Pretending to be a hobbit wasn’t an option for Nicolas Gentile. He wanted to live like one, so he bought a piece of land where he and his wife lived and built their own Middle-earth.
Gentile is a pastry chef who has a degree in geology. On August 27, he and his friends dressed as elf, dwarf, hobbit, sorcerer, and humans crossed mountains and rivers by foot to throw the “One Ring” into the volcano crater of Mount Vesuvius.
“Some time ago, I realised that books and films were no longer enough for me to satisfy my passion for the fantasy genre and, in particular, for the Lord of the Rings saga,” Gentile said. “I was still reading about the lives of other people. I decided that I wanted to live my hobbit life to the fullest.”