BENVENUTI A NOVANTA! First of all: congrats, you made it to the Borgo! The road was curvy, hilly and menacing, but your sacri-fices and courage will be rewarded, it is all part of the experience. At first, depending on the conditions of your arrival, you won’t realize where you are, what is surrounding you. Now you can feel relief, apol-ogize to your travel companion(s) for doubting of their driving/map reading skills, look around and turn towards the valley: BREATHTAKING!

Some tips for your stay:

We suggest you learn a couple words in Italian, in order to be able to ask the way once you decide you’re ready to leave the hill and go for some sightseeing; for example: “Scusi, per Bibbiena?”, and then basic di-rections, “destra, sinistra, drit-to, ponte, strada, incrocio” (re-spectively right, left, straight, bridge, road, crossroad); this will do. Oh, and of course “Grazie”.

Every morning, join the crew at the lovely dressed table and enjoy lis-tening to the crunch of homemade bread, the smell of the coffee and try the local produces: gently ap-ply a layer of ricotta on your bread and decorate it with some jam. Admit it; your mouth is getting watery!

A wise man said “happiness is only realy when shared”.

selfie alert #novanta90

For whatever reason you came to No-vanta, we are confident you will find what you are looking for here. No-vanta is not only peace and rest, but also discovery, adventure and simplicity: for life in the Borgo (small village in Italian) is an improved micro-society with an aug-mented sense of satisfaction.

We invite you to try to be as asto-nished as you can about everything; do not take anything for granted. Allow yourself to enjoy every mo-ment and little thing of Gello.

WHO WE ARE Some years ago, Igor found himself in the Casentino for work. There he met Stefano, realter of Gello. To-gether they wanted to find a way to inflate new life in it. At his re-turn in the Netherlands Igor con-tacted two talented and open-minded students: Mart and Leonard. These talented guys started the flow of oxygen in the medieval village, the rest came spontanuously: energy at-tracts energy.

IgorThe Novanta storyteller. If you wish to know more about ANYTHING, go have a chat with him.

MartLandlord of the borgo and always on the hunt for the perfect risotto.

AafkeTrue adventurer and communication expert. If you see a vintage fire truck on the road, it’s her!

LiekeVersatile manager, she even can walk the catwalk on high heels if you ask her nicely!

LeonardManager in suit and tracking shoes. Always knocks twice.

JeroenChef and Orto-lover. He cherishes grandma’s secrets but also looks for innovation and expertise.

EXPERIENCE NOVANTA!During your stay we offer a handful of experiences and activities that will polish your taste buds for the typical Italian smells and tastes, the majesty of humanity but also your perception of life.

TRUFFLE HUNTING WITH NICOLA AND CHICCAThe centre of Italy has a very fer-tile soil for truffles, the also called land’s diamonds. Truffle search in Italy has antique roots, and whereas in the past it was also done with pigs, it is now-adays mostly carried out with small to medium size dogs: meet Chicca, Nicola’s fellow hunt-companion… or should we say the other way around?

The development of the tuber is de-termined by the amount of showers, the kind of trees and of course the sun. In Tuscany, along with Umbria, Marche, Romagna and some of the north of Italy, you can find differ-ent sorts of truffles, depending on the season. From May to August you can find the black “Scorzone”, cha-racterized by a less distinguished smell and taste than its big bro-ther the “Nero Pregiato”, by its name Mr. Superior Black. Nicola is an official truffle hun-ter; he possesses all requisites: approved license, a small shovel hanging off his shoulder, a camou-flage suit, and most importantly the love for these woods and this terri-tory, which gives him the strength to get up at 4:00 am to find the de-licious ingredient for his wife’s lovely meals, and for those of the Agriturismi in the area.

The bond between Chicca and Nicola is remarkable; they totally trust and motivate each other along the way: Nicola sometimes gives hints and stimulates Chicca to look (or smell) better, with the result that sometimes the precious tuber is found or, she advises there is re-ally nothing there and walks away proudly towards new and undisco-vered spots. If you haven’t found anything yet and you start to experience discom-fort doubting you will find some-thing, do not fear: you won’t re-turn to the borgo empty-handed! And the best part has yet to come; you will enjoy a special dinner with the ingredient of the day!

