A British father is fighting to keep his three children after he moved them, along with his wife, to live an off-grid life in a ‘crumbling ruin’ in the Italian wilderness.
Nathan Trevallion, a 51-year-old ex-chef from Bristol, lives in a run-down farmhouse in the Abruzzo region of central Italy with his Australian wife Catherine Birmingham and their three children, an eight-year-old girl and six-year-old twin boys.
Having bought the property in 2021, Trevallion moved his family in with the aim of living off-grid. They raise several farm animals, and largely survive on homegrown fruit and vegetables.
But local prosecutors have asked a court to remove the Briton’s children from his care by claiming they are suffering ‘serious harm’ under their new lifestyle.
Authorities were called to the homestead in September 2024 after all five members of the family needed to be taken to hospital because they had all been poisoned by mushrooms.
The family also rely on solar power for electricity and a well for water because their home is six miles from the nearest small village.
The children are homeschooled and authorities say they have inadequate access to healthcare.
But Ms Birmingham claims police have ‘bullied and harassed’ her and her family.
Nathan Trevallion, a 51-year-old ex-chef from Bristol, lives in a run-down farmhouse in the Abruzzo region of central Italy with his Australian wife Catherine Birmingham and their three children
Local prosecutors have asked a local court to remove the Briton’s children from his care
She claims they have had to flee the property three times after police showed up theatening to take their children away.
She told the Telegraph: ‘They saw we were living off grid and they labelled our house a crumbling ruin. The kids were really traumatised.’
The family’s lawyer, Giovanni Angelucci insisted the children were in ‘perfect health’.
‘They are in better physical condition than most children,’ he said, adding: ‘There is no evidence of maltreatment.’
In an effort to prove their claims, Trevallion invited a local media outlet to the family’s cottage to reveal how they lived.
He reportedly said in broken Italian: ‘There are cracks in the walls, but the walls are strong.
‘We are a clean family. Every day we sweep the floor’.
A judge is expected to rule on the case in the next 30 days.
In a statement to the court, Trevallion and Birmingham said: ‘We consciously changed our own lives… to provide our children with parents that are able to be at home with them, food, air and water that is clean, and an environment that not only is beneficial to their brain and physical development but, most importantly, a connection.’