In 2022 three friends and philosophy graduates wandered out to the Italian alps for a refreshing time together. There they grasped, together with many ancient philosophers, that walking is the greatest act of thinking. Like climbing a mountain, a conversation dithers through thorny and dense observations, sometimes loses the path, perseveres into the rocky, more uninhabited highlands, until it settles by the peak to enjoy the panoramic sweep illuminated by its efforts. Once one has gotten down safely, the moments of insight sink in like the purple dusk on the mountains, its memories cherished by the precious warmth of food and fire.

After this first walk, Kora Montemagno (PhD), Andrei Golovanov (MA) and Daniël Eikeboom (MA) started to organise pilgrimages in the Italian mountains with fellow walkers, thinkers and artists. This grew into Walking School Peripatetica. Peripatetica is a wandering and wondering community that enriches the love of wisdom through yearly residencies and pilgrimages. Marrying philosophy and literature with earthy crafts and walks, makes Walking School Peripatetica a unique and convivial collective open and welcome to all. For no one leaves for the mountains alone.

Invitation for Peripatetica ‘26: Dostoevsky’s Cursed Questions

«проклятые вопросы»

“God sets us nothing but riddles. Here the boundaries meet and all contradictions exist side by side. I am not a cultivated man, brother, but I've thought a lot about this. It's terrible what mysteries there are! Too many riddles weigh men down on earth. We must solve them as we can, and try to keep our feet dry.” (Brothers Karamazov, Part 1, Book 3, III)

Riddles, or Cursed Questions are of the greatest existential, political and spiritual concern in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. In the third edition of Walking School Peripatetica we will think, walk and revel our way through this insane and heartwrenching novel. Prepare for illuminating lectures, quintessential Russian crafting and stunning walks in the lofty hills of Tuscany. Find details below.

When? 20-24th of August

Where? Monzone, Tuscany, Italy

How much? 250€ including food, travel and accommodation