Paradise Naked · El Fonoll · MÓN | Visual Journalism
The valley of El Fonoll at sunset.
MÓN · Visual Journalism
A portrait of El Fonoll
A reportage in ten frames
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Paradise Naked.

A community of naturists, nestled in a Catalan valley, set on realizing their own concept of paradise. Weather permitting.

Photography & text Daniel Cole
Field El Fonoll · Catalonia · 2019

Paradise Naked portrays a community of naturists tucked into a secluded valley in Catalonia. They are committed to realizing their own concept of paradise — and have given themselves a couple of decades and five hundred acres to do it.

Disillusioned by the superficiality of modern urban life and appalled by the environmental destruction of industrialization, founder Emili Vives took a different path. In 1998 he purchased the abandoned village of El Fonoll and set about transforming its five hundred acres into a naturist community and resort.

Vives forged a community centered on liberation — from prevailing norms, from inherited dogma. The lifestyle is intertwined with the land: residents sustain themselves from what the valley grows, while a rotating crew of volunteers, lodged in the village in exchange for work, keeps the place from falling back into ruin.

A wooden carving of a naked body at the entrance to El Fonoll.
01
A carving depicting a naked body lays at the entrance to El Fonoll. Weather permitting, full nakedness is the village norm; community members try to live in spiritual harmony with the land.
Daniel Cole
El Fonoll · May 2019
Emili Vives in the living room of his home at El Fonoll.
02Emili Vives at home, El Fonoll · Daniel Cole, May 2019
One day the mayor from the next village over came to see me about changing the nudist character of El Fonoll. He was the kind of person who looked more at your waist than your eyes while you spoke. Emili Vives · founder
The valley of El Fonoll at sunset.
03
The valley at sunset.
Daniel Cole · El Fonoll · May 2019

Vives' fight has not been easy. Fulfilling his vision has meant years of legal and ideological battles against neighbours, planners, and the municipal authorities who do not approve of — or simply do not understand — what naturism is supposed to be.

El Fonoll is, on paper, in violation of municipal building law. When Vives originally applied for the permits that would have let El Fonoll operate as a naturist resort, the municipality responded that he should re-submit the documents without mentioning naturism.

El Fonoll in four facts
1998
Founded By Emili Vives, after years of city life.
500ac
Acres An entire abandoned village and its land.
One
Founder Builder. Coach. Defendant.
weather
Permitting The only known caveat to full nakedness.
The hills around El Fonoll. Cellphone reception ends here.
04
The hills around the village. El Fonoll sits inside a reception deadspot — no cell signal. The condition, like most things here, has been adopted as a feature rather than a bug.
Daniel Cole
El Fonoll · May 2019
Community members tend to a vegetarian paella.
05
Community members tend to a vegetarian paella. The Sunday paella is a village institution, made especially with produce harvested from the village farm. The dish feeds the whole village with leftovers to spare.
Daniel Cole
El Fonoll · May 2019
A dispatch from the building permit office
This village is a project the municipality doesn't like. And as a naturist, that offends me.
Emili Vives · on the municipal complaint
Overflowing recycling bins at El Fonoll.
06
Recycling bins overflow. The village receives no logistical support from the municipality, and is, in the municipality's reading, in violation of local law for expanding without permits.
Daniel Cole
El Fonoll · May 2019
El Fonoll on a rainy summer night.
07
El Fonoll on a rainy summer night.
Daniel Cole · May 2019
Emili Vives and Ivan working construction on a new villa.
08 Emili Vives (right) and Ivan, a village volunteer, work construction on a new villa. Having spent the money he had to spend on El Fonoll, Vives now relies on a rotating crew of volunteers, lodged on site, to keep building. Daniel Cole · El Fonoll · May 2019 paradise needs scaffolding.
The village horse at El Fonoll.
09 The village horse. Daniel Cole · El Fonoll · May 2019 no surname given.
Josep Navarro, who likes to be called Israel during his visits, in the village sauna.
10
Josep Navarro — or Israel, as he likes to be called during his visits to El Fonoll — lies in the village sauna on one of the first hot days of the summer. The village's expansion and upkeep depend on visitors like him.
Daniel Cole
El Fonoll · May 2019
Dramatis personae · five entries

Some of the people you met.

Emili Vives
Founder · Builder · Defendant
Bought the abandoned village in 1998. Still defending it twenty-seven years later.
Ivan
Volunteer
Builds villas in exchange for room and board. One of many.
Israel
Visitor · né Josep Navarro
Goes by Israel when he comes to El Fonoll. Spends his afternoons in the sauna.
The horse
Village resident
No surname given.
The mayor
From the next village over · in absentia
Looked at your waist while he spoke to you.
Colophon

Paradise.
Naked.

A photographic portrait of El Fonoll, the naturist village in inland Catalonia founded by Emili Vives in 1998, photographed by Daniel Cole in May 2019.

It is told in ten frames, four facts, and one ongoing argument with the municipality.

PhotographyDaniel Cole
Year2019
LocationEl Fonoll · Catalonia · Spain
StatusWork in progress
FramesTen
FounderEmili Vives
Founded1998
Acres500
TypeFraunces · Source Serif 4 · JetBrains Mono · Caveat
PublishedMÓN · 2026
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