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Something real
has gone quiet.

You are functioning well — and somewhere underneath that, something true has gone silent. Il Sentiero is a private retreat in Southern Italy for people ready to find their way back.

Sanctuary & Retreats · Salento, Puglia

Who this is for

You don't need someone
to tell you what's wrong.
You already know.

You have adapted — to the expectations, to the version of yourself that keeps everything running. Underneath all of it, something real has gone quiet. Not broken. Just very far from the surface. And it has been waiting for you to slow down long enough to face it.

"Everything looks fine from the outside. And still something is missing."

Not a thing you can point to. A feeling. A distance from yourself you cannot explain but cannot ignore.

"I keep going. I just don't feel alive inside it anymore."

Performing a version of yourself that works — but no longer feels real. Surviving instead of living.

"I know something needs to change. I don't know where to start."

The truth is already inside you. It needs the right conditions — silence, safety, and someone who can help you hear it.

Nikita — holder of Il Sentiero
Nikita · Il Sentiero · Salento

Who holds the space

I am not here to fix you.
I am here until you remember
you were never broken.

I didn't arrive here through a straight line. I followed an intuition that made no logical sense — through years in psychiatry, through travel, through a year living in the Egyptian desert, through a moment in Salento when everything clicked. I built this entirely on following what felt true. That is also what I help others find.

My background is in Social Work and psychiatry — I understand human pain at depth. But what I bring to this work goes beyond training. Since I was a child I could read what lives beneath the surface of people — beneath what they say, beneath how they present, beneath the performance. My work is not about method. It is about perception, precision, and holding a space honest enough for truth to surface.

I can only work with people who are truly ready. Not thinking about it. Not one day. Now.

Therapeutic guidance & deep listening
Nervous system regulation & body-based work
Emotional patterns & relationship dynamics
Reconnection to feeling & inner knowing
Presence, stillness & integration
Read the full story →

How transformation happens

The deepest moment
is always the quietest.

Transformation at Il Sentiero does not happen through dramatic catharsis or structured exercises. It happens in a different kind of moment — when something inside you goes suddenly, completely quiet.

That quietness is recognition. Truth landing softly. The nervous system releasing a tension it has held for years. What you already knew somewhere deep down — finally surfaces, safely, in your own time.

This happens through slowing down, nervous system softening, the sea, the silence, the fire, and the precision of being truly seen by someone who holds nothing back and judges nothing.

Mirror Work — the deepest differentiator

"The goal is not to tell you who you are. It is to help you hear yourself again."

Not confrontation. Not guru dynamics. Emotional precision, deep listening, and intuitive timing — held with care and complete psychological safety. I reflect back what you already feel beneath the noise. That is the work.

"You cannot receive
what you are
never still enough
to let in."

A path. Not a program.

Il Sentiero has a gentle structure — not to control, but to create the conditions where the deeper work can happen. Think of it as a riverbank. The water finds its own way. The bank simply gives it direction.

Every retreat is shaped around you — your energy, your readiness, your pace. The structure holds. Within it, everything is alive and responsive.

"Nikita is a very sensitive, wise and honest woman with a deep spiritual and intuitive ability that you rarely see at her age. Her guidance is genuine and supportive, always helping you move forward in your own growth. All of this takes place in a beautiful natural setting that makes it easy to relax and reconnect. Just go there. Her spiritual guidance is truly unique."
Jasper, 37
The wild coastline of Salento — Il Sentiero

The rhythm

A day at Il Sentiero.

Each day has a natural rhythm that creates the conditions for real transformation. This is not a schedule — it is a container. Within it, everything is alive and responsive to you.

The terrace looks out over the Adriatic. A small island sits just in front, breaking the waves — filling the air with that constant sound of the sea. The sunrise is different every single day. Maya, our cat who arrived in a storm and never left, has a way of finding exactly who needs him. This is the place. The rhythm begins here.

Early morning

Before we meet

I tend to my own practice.

Before our day begins, I arrive grounded and present. I can only hold space as well as I hold myself. This is not a small thing — it is the foundation of everything.

Morning

The ritual

We begin together in silence.

A candle. Your journal. Three questions. You write. You keep everything you write. By the end of the retreat, you leave with a full record of your own inner journey.

Late morning

Into nature

We go out — together.

The wild coastline, the olive groves, the sea. Nature is not decoration here. It is part of the work. Once you open yourself to this land, you remember how held you are by everything around you.

Midday

Lunch

Long and unhurried.

This too is part of the work. Sitting together, eating slowly, letting the morning settle. There is nothing to rush toward. This is the retreat.

Afternoon

Alone time

This is not empty time.

Space to integrate, to rest, to simply be. This is intentional — this is the retreat working. What moves in the morning continues moving in the silence of the afternoon.

Late afternoon

The work

Whatever is needed.

A deeper therapeutic session, a walk, a visit to one of my trusted practitioners in the area, or simply being. In the morning ritual we sense together what the day is calling for. The afternoon answers that call.

Evening · Fire

The fire

The fire changes everything.

No agenda. No method. You sit. The flames move. The waves are always there in the background. And something in you — slowly, quietly — begins to soften.

Fire does what words cannot. It makes people honest. It makes people still. In that stillness, what has been waiting inside you finally has room to rise.

Evening

By 9pm

The day closes gently.

A light meal, slow conversation, the last light over the Adriatic. By 9pm, the day is yours. Rest is part of the work too. Tomorrow begins again — fresh, unhurried, present.

The morning ritual

Three questions.
Every morning.

Not therapy questions. Not performance questions. Invitations — to arrive, to listen, to give yourself permission.

