Press
A family residency in a 1,000-year-old Italian village.
Roots & Future is a ten-day worldschooling family residency in Ormea, in the mountains of Piedmont. Families from abroad live in the village in the off-season, learn from the people who live there, and their children join local children in class and in the streets. Education happens naturally, through community and culture.
The facts
- What A ten-day worldschooling family residency
- Where Ormea, Val Tanaro, Piedmont, Italy. A 1,000-year-old village of about 1,500 people
- First edition October 2 to 11, 2026. Fifteen of us, from Cuba, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Florida and Australia. Every family rated it 10 out of 10
- Next edition May 8 to 17, 2027
- When Off-season, on purpose, outside the summer visitor months
- Where families stay In the village: the town's family-run hotel or local apartments
- Local coverage L'Unione Monregalese, October 4, 2026
- Founder Marae Torrelier, Brave Family Travel. Previously featured in Newsweek and on ABC Nightline
The people who made it
The residency was built with residents of Ormea who chose to take part.
Martina and Anna taught the families fresh pasta. Martina is a young chef trained at ALMA, one of Italy's most respected culinary schools, who learned pasta from her own nonna. Anna has been making pasta her whole life. The children named this their favourite day.
Giorgia teaches art to the town's children in her own free time. She added extra classes so the visiting children could join the local children, in Italian.
Majla is the residency's local coordinator. She restores homes in the village and connected the families with the people of Ormea.
On the first evening the mayor, the nonni and many of the residents who helped make the programme possible sat down to dinner with the families. Federica at Bar Stazione baked cookies with every family's name. The week closed with the accordion playing "Volare".
Local partners included Elena Ramo, a woman-owned winery, and Olio ROI, a fifth-generation olive oil mill in nearby Badalucco.
In the families' words
"I loved that the kids could just run around the town street! I loved how welcoming everyone was towards the children."October 2026 family
"Having a real place to stay made me feel much more like a resident than any hotel room could."October 2026 family
"Going out to harvest chestnuts felt like a contribution rather than a plain activity."October 2026 family
About Marae Torrelier
Marae is a Cuban-born American mother of two who lives in Málaga, Spain, with her husband Roger and their daughters. Together they have travelled to more than 90 countries, and her daughters have attended school in Japan, France, Spain, Italy and Peru. Through Brave Family Travel she shares family travel and worldschooling with 183,000 followers on Instagram and more than 350,000 families across platforms.
Instagram: @bravefamilytravel · @bravefamilyroots
Photos
Free to use with credit "Brave Family Travel" when covering Roots & Future. Right-click any photo to save it. Higher resolution files and video on request.
Interviews and podcasts
Marae is available for interviews, podcasts and speaking, in English and Spanish.