Creative explorations in flip-flops
Dalmatia has inspired creativity in various forms since ancient times. Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the nature, or the quality of vegetables, wine and food in general, the calming view of the sea and islands, or it’s something with history, whatever it is, people coming here often get inspired. Perhaps the most famous ancient example is the Roman emperor Diocletian, who has set up his retirement home/palace in what is today a city of Split. He was asked many times by his senator friends to return to Rome to restore order but he refused with the famous words:
If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn’t dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never-satisfied greed.
Roman Emperor – Diocletian
For all we know, Diocletian wore flip-flops, or something similar, and he chose to replace his lavish all-powerful lifestyle, the big city lights, for a life in Dalmatia, growing cabbage with his own hands by the sea, maybe playing picigin with friends. Likewise, also in flip-flops, back in 2003 we started our family project in this region. We renovated a tiny house in ruins in Pakostane and named it Bila Villa (white villa in local dialect). Soon the tiny house of 32 m2 in total became too small for us, so we moved to this land in Drage. We went from the civilization phases of tent dwellers, through solar powered hipster camp, and slowly brick by brick, stone by stone, bottle by bottle, olive by olive, we built this house called MiaBella.
Through the process we got to indulge our favorite creative impulses such as mixing mortar, painting, digging the raw rock, gastronomy, endlessly chasing administration, photography, mosaics, masonry, music, making our olive oil and grappa, brewing beer, collaborating with natural wine producers and enjoying with friends. Many of this you can experience while on our premises. The purpose was to have a good time, to build things that we appreciate, and to share it with as many people as possible. The place is a constant work in progress and will remain like this. We welcome you to join our journey, at least for a few days.
Contact
e-mail: relax@miabellaresort.com
phone: +385(0) 954545484