In the terraced olive-covered maritime Alps, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea lies the tiny hamlet of Maberga. A half century ago the hamlet grew around a small Benedictine convent, but now the only inhabitants are a collection of sheep, goats, the occasional wild boar, and us, Lynn Serpe and David Cornwell.  Our journey to a life in Italy began some eight years ago,  when a year-long sabbatical here turned into something more—  after traveling and exploring extensively throughout this land, we found Maberga, and began restoring an ancient stone farmhouse below the old convent.

We travel frequently to Murano, and have personal relationships with the artisans there, many of who create one-of-a-kind beads only for us.

Lynn studied economics and art at Carleton College in Minnesota, and David’s background includes twenty years of photojournalism experience. Both of us worked as educators in Denver for several years, teaching at universities, developing schools and traveling the country doing education reform work. Later, we decided to take a sabbatical in Italy, which turned into something more as we fell in love with the country, its people, and its artistic heritage.