In 2010, photojournalist Ellie Pritts vacation in Europe took an interesting turn and she found herself staying with an isolated, self-sufficient community in a shrouded-with-mystery place known as the "Valley of The Elves."
Writes Ellie:
"With just €80 to our names in Florence, we relied on a network of friends of acquaintances to secure lodging for a long weekend before we moved on to Athens. We had only a vague understanding of where we were going to spending the next few days. All we really knew was that we were going to be staying in a non-traditional community in the mountains northeast of us. The author J.R.R Tolkien and “elves” were mentioned, but we weren’t sure how much of what was being told to us was simply lost in translation."
While there were no elves and they never understood the connection to Tolkien, Ellie found a darling place. The images of the playing children, kittens and hand operated farming equipment are lovely and I'm pleased to see that no community can go without excellent pizza. I hope does she go back.
The Valley of the Elves by Ellie Pritts
Previously on Boing Boing:
