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The Gardening Trolls of Pennadomo, Italy

Posted by Techboy on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

It is a little known fact that there are trolls all around the Abruzzo province/region of Italy, but with a little knowledge and a lot of patience you might be able to track them down and catch a glimpse of them.

As in most societies, there are nice trolls and naughty trolls. Plus there is a hierarchy of trolls – and trolls have jobs.

The nice trolls like: Flowers, cleanliness, toys and ice-cream.

The naughty trolls like: To misbehave, create disorder, chaos and are messy. The really naughty ones have to be locked up.

I flew from England to Pennadomo, Italy in the hope that I could catch sight of a troll in its natural habitat. I was hoping to meet a nice troll (although they are very shy) and to avoid an encounter with a nasty troll. Even the local Italian villagers rarely see them, although they sometimes hear them scuttle around at night.

Pennadomo  is in the foothills of a mountainous region of Abruzzio, Italy and is a long way from any large town.

The Pennadomo mountainous trolls are not large like most trolls, in fact they are only around 4-5 feet tall and mostly come out in the evenings and early mornings – not in the middle of the night (unless there is a lot of ambient light, e.g. moonlight) and not in the day. It is believed that this is because they are shy and do not like contact with humans.

Also unlike most trolls, they have developed a taste for cats – which is why you do not see many around the area.

Upon first entering the village of Pennadomo, everything seemed normal. The people looked friendly:

Work was being done:

The area was clean and tidy. The residents were obviously religious:

However I quickly came across a troll signalling device – their version of a French Horn. So I blew into it with as much air as my lungs could give. This was necessary in order to make them aware that I would be looking for them. You don’t want to surprise a troll – Trolls don’t like surprises (this is partly why they eat cats):

Trolls don’t eat chickens, although in July-August they do like to collect their eggs to make blueberry pancakes:

As I walked further up the mountain, into the village; more ‘troll signs’ appeared, such as umbrellas, well-kept plants:

Also water bottles and water sources:

Then I found a troll house:

As it was day-time, the door was locked. I noticed the lollypop stick (top left of the door) that had been left there before the troll went inside to sleep.

There was a faint zzZZZZzzz noise coming from inside. I didn’t attempt to open the door because:

a) There was a big lock on it

b) It isn’t a good idea to disturb a sleeping troll. Even the nice ones can be aggressive if you interrupt them while sleeping (or eating)

So I kept walking until I came upon another entrance to a troll residence. Note the hole at the bottom of the door:

I had a close look and behind the hole was a large piece of cheese. The cheese was resting on top of a large mouse-trap with a rusty spring. As the trolls eat the cats, there are a lot of mice around. Trolls like to skewer mice and roast them in front of an open fire.

Further on (and higher up the mountain) I found the doorway to the house of a naughty troll:

You can see that a naughty troll lives here by the cigarette ends in the doorway.

Half-way up the mountain, near the top of the village I could see the trolls handy-work. Lots of well-kept plants, often in make-up pots, such as paint-pots:

Then as I walked I found something a little odd – an entrance to a troll-house with a metal door:

Within it I could see a troll’s scooter. They use scooters to get around the twisty streets of villages such as Pennadomo, Italy because they don’t have an engine so are silent.

I opened the door a little and had a quick look in there. I couldn’t see or hear a troll, but I didn’t want to risk disturbing one, so I left.

Then I made my way up a steep part of the mountain, towards the very top of the village where I looked up and saw a troll’s house up high, with a balcony which surrounded with metal bars. This was obviously the home of a level 2 troll:

A level 2 troll is a senior troll who commands and organises worker trolls. The metal bars of this and the previous houses I had seen gave me the impression that I was in the part of the village where the naughty trolls lived. Lucky for me, it was still day time so I was (relatively) safe – as long as I snuck by quietly without disturbing any trolls.

Onwards and upwards I went – my legs were getting quite tired from all the walking, but I didn’t want to stop (not in naughty troll territory).

Then I found something quite disturbing – a troll entrance that had been boarded up and large stones placed against it. This was obviously the dwellings of a very nasty troll who had to be kept under lock and key:

This was the troll’s rear door:

Then I went just around the corner and stumbled upon something interesting – a troll shrine. Notice all the well-kept plants that the trolls have been looking after:

This is a troll prayer:

And this was clearly a troll sign:

I wasn’t sure what it was leading me to, but I had come all this way so was urged to investigate! So on I went…

Cautiously through the tunnel (trolls often jump out at you and demand payment of a toll if you try to walk through them):

Luckily though there were no trolls to be seen.

As you can see, I was now high above the village of Pennadomo:

Far in the distance was lake Lago di Bomba which is where trolls like to go at weekends to play and take a relaxing swim (trolls are deceptively good swimmers, learning to swim 25 metres at the age of 4):

Then, after following the troll signs for a while, I discovered a rare sight – and not one I was expecting to see. I actually saw a real-life Italian troll! It looked friendly enough, but was placed behind a series of rusty bars.

I didn’t know if the bars were to protect me from it, or it from me, so I decided to keep my distance, politely wave back and then make my way all the way back down to the car. That was enough excitement for one day!

Posted in: Featured, Holiday, Paul's Inner Thoughts, Photography.

2 Responses to “The Gardening Trolls of Pennadomo, Italy”

1. joseph bevilacqua Says:
   May 23rd, 2010 at 04:02

   Great stuff, I was born here.

2. Techboy Says:
   May 23rd, 2010 at 10:48

   Hello Joseph!

   I’m glad you liked it

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