Hollywood stars including Elijah Wood praise Italian Lord of the Rings fanatic who now lives as a HOBBIT and is turning his land into a Middle Earth ‘Shire’
- Frodo actor Elijah Wood has praised an Italian man who lives as a hobbit in Italy
- Sean Aston, Billy Boyd, who also played hobbits in the films, also applauded him
- Nicolas Gentile, 37, lives in a hobbit house that he built for himself in Bucchianico
- He launched an ambitious fantasy project to build a hobbit village in central Italy
- Wood, Aston and Boyd have thrown their support behind the ‘incredible’ project
Hollywood stars including Elijah Wood have praised an Italian Lord of the Rings fanatic who now lives as a hobbit and is turning his land into a Middle Earth ‘Shire’.
Wood was yesterday joined by actors Sean Aston and Billy Boyd who played hobbits in the trilogy praising Nicolas Gentile, 37, in videos posted to his Instagram page ‘My Hobbit Life’.
The actors appealed for funding for the ambitious fantasy project, which Wood described ‘a perfect replica of Bag End’ and Samwise Gamgee actor Aston branded ‘amazing’ and ‘incredible’.
Gentile, a pastry chef, is planning to turn five acres of land in Bucchianico in central Italy into a hobbit village called Gentile County – it cannot be named The Shire because of a copyright issue.
He already lives on the plot in a hobbit house he built from scratch modelled on descriptions of Bag End burrows in JRR Tolkien’s books after he purchased the land in 2018.
Hollywood stars including Elijah Wood have praised Italian Lord of the Rings fanatic Nicolas Gentile (pictured) who now lives as a hobbit and is turning his land into a Middle Earth ‘Shire’
Nicolas Gentile, a pastry chef, is planning to turn five acres of land in Bucchianico in central Italy into a hobbit village called Contea Gentile – it cannot be named The Shire because of a copyright issue
Nicolas Gentile was praised by Frodo actor Elijah Wood, who described his hobbit house as ‘a perfect replica of Bag End’
Elijah Wood was joined by actors Sean Aston (left) and Billy Boyd (right) who played hobbits in the trilogy praising Gentile, 37, in videos posted to his Instagram page ‘My Hobbit Life’
Gentile now hopes to build an entire hobbit village on the plot boasting environmentally friendly hobbit houses with solar power and an adjoining farmhouse, Gentile told the Guardian earlier this month.
He hopes to cover an estimated $1.78 million construction cost by crowdfunding.
Wood and his fellow hobbit actors have thrown their support behind the project, which Gentile says he does not want to become a tourist attraction, in a series of heartfelt messages.
‘Hi Elijah Wood here’, the actor says in the footage. ‘I hope this finds you happy, healthy and well… I went to your Instagram page and it is incredible what you’re doing.
‘I love all of the costumes and the individual set photos that you’ve done in front of fires and smoking pipes. It’s so beautiful but also the design, the re-design, a perfect replica of Bag End. How did you do that?
‘Looking at the 3D mock-ups it is absolutely perfect, from what I remember Bag End to be. So, well done. I can’t wait to watch your progress, I will follow you on Instagram.
‘That is so, so amazing and if I’m ever in your neck of the woods, in your Shire, I would love to visit. Lots of love, be well Nicolas.’
Gentile came up with the plan to build his own Shire and live like a hobbit after realising reading and watching the Lord of the Rings no longer satisfied his passion for the trilogy.
Prompted after noticing the Abruzzo region where he lived resembled the Shire with rolling hills, rivers and greenery, Gentile made drastic changes, spending most of his life savings on the five acre plot of land.
He now dresses like a hobbit, smokes pipes, and hosts parties akin to those described in Bag End.
The Italian pastry chef documents his new way of life on his Instagram page, posting videos and images of what hobbits do each day.
Gentile came up with the plan to build his own Shire and live like a hobbit after realising reading and watching the Lord of the Rings no longer satisfied his passion for the trilogy
Gentile lives as a hobbit and is regularly joined by his friends who are also fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
Gentile dresses like a hobbit from Tolkien’s books, smokes pipes, and hosts parties akin to those described in Bag End, according to pictures on his Instagram
Aston said: ‘Nicolas, what an amazing thing you are doing. You’re making it, the real Shire in Italia, it’s incredible. Congratulations and good luck!’
Aston said: ‘Nicolas, what an amazing thing you are doing. You’re making it, the real Shire in Italia, it’s incredible. Congratulations and good luck!’
Peregrine Took actor Billy Boyd appeared in the video, telling Gentile it was ‘wonderful’ he wanted to build his own Shire in Italy and imploring viewers to donate.
‘I hear that’s a lot of building going on in Italy so, some good stuff, there’s already good stuff in Italy, some beautiful buildings, but here Nicolas is working hard… So if you can help in any way, please do,
‘Lots of love to everyone in Italy from me, Peregrine Took, Peppino, and I hope it all goes well for your Nicolas. All the best from Middle Earth.’
In August, Gentile and eight others walked more than 200km dressed as hobbits from Chieti to Naples with a replica ring so he could throw it into Vesuvius in an imitated re-enactment of trilogy’s plot.
But the pastry chef told the Guardian he did not actually throw the ring into the volcano for environmental reasons, symbolically tossing a piece of solidified lava and gifting the ring to a local boy instead.
He undertook the journey with eight fellow fanatics he met through an Instagram contest.
In August, Gentile and his friends walked 200km dressed as hobbits from Chieti to Naples with a replica ring so he could throw it into Vesuvius in an imitated re-enactment of trilogy’s plot
Gentile pictured outside the environmentally friendly hobbit house he built and where he and his wife live in Bucchianico, Italy
Gentile, a 37-year-old Italian pastry chef, cooks in his hobbit house in Bucchianico, near the town of Chieti in Abruzzo, in Italy
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