Il Nibbio, Morano Calabro (CS), Calabria

The “Nibbio”. A village within a village.

A cluster of houses around a Norman Castle, this complex assumes the form of a village with all its structural and architectural characteristics. It comes back to life after years of complete abandon. The Nature Centre we call the ‘Nibbio’ (the Kite) comes into being. In continuous development the village now consists of fifteen buildings, each of which with its own particular function within the whole, so that all are interrelated.
Thus it becomes possible to achieve a full immersion in the Pollino range Flora and Fauna in a visit to this Nature Museum, a living laboratory for studying and teaching Nature. Numerous houses have been reconstructed with enormous care for detail, with simple furnishings, authentic testimony to a dignified country tradition, in a typical Neighbourhood. Visitors are enabled to participate in the many activities connected with the diffusion of a Southern Italian New Cuisine which aims at evaluating to the full Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge (IK). Its function is to recuperate and repropose old-fashioned tastes and flavours within a new form of creativity capable of adding significant variety which will catalyze attention on the long history of food. Classical craftsmen’s ‘botteghe’ are also present. They constitute a real and genuine example of village craftsmanship. It is not a money-making project and visitors are made aware that their contribution to a stay at the Nibbio Centre is an intrinsic part of a socially relevant project.