Robert writes: Two weeks ago, I sent the official program of Hobbiton, the largest event dedicated to Tolkien in Italy.
I have to communicate a major change. Unfortunately, the Italian Tolkien Society was forced to move Hobbiton from Udine as previously planned to the small town of San Daniele del Friuli, near Udine.
What’s the matter? Well, the recently elected regional council of Friuli not only decided to cut off a previously conceded funding to the event of 20.000 euros (not a great sum, considering that another local event, Mittelfest, received last year ONE MILLION euros and was only able to gather a similar audience than Hobbiton), but asked 25.000 euros to rent the Villa Manin Park. Thus, the Italian Tolkien Society (which, as the all TS worldwide, is a non-profit organization), had to move abrutply Hobbiton to the more friendly San Daniele del Friuli. Anyway, the Regional Council decision, as you can imagine, is provoking a lot of problems for the planning of Hobbiton, the most important the serious risk to go overbudget. [More]