LUNCH AT FABRIZIO’SAs you may have noticed already, Italy, and thus Novanta, is all about enjoying each other’s company at a (healthy) table. On this regard we invite you to climb up to the slopes of Gello and reach the antique house “la Maiolica”.

The climb is steep, the freshness of the trees and the smell of humidi-ty will alternate with the hot sun. At the end of the climb you will be very happy you pushed yourself that far: Fabrizio will welcome you with his homemade salami, salsicce and prosciutto, and of course a sip of nice wine from down the road, made by Franco of typical casen-tinesi bunches, tested and tasted with care and laughter in his can-tina with the help of professional wine maker and connoisseur Marco, the owner of the Ornina vineyard.

Some years ago Fabrizio decided to move from the mountains of the Valtellina (North of Italy, Lombar-dia) in search of a place where smog, stress and restlessness don’t reach himself and his animals. He found all this in the Borgo; there he can breed his animals with care, providing the space, the food and the air they need to live a happy, healthy life.

His love for fine food is clear: from top to toe, passing by the tummy, you can see how much he enjoys making his prosciutti.He says he feels casentino, also in his way of producing, although some things will give away his origins: the obvious one (to a trained ear) is the different accent from his neighbours, the other is the secret produce he makes on the hill, the exquisite bresaola, typical of the far north.

PASTA TO THE NEXT LEVEL!Pasta is the Italian recipe. But don’t fool yourselves: in Ita-ly they don’t eat every day the so called “pasta all’uovo” (literally egg pasta), they also eat spaghetti and penne, made of only water and flour, also called fake pasta in re-mote times. Pasta all’uovo is something very rich and special, while simple. In the past (not long ago to be true) farmers had to sell eggs and many other products from their land, or they had to give a big part of it to the landlord; for these rea-sons pasta all’uovo was made once in a blue moon and is therefore very special.

If you always wanted to discover the secrets for the perfect pasta or haute cuisine (in this case at a height of around 650 meters on the sea level) you are in the right place: chef and kitchen manager Jeroen is willing to take your Sun-day cooking pasta to the next le-vel. Like a samurai before the battle meditate, breathe in, and breathe out. Arm yourself with patience and follow faithfully every step of the way. Making pasta is based on an easy principle, but it demands some prac-tice. * Imagine the tasty result: surprise your beloved tablemates with a hand-made, authentic, Italian meal.

Buon appetito!

*Warning: the first attempts might end up with you covered in dough and flour.

NOVANTA’S TREAT FOR BODY AND SOULAfter the experiences throughout the Novanta wilderness, an indefi-nite number of kilometers of hiking up and down the casentinesi hills, and a scary quantity of calories ingested at the authentic Italian dining table you might experience some side effects: sourness in your (few remaining) muscles, broken nails, or the inexorable, unfore-seen growth of body hair.

Don’t panic: if you feel an abun-dant dose of body treat is needed, Meri will be glad to take you under her protective, motherly wing, gi-ving your body love and care. She may say it hurts sometimes, but that’s for the best. Toxins will flee your face at her gentle touch, blood will slowly start flowing again and your hands will be softer than ever!

If you think you just need a roman-tic relaxing night in a hot, scen-ted bath, indulge in the Spa si-tuated in one of the ancient ruins of the Borgo simply decorated with candles, maintaining all the charm that comes with the old, massive stone walls.

Don’t try to resist it too long, you know you want it!

NOVANTA POP-UPS Novanta is an experience itself. The whole borgo, the ruins and the landscape are worth discovering. To make the best out of the place, No-vanta pops up new facilities that offer the chance to unveil Gello and the valley from all its points of view.

POOL WITH A VIEW

For the hot Tuscan days in which you don’t feel like undertake any acti-vities but you just feel like enjoy-ing the landscape, take a plunge in the pop-up swimming pool installed in one of the most fantastic spots. The colour of the refreshing wa-ter matches perfectly with the blue sky. Gaze into it and let the sounds of nature entertain you.

TREEHUGGERRemember that dream you had when you were a child? The one that started and ended in a tree house… For all the everlasting dreamers, like the Novanta staff, a two-plat-forms facility has been conceived, studied and at last, created. With the help of all of the Tree Hug-ger lovers who participated to the successful crowd funding, the staff was able to build the tree house around a 200-years old oak tree.

