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The fairy tale becomes reality
The Path of the Gnomes
 Barin and Violetta are two lively Gnomes, protagonists of a book which is having a great success among children.
Written by E. Guerrini and V. Graffieti, "Ho incontrato gli gnomi" tells the extraordinary adventures of the long journey of some Gnomes from Norway up to the woods surrounding Bagno di Romagna, and the bewitching journey of one of them from Bagno to the summit of Mt. Falterona and then to the Moon.
The charm of this fairy tale has become reality thanks to the "Sentiero degli Gnomi" (The Path of the Gnomes), created in Bagno di Romagna in the "Parco dell'Armina": a path leading us to discover the life and the kindly function of these small inhabitants of the forest (they watch over its concealed treasures, they stir the imagination in order to lead us to look for our concealed abilities), but also to understand the value of such extraordinary "treasures" which are Environment and Nature. |
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 The path, signaled with a colored trail mark, leaves from the public gardens in Via Lungosavio.
After crossing a small bridge over the river Savio, you will find yourself already surrounded by the wood and by imagination; afterwards, go uphill and enter the thick vegetation among rocks and boulders, by going along the stream Armina.
The path is wide, comfortable, safe, and completed by small bridges, panels with drawings and texts taken from the fairy tale, stone sculptures, animal silhouettes, little wooden houses where children leave their messages for their friends the Gnomes. Once you get to a spring, go ahead uphill on the left and, by following the indications, turn right to reach the "Radura degli gnomi" (The Clearing of the Gnomes) where you can stop on wooden benches before descending towards the spring.
The route has a length of a little more than 2 kms, easy to go through in about 45 minutes.
It will be enriched with new sculptures and with a whole gnome village; the State Corps of Foresters has already enriched it with lime trees and oaks.
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 "Il sentiero degli Gnomi" has already been gone through by several persons, adults and children.
For many of them it has been an occasion to carry out a pleasant and relaxing walk, for others it has been their first meeting with Nature; for children it might have represented their first meeting with imagination, with the pleasure to meet fairy tales, for their parents the wish to tell them again: magic power of the Gnomes! |
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The pictures completing this text are taken from the book by Ersilia Guerrini and Villiam Graffieti,
Ho incontrato gli gnomi (Cesena 2001),
on sale in Bagno di Romagna at: Il Girovago"( Via Fiorentina), "Non solo Bar" (Via Fiorentina), "Edicola Rossi" (Via Manin).
The two authors have also created the web site www.gnomomentino.it |
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Map of the path |
