Meet the team

  • Annalisa Ferrante

    Co-founder
    she/her

    Annalisa is an Italian-born Program Coordinator based in Berlin. With a background in performing arts, she’s interested in alternative ways to approach art and creativity. Currently working for artistic residencies in Italy and Portugal, she supports artists throughout their residencies, holding a safe space for them to freely create. It is with this same spirit and mission that she co-founded Sol Creative.

  • Gina Spinelli

    Co-founder, Creative Director
    she/her

    Gina is an American-born, Lisbon-based photographer and yoga instructor. In June of 2019, she completed a 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Georgia where she gained in-depth knowledge about the teaching and practice of yoga. She’s since taught private and group classes throughout the US, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Her yoga and photography practices have encouraged her to recognize the abundance of creative opportunities in the day-to-day -the core message the Sol team aims to communicate through their retreats. Read more about Gina’s classes and experience with yoga here.

  • Venetia Berry

    Co-founder
    sh    e/her

    Venetia Venetia is a London based artist working predominantly in painting and ceramics. She trained in portraiture and life painting in Florence at Charles H Cecil Studios and Leith School of Art in Edinburgh. Venetia then went on to study at the Royal Drawing School in London. During this time she moved away from representational work, and towards the abstraction of the female form. Her scenes feel ethereal and dreamlike, evoking a feeling of femininity and nodding to artists and themes of the past. Venetia hosts our art workshops at Sol, aiming to help each participant activate their own creative senses, which are so often neglected in daily life today.

  • Viviana Calvagno

    Viviana Calvagno

    Co-founder, Chef

    Originally from Rome, Viviana recently graduated with a Master's Degree in Art History. She's been working as an independent curator as well as an artist residency/foundation coordinator for various institutions throughout Italy. These experiences have helped her to appreciate the importance of communal living, artistic interaction, and cultural exchange. These interests are intersected with her passion for natural food and social and environmental sustainability. Viviana works creatively as a plant-based chef, exploring the subtle tensions between food, body aesthetics, and female empowerment through artistic and inclusive means.

Our Story

We - Annalisa, Gina, Venetia and Viviana connected through an artist residency in the Tuscan countryside, where we realized both the importance of connecting to our creativity and how easy it is to unknowingly shift away from it. Each of us wholeheartedly believes everyone is innately creative, whether or not they identify as such. We realized that by slowing down and tuning in, we’re much more likely to catch where our creativity can come into play throughout our every day.

It was through this understanding that Sol Creative was born. Together, we aim to cultivate a space for women to feel comfortable exploring the wide spectrum of creativity through everything from cooking to yoga, to painting & drawing, and good old-fashioned human connection. Our retreats are balanced with plenty of downtime and relaxation as well as workshops and planned activities to allow our guests to slow down, connect with each other, and ultimately connect deeper with themselves.