Rest on its porch a little while, the breeze caressing you; if you are lucky you might see some fal-ling stars. If you are less lucky you will see the thousands stars sprinkled on the dark blue canvas of the night.Let your childhood dream come true and spend the night at Gello’s hidden gem.

After your stay you will have tried so many lovely produces, felt the wind that whistles through the leaves, smelled the humidity of the stream, heard all sorts of sounds of nature; and all these memories will come back home with you. But what if you could bring home a phy-sical piece of Gello? No we aren’t talking about stones or leaves… we are talking about Novanta styles: little presents or authentical sou-venirs, instead of a Pisa tower. Yes, you got it right! You can re-quest a little package with a range of products, from Fabrizio’s salami and local cheeses to real 90 gad-gets!

IL CASENTINO, LAND OF GOD, HISTORY AND MYTHS Borgo di Gello is in the heart of the Casentino, an area full of his-tory, tradition and culture of the highest kind. As a matter of fact, illustrious Dante and Michelangelo are the trademark of this region.

Borgo di Gello is composed of fif-teen ancient houses, each of which has its own story to be told or, if you like, invented. Gello was probably built in 1000, and was a farmer’s centre. The So-cietà dei Colli Albani, decided to bring it back to life, as a center for artists and a new economy, be-coming a true micro society, even with its piazza.

On the top of Gello is the source of the Corsalone, a river that flows through the hills and then into the Arno. On its way down, the Corsa-lone runs into rocks and beams that make him plunge into some amazing-ly fresh waterfalls. We definitely advise you to go and hear, see and feel it with all your senses.

If you feel like it, take a selfie and tell us your experiences! Don’t forget to tag us!

THE ASCENT TO THE DIVINE Il Casentino is the Muse for Dan-te’s comedy that we could describe as an ancient sort of tabloids in the form of poems (canti, rhymes po-ems structured in three verses per stanza), only with a touch of reli-giousness and flashes of “fantasy”, where possibly good guys may ascend to heaven and bad guys put in hell subjected to their rightful punish-ment.

Many of Dante’s canti refer to this beautiful area, where he found shel-ter after fleeing from Florence in times of war. In Campaldino he fought with the Guelfi (religious party) against the aristocracy that wan-ted to take temporal power in Flor-ence. Dante’s comedy describes with vibrant colours and pungent smells the valley; all these images, he left in heritage to the Casentinesi that now quote by heart whole pie-ces of the poems. Many words used in the Divina Commedia are still in use in the Tuscan vocabulary, even if these might sound antiquated.The Poet is for the Casentinesi part of the family: there he felt home again and there he wrote a great many Canti and letters to the Lords of Italy. The old ladies tell even stories about Dante being in love with a girl from the mountains. Who knows? As a matter of fact the Di-vina Commedia is part of the fol-klore, of which the locals are very proud.

GOATS AND STONESClimbing on the hills wasn’t easy in ancient times. Each hill had a dense net of paths and roads that maybe not even goats could effort-lessly climb. This is probably what gave the name to the Caprese hill, as capra is goat in Italian. On top of this hill, Leonardo di Buonarotta Simoni Podestà (gover-nor, administrator of the castles) of Chiusi and Caprese brought his pregnant wife to save her from the plague that at that time was spread-ing through Europe. She gave birth to Michelangelo in the castle of Caprese; and there Art begins, as does the majesty of humanity (as the proud casentinesi people like to say).

Intellectuals believe Michelange-lo sketched the Adam reproduced on the Cappella Sistina drawing inspi-ration from a stone out and about Chiusi di la Verna. We invite you to take a selfie of you (or your knee and finger –kneefie) reaching to the hand of God on the very spot where probably Michelan-gelo’s model laid down.

