MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE
Along with founders Veronica Santarlasci and Keith Ferrone, MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE champions a professional and visionary staff of creative instructors and teachers, artists, physicians, and technicians dedicated to nurturing the complete well-being of individuals of all ages.
Traditional Chinese Medicine, mindful movement, and artistic cultural expression is integrated through a broad program of practices to restore and maintain harmony within the body. Therapies including acupuncture, energy balancing, massage and phytotherapy, complement guided movement programs from Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong to modern fitness approaches such as Pilates, FLOW, EveryBodyStretch™ and Personal Stretch that build strength, flexibility, and resilience.
To enrich emotional and creative health, the center also incorporates artistic and cultural practices such as visual arts, music, and dance and includes art exhibitions and live performances – all fostering individual self-expression and community connection.
By uniting physical health, mental clarity, and cultural enrichment, MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE empowers every individual to achieve balance, vitality, and lasting wellness.
THE COGWHEEL LOGO
The cogwheel works much like the vision of MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE where each tooth, gear, and rotation plays a role in creating harmony, balance, and forward motion. When one cogwheel turns, it engages another to keep a whole system in motion, and symbolizes how Traditional Chinese Medicine, mindful movement, and artistic expression interconnect for a complete body and mind. Together, cogwheels transform individual effort into collective movement, echoing the MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE mission to create lasting vitality by linking different practices into one seamless rhythm of health and wholeness.
FIESOLE
The location of Fiesole, Italy is integral to Mindful Body because it embodies the very balance of history, nature, and artistry that our center seeks to cultivate. Nestled in the hills overlooking Florence, Fiesole has long been a sanctuary of retreat and reflection, prized since ancient Etruscan and Roman times for its healing landscapes and elevated vantage point. Its very name, Fiesole, thought to derive from the Latin Faesulae, evokes both “foundation” and “growth” and reflects the center’s mission to ground individuals in traditional wisdom while guiding them toward renewed vitality.
The location on Via del Bargellino was constructed after the beginning of the century and is nestled next to the archeological site ‘Etruscan Tombs of Bargellino’ that dates from the middle of the first century A.D. The structure originally housed an historic ‘carozzeria’ (body shop) that forged wheels for wagons and coaches of that time, and later, continued on as a contemporary automotive repair garage for custom and commercial cars until 2022. Today the definition of ‘body shop’ takes on a new significance with Mindful Body, and is still deeply rooted in the concept of maintenance of the ‘body’.
The sun’s presence in Fiesole—rising over rolling Tuscan hills and bathing the town in golden light—becomes a daily reminder of renewal, rhythm, and balance. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the sun symbolizes life energy and the yang principle, essential for movement, vitality, and healing. In the artistic traditions of Tuscany, sunlight has always been a muse, inspiring frescoes, sculpture, and song. By situating MINDFUL BODY in an historic open space, bathed in warm, natural light and boasting high ceilings, the center draws upon the convergence of sunlight, artistic culture, and natural beauty, offering a setting where health, creativity, and well-being flow together as seamlessly as the gears of a finely tuned cogwheel.
Veronica Santarlasci, M.D.
Veronica Santarlasci received her Ph.D in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, and pursued her research career in the Department of Internal Medicine, Laboratory of Immunoallergology and Cell Therapy at the University of Florence. Before receiving her master as Acupuncture Doctor with honors from the Scuola di Agopuntura Tradizionale Città di Firenze with Maestro Franco Cracolici and other esteemed professionals. Subsequently, she broadened her clinical practice at Centro Masve at the Azienda Universitaria Careggi addressing hepatitis C and B; and in the Unit of Medicina Integrata for integration of complimentary medicine in oncology.
Veronica specializes in Traditional Cinese Medicine as a complimentary and integrated approach to cure and prevention to promote self-awareness, personal growth and healing. Focusing on the Acupuncture Meridian Balance Method, her individual sessions includes auricular therapy, anti-aging techniques, massage Tuina, cupping, moxibustion, as well as principles in Cinese Nutrition and Dietary support.
Veronica practices as ‘Medico Agopuntore’ at the historic clinics of the Misericordia di Firenze, with her main office at Mindful Body Fiesole and is registered officially with the Ordine dei Medici, Italy and AMAT Associazione Medico Agopuntori Toscani.
Keith Ferrone
Keith Ferrone, born in New York, began dancing after dedicating the first years of his professional career to artistic gymnastics while studying marketing and advertising at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. The combination of these two interests brought him back to New York, where his choreographic culture grew under the influence of great masters such as Igal Perry, Benjamin Harkarvy, and John Butler. In 1987, together with the ballerina ètoile Marga Nativo, he founded the Florence Dance Center, a dynamic art and research center for dance, and the Florence Dance Festival, which this year celebrated its 36th edition, presenting the best artists and companies on the international dance scene in the Chiostro Maggiore of Santa Maria Novella, Florence. For his outstanding contribution to cultural relations between the U.S. and Italy, Keith received the prestigious Tuscan American Award from the Tuscan-American Association in collaboration with the Consulate General of the United States of America in Florence and the City of Florence in the Salone del 500 Palazzo Vecchio in 2015.
His choreographic and directing style is characterized by the theatricality of his ballets, for which he shares intense collaborations with renowned artists from various fields, most notably currently with composer Andrea Porterà in the opera "Isacco - il figlio imperfetto" and for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Orobea, where Keith is engaged as a choreographer and dancer in the role of the Vecchio Sarcedoto, Enotheo.
As a teacher, he is committed to promoting the art of classical dance, especially among young people and adults, and has created innovative programs such as FLOW Stretch Exercise and EveryBodyStretch; an ongoing study in fundamental and healthy movement and gesture for a body that matures and rejuvenates according to life itself.
As a cultural operator and spokesperson for the arts, through the MINDFUL BODY FIESOLE project he is committed with Veronica in promoting a social and cultural policy worthy of a contemporary Fiesole that looks to the future with hope as a candidate city for Capital of Culture 2028.
