Casa Corvo consists of 5 vacation apartments in the historic center of Novaggio. Michela and Mike manage the property and live in the main building year-round.
Michela grew up in Ticino near Lugano, traveled the world, and worked as a hotel manager in Costa Rica for four years. After many years, she returned to Ticino to found Casa Corvo in 2016. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Visual Communication (ECAL Lausanne, Photography) and Applied Linguistics (ZHAW, Translation). After careers in journalism and translation in Zurich, she increasingly turned to yoga. She has been teaching yoga since 2012 and has been offering yoga classes, teacher trainings, and retreats full-time since 2015. In 2016, she decided to return to Ticino to fulfill her dream of a slower pace of life. That same year, the opportunity arose to renovate an old Ticino house… More info about Michela here.
Mike is originally from California (Los Angeles), where he began his career in renowned kitchens in the 1990s. To lead a simpler life closer to nature, he decided in the early 2000s to move to Costa Rica, where he opened a pizzeria and consistently worked as a chef at various yoga retreat centers (Nosara). During those years, he met Michela, and after professional stints in Chile and Spain, he moved permanently to Ticino in 2018.
At Casa Corvo, Mike takes care of pampering guests with his delicious catering and tending to the garden. Michela teaches yoga, handles bookings and communication, and supports guests during their stay. They are both enthusiastic about what Malcantone has to offer and are happy to share tips on how to enjoy your stay.
Our Core Values
We run Casa Corvo according to the following values
- Respect for the environment, nature, and people – in harmony with the local community We have solar panels, keep waste to a minimum, sort and recycle, cultivate our gardens without pesticides, and let the natural flowers and herbs grow. When we serve food, we use organic, local, and seasonal products and avoid exotic and out-of-season items. We support the Malcantone community by sourcing products directly from local farms (cheese, vegetables, coffee roasted in Malcantone). We hire people who live near our community and pay them above-average wages.
- Accessibility of our offerings We open our home and share it with others in the spirit of community and personal responsibility. Casa Corvo is not a luxury hotel, but a place where everyone contributes. Our prices are fair, and that is why we insist that the retreat leaders who host events with us share these values. We believe that events at Casa Corvo should be accessible to everyone as much as possible.
- Acceptance of Individuality Our space allows our guests to unfold and take the time to be themselves. Our rooms and spaces are simple and minimally decorated so that guests can simply be. Just as Casa Corvo and Casa Volpe are nestled in nature, our guests can slow down and recover from a fast-paced and pre-packaged lifestyle. We offer a nurturing, non-judgmental, and welcoming environment.
- Space for introspection and self-exploration We focus on yoga and meditation retreats and welcome groups that practice yoga and meditation. Our yoga room (shala) is used exclusively for yoga, meditation, and related practices. We do not use our space for other events that are not in alignment with our values.
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