扔“魔戒”、打造霍位元村莊……現實版佛羅多原來是他！'What is this if not magic? The Italian man living as a hobbit

托爾金的《指環王》故事發生在中土大陸，但是現實版的“佛羅多”卻是一位義大利人。他穿著霍位元人的服飾，住在霍位元人的小屋裡，立志打造霍位元村莊，而且剛剛和朋友們一起完成了“銷燬魔戒之旅”。

Nicolas Gentile （centre， kneeling）， alongside his friends who joined him on his journey。 Photograph： Giacomo Savini e Luciano Masiello， courtesy of Nicolas Gentile。

Nicolas Gentile， a 37-year-old Italian pastry chef， did not just want to pretend to be a hobbit – he wanted to live like one。 First， he bought a piece of land in the countryside of Bucchianico， near the town of Chieti in Abruzzo， where he and his wife started building their personal Shire from JRR Tolkien’s fictional Middle-earth。

37歲的義大利糕點師尼古拉斯·金泰爾不想只是假裝當霍位元人，他想像霍位元人一樣生活。首先，他在阿布魯佐大區基耶蒂市附近布基亞尼科鎮的鄉下買了一塊地，在那裡他和他的妻子著手打造他們自己的“夏爾郡”（J·R·R·托爾金筆下的中土大陸上的一個地區，主要居民是霍位元人）。

Then， on 27 August， alongside a group of friends and Lord of the Rings fans dressed as an elf， a dwarf， a hobbit， a sorcerer and humans， he walked more than 120 miles （200km） from Chieti to Naples， crossing mountains and rivers， to throw the “One Ring”， a central plot element of The Lord of the Rings saga， into the volcano crater of Mount Vesuvius。

然後，在8月27日那天，他和一群打扮成精靈、矮人、霍位元人、巫師和人類的朋友以及《指環王》粉絲們一起從基耶蒂市走了120多英里（200千米）到那不勒斯市，跨越了山川與河流，就為了將“至尊魔戒”扔進維蘇威火山口中（《指環王》故事的核心情節）。

‘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 decided that I wanted to live my hobbit life to the fullest。”

金泰爾說：“前些時候，我意識到書和電影再也不能滿足我對奇幻故事尤其是《指環王》的熱情。我決定將霍位元人的生活進行到底。”

In the two hectares of land he bought， he has already built his first house， where he lives with his family， in hobbit clothes， and his doors are also open to visitors。 Here， the pastry chef， who has a degree in geology， plans to build the caravan of the dwarves， the green dragon inn and a large version of Bilbo Baggins’ house。 His goal is to transform this piece of Abruzzo into a hobbit village， with an adjoining farmhouse， where visitors will be able to live in a magical world， which， according to Gentile， is not too far from the way people live in Bucchianico。

在他買下的兩公頃土地上，他已經蓋好了自己的第一座房子，他和家人穿著霍位元人服裝住在這裡，並歡迎遊客來參觀。這位擁有地質學學位的糕點師計劃在這裡建造矮人的活動住宅、青龍客棧和放大版的比爾博·巴金斯小屋。他的目標是將阿布魯佐的這塊地改造成一個農舍相鄰的霍位元村莊。據金泰爾介紹，遊客們將能在這個魔幻世界中生活，而且這裡的生活方式和布基亞尼科鎮的居民差別並不太大。

caravan ［krvn］： n。 活動住宅

’Over time， I realised that my friends， my relatives and the farmers of Bucchianico have always lived as hobbits。 They work like hobbits， carrying out jobs that are all in close contact with nature。 They celebrate like hobbits， by organising festivals and dances and even dress up as hobbits。”

“久而久之，我意識到我的朋友、親人和布基亞尼科的農民一直都像霍位元人一樣生活。他們像霍位元人一樣工作，乾的活兒也都與大自然親密接觸。他們像霍位元人一樣慶祝，舉辦各種節日和舞會，甚至會打扮成霍位元人。”