01

"How do you arrive this morning?"

In three words. No more. Not a story — just three words. This trains presence from the very first moment of the day.

02

"What is asking for your attention today?"

Not what you want to work on. What is asking. The body, the emotion, the thing underneath — invited to speak.

03

"What would feel like a gift to yourself today?"

Quietly radical for people who overgive. A seed of self-permission planted at the start of every day.

+ A fourth, rotating question — whatever the day is calling for.

This is for you if

◆

You feel something is missing — even though from the outside, everything looks fine.

◆

You are ready to make a real change — not one day, not when the time is right. Now.

◆

You are willing to be honest — with yourself and with me. Even when it is uncomfortable.

◆

You are skeptical of performative wellness and influencer spirituality. You want something real.

◆

You have everything the world says you should want — and you still feel empty. That emptiness brought you here.

This is not for you if

—

You are waiting for the perfect moment. There is no perfect moment.

—

You want someone to fix you, tell you what to do, or give you all the answers.

—

You are not truly ready to look honestly at what has been holding you back.

—

You are looking for a holiday with some wellness on the side. This is not that.

—

You keep making excuses for why now is not the right time. I am not the right guide for that.

What you leave with

You arrive carrying something.
You leave having put it down.

Not just an experience. A real shift — something that continues working in you long after you leave the land and the sea behind.

Reconnection to yourself

The most important thing. A direct experience of the stillness inside you that was always there — and the knowledge of how to find your way back to it when the noise of ordinary life returns.

Clarity on what was keeping you stuck

Not a diagnosis. A moment of seeing. The thing you already knew somewhere deep down — finally visible, finally safe to look at. You leave knowing what it was. And you leave lighter for it.

Real tools. Real practices.

For your nervous system, your body, your daily life. Things you can use when you're back home and the old patterns try to return. A full written record of your inner journey — yours to keep.

"As someone who usually finds it difficult to open up to strangers, working with Nikita has been a wonderful experience. She creates a safe and supportive space where I can share openly without fear of judgment. I always leave our sessions feeling supported and with more clarity. Nikita listens deeply, is very grounded, and has helped me develop practical tools that truly support me in daily life."

Khansa, 22

"There is always a way back to yourself."

The foundation of Il Sentiero

Ways to come

Choose your path.

Solo · Private retreat

A private and deeply personal journey.

Fully tailored to you — your story, your rhythm, your readiness. This is the most intimate container Il Sentiero offers. Everything is shaped around where you are and where you want to go.

We begin with a phone call. From there, we design the retreat together.

Includes

  • Accommodation at Il Sentiero — minimum 5 nights
  • All meals — slow and nourishing
  • Daily morning ritual & journaling
  • Personal therapeutic sessions with Nikita
  • Nature walks & somatic practices
  • Access to trusted local practitioners
  • Your full retreat journal to take home
Begin with a call

Duo · For two

For two people ready to walk together.

Partners, friends, or two people who feel called to share this experience. The same depth, the same structure — with the added dimension of witnessing each other's journey.

Some things are easier to move when someone who knows you is beside you.

Includes

  • Shared accommodation at Il Sentiero — minimum 5 nights
  • All meals together
  • Daily morning ritual for both
  • Individual and shared sessions with Nikita
  • Nature walks & shared practice
  • Solo integration time each afternoon
  • Two full retreat journals to take home
Begin with a call
Nikita resting on the Salento rocks by the sea in summer

The Still Season · July – August

Your way in.

You have been watching from a distance.

Maybe something in you has been curious about Il Sentiero — about what it actually feels like to be here. About the sea, the pace, the particular quality of summer in the south of Italy.

This is not a full retreat. Something simpler and more spacious. A room in my home, the sea right outside the door, and days that move at the rhythm of the body — not the calendar.

During the day, everything slows. You swim from the rocks. You eat well. You read, you wander, you do nothing and let that be enough.

But July and August in Salento are alive. When the heat softens and the day begins to cool, something shifts. There are dancing events, neighbours making music, long evenings that stretch into the night. I know the hidden beaches, the places the locals actually go, the things that never appear on any map. I will show you how life really works here.

This is the combination: stillness that brings you back to yourself, and the full joy of Italian summer. La dolce vita — not as a postcard, but as something you actually live.

And if something in you starts to stir — a question, a tiredness deeper than sleep, a longing you have not yet named — there is space for that too. Individual sessions are available for those who want to go deeper.

No programme. No agenda. No schedule to keep.

Just you, the sea, the food, and time that finally feels like yours.

What is included

A private room · Breakfast · Bicycle · Kayak · Local guidance

Stays

3 nights€395
7 nights€795
10 nights€1.250

Longer stays by conversation — if we find our way together.
Never more than two guests at a time, so the pace stays slow and the attention stays real.

Begin with a conversation

When to come

The land sets the rhythm.

Mid February → Mid July

The Retreats

Spring in Salento. The sea is cool and clear, the olive groves are green, the days are long. A few spaces still open — reach out to check availability.

Mid July → End of August

The Still Season

The heat calls for slowness. Come and stay — a room, slow mornings, sea swims, gentle practice. Not a full retreat. A different kind of arrival.

September → Mid November

The Return

Autumn is the most potent season here. The land cools, the crowds leave, and the real work becomes possible again. Retreats resume in full.

The first step

If something in you
is saying yes —
trust that.

Every journey at Il Sentiero begins with a phone call. To sense whether this is the right moment, and whether we are the right fit for each other. That is all.

Begin with a call Meet Nikita first

Not ready to call yet? Read the journal — it will tell you more about who I am and how I think than any page on this site.