, and houses of excellence. Each privately arranged experience—created in collaboration with Good Things Pressed—offers rare access to refined food traditions, artisanal craft, and alta-moda culture, tailored for those who value depth, discretion, and exceptional quality.
Want to experience the delicious elegance of Tuscany's beautiful and sustainable traditions? Become a friend of the Tuscan Heritage Foundation and help us preserve the essence of La Dolce Vita.
Mill Valley, CA, USA and San Donato in Fronzano, Florence