SAN FRANCESCOIn the summer of 1224 the nature lover Francesco, retired from the city life (back in the day stress was a real problem for a big part of society) on the mountains of la Ver-na. There he prayed and enjoyed the tranquillity: he wandered and won-dered, admired the beauty of God’s gifts and meditated about life. While walking through the hills he fell, crumbled to the ground, rolled down into the dense wilderness. He got up, dusted off and got on the move again, walking with a limp in his too big tunic. Once he returned to his life he felt the urge to go back to la Verna. Dedicated and tena-cious Francesco prayed and praised the Lord, again. Wise men say the Lord listened to his prayers, may-be he was a little bit annoyed, and gave him the stigmata as a reward for his passion.

LANGUAGE AND POPULATION Let’s now spend a couple of words about the fabulous casentinesi.

The Casentino is a valley enclosed in a ring of mountains. As oppo-site to what you might think, as the area is so shut and protective, the casentinesi are open and di-rect, a lively folk (exception made for siesta time, of course), art lovers, and most importantly, chat-ty and generous. As far as public matters go, the casentinesi don’t lose their appetite for political matters; they work it up instead with gossip.

Historically, the center of Italy was the focus of religion, tradi-tion which is brought on with dili-gence by this population. The casentinesi might look rough at first, but when you try getting a little closer you will find out their true nature. If you don’t know how to get in contact just try and ask about wine or about their village, they will show you their essence in an instant.

They are most likely entertainers, and this of course is an inheritance of the many storytellers and ar-tists from Toscana. This also finds its roots in the morphology of the area itself; as already mentioned, the Casentino is an enclosed val-ley, but if you look closer, it’s true look is quite like a roman theater: the valley is the stage and the mountains the tranquil au-dience.

BIBBIENA

Bibbiena has a lot to offer and for the sake of authenticity, we sug-gest you to go and take a peek first hand. The first thing that struck us is that, no matter the season, the city and the inhabitants live on their own flow, their own rhythm. Walking through the small “vie” you can hear the radio jingles upstairs, from one of the many open windows, noises from the kitchen, imagine a coffee machine being unscrewed to be filled again with the dark, fine grounded powder, someone snoring during their siesta…

We advise to enjoy your time there by going and get a lovely ice cream, or a coffee at the bar Il Podestà, where Stefano, the barista, will be glad to entertain you with the sto-ry of Bibbiena or some tips for your visit. Be prepared to use both hands and feet to make yourself un-derstood; it definitely will be worth it.

POPPIPoppi is the perfect place to spend an afternoon in a quiet, traditio-nal Italian village. In Poppi you can find quite a variety of things: first of all you can visit the an-cient Castle, commissioned by the Conti Guidi (the Guidi counts), then you have some nice places to rest, a number of curious locals that you can hear talk loudly about private matters, and what we think the best ice cream ever, Bar Edi in piazza Garibaldi, the square in the center of Ponte a Poppi.In 1996 the cult love movie Il Ci-clone was filmed in Poppi. We assure you if you go there you will under-stand why: Italian vibe and a slow rhythm.One piece of advice? Open your lungs and breathe the jasmine!

To conclude we would like to thank you for your visit, for the enjoy-able time spent here and for your company; everyone that comes to No-vanta adds some extra value to our mission, in exchange for what they take home.

So here is to all the people who can enjoy the simplicity and yet enor-mous complexity of life, and that of a good glass of wine.

THANKSWe would like to thank all the ama-zing people we met during our jour-ney that gave us a piece of them-selves and a taste of Casentino. Especially, we would like to thank Stefano, barista at Il Podestà (Bib-biena) for telling us stuff about Bibbiena and giving us some amazing books about the area, Serenella and family for their stories and caffè, Franco who showed us around his wine cellar and enlightend us about winemaking and history, Stefano for getting Novanta started, Roberto, Ilaria, Viola, the Novanta staff, Rob, Rudy, Annamaria for telling us more about how it all started and the foundation Colli Albani, Fa-brizio who treated us with his de-licious produces, Meri that is such a lovely person,

Nicola en Chicca whom we are very fond of, the lovely guests we met Frans and Martin.To all of you that make Novanta, Novanta.

CREDITSA Merry-Tales production:Photograpy and graphics: Wieke HoekeText and interviews: Pina Vincenziwww.merry-tales.com

BIBLIOGRAPHYC. Beni, Guida illustrata del Casen-tino, Brami edizioniS. Brami, Il sigillo perdutoP. Marcucci, Il volto di pietra, Masso delle fate