Gentile， a 37-year-old pastry chef， lives with his family in a hobbit house， where they wear hobbit clothes。 Photograph： Giacomo Savini e Luciano Masiello， courtesy of Nicolas Gentile。

In Bucchianico， the festival of the Banderesi is organised every year。 It is one of the oldest festivals in Europe – celebrated for almost 500 years and in which people wear medieval clothes， sing songs， dance and prepare typical local dishes。

在布基亞尼科，每年都會慶祝班德萊西節。這是歐洲最古老的節日之一，已經有近500年曆史，人們會在這個節日穿上中世紀服裝、唱歌跳舞，還會做本地風味菜。

‘Those are hobbit clothes，” says Gentile。 ‘‘I realised that I have always lived in the Shire。 The only thing missing was to become aware of it and build a village。 I wanted people to enter my mind， my fantasy。 Many make fun of us。 Some think I am trying to escape from reality。 Far from it。 I am living my dream， my adventure。 By purchasing that piece of land， I have removed it from a reality that I don’t like and am shaping it the way I want。”

金泰爾說：“那就是霍位元人的服裝。我意識到自己其實一直住在夏爾郡，就差人們意識到這點，還有建一個村莊了。我想讓人們進入我幻想的世界。許多人都取笑我們。有些人認為我只是試圖逃離現實。根本不是。我是在實現我的夢想，踐行我的冒險生活。透過買下那塊土地，我已經讓它脫離我不喜歡的現實，並且一步步將其塑造成我想要的樣子。”

He says his “county” will be called the Contea Gentile， because of a copyright issue。

他說，由於版權問題，他的“郡”將被命名為康緹雅·金泰爾。

A visitor knocks on the door of a house in Gentile’s Shire in Abruzzo， Italy。 Photograph： Giacomo Savini e Luciano Masiello， courtesy of Nicolas Gentile。

The houses will be built through crowdfunding and will be sustainable， using solar energy。 Like a true hobbit， Gentile loves nature and his goal is to take care of it。 He says his journey to Vesuvius to throw the ring into the crater was not just an extravagant walk by Lord of the Rings fans – he wanted to send a message。

土地上的農舍將透過眾籌融資建造，並將採用太陽能來實現可持續的生活方式。和真正的霍位元人一樣，金泰爾熱愛大自然，並將保護大自然作為自己的目標。金泰爾表示，他到維蘇威火山口扔戒指並不只是《指環王》粉絲的一次奢侈的徒步旅行，而是想傳遞一個資訊。

’The earth today is threatened by pollution and the climate emergency， which are enemies as fearsome as Sauron。 We wanted to show that our land， like Tolkien’s Middle-earth， must be saved and protected。 That’s why we went there to throw the ring。 I’m too much of an environmentalist to throw a piece of iron into nature， so I symbolically threw a piece of solidified lava into the crater and gave the ring to a little boy we met。

“今天的地球正遭受汙染和氣候緊急狀態的威脅，這一危機就和索倫一樣可怕。我們想表明的是，和托爾金筆下的中土大陸一樣，我們的土地也必須得到拯救和保護。這就是為什麼我們要去那裡扔戒指。我是一個堅定的環保人士，絕不會往大自然扔一塊鐵製品，所以我只是象徵性地往火山口扔了一塊固結熔岩，然後把戒指送給了我們遇到的一個小男孩。”

‘We met a lot of people over the course of those hundreds of kilometres。 And the affection they showed us was incredible。 The people on the street opened the doors to their houses for us， gave us food， offered to host us in their houses and let us take a shower。 What is this if not magic？”

“在數百公里的跋涉途中，我們遇到了很多人。他們對我們流露的真情令人感動。沿街的住戶向我們敞開大門，送給我們食物，邀請我們去做客，還讓我們洗澡。還有什麼比這更神奇的呢？”

英文來源：衛報

翻譯&編輯：丹妮