Some places host guests.
Others host ideas.
Bella Vista has always been the latter.
Long before it became a hotel, it was a meeting point of people, stories, contradictions, dreams, doubts and quiet courage. Over time, something became clear: when people feel safe, seen and trusted, creativity surfaces naturally.
This book is one of those moments.
Play the Quiz Inspired by the Book
The story continues through our monthly Bella Vista Quiz Club. Start with Greek mythology, Benitses and the gods who came a little too close to Corfu.
Why this book exists
Bella Vista is not only a place to stay. It is a place where people arrive carrying more than luggage. Many come with ideas they have not yet named, talents they are unsure deserve space, or dreams they are quietly afraid to admit.
This is especially true within the internship programme. Young people often arrive believing they are here to support a business. What often happens instead is that they begin to listen to themselves.
At the centre of this process is a simple but demanding principle we ask every intern to face:
Follow your dreams, otherwise your dreams will follow you..
Dreams do not disappear when ignored. They remain, shaping choices, restlessness and unanswered questions. This book exists because one of those dreams was given permission to be taken seriously.
From internship brief to first book
Matthew J. Leppington came to Bella Vista as a creative writing intern in our seaside village of Benitses. His original role was straightforward: contribute written content for the website and blog.
What unfolded was something else entirely.
Matthew carried a deep love for Greek mythology, symbolism and storytelling. As he began writing, the texts drifted away from conventional blog articles and into narrative territory.. layered, fictional and mythological, yet uncannily precise in how they reflected real places, real tensions and real questions about tourism, belonging and responsibility.
The stories refused to behave like marketing content and that resistance mattered.
At some point, it became clear they were asking to become something else.
That something else became a book.
A living myth rooted in Benitses
When the Gods Came to Benitses is built around twelve stories inspired by the twelve Olympian gods. Each one uses mythology as a lens to explore modern realities: mass tourism, desire, excess, preservation, temptation, memory and choice.
Benitses is not a backdrop.
It is part of the narrative fabric.
The village’s history, its transformations and its contradictions are woven into the stories, not as nostalgia, but as lived experience. Myth becomes a way of speaking honestly about the present.
Bella Vista itself appears within the story as a chosen refuge, a place where gods pause, observe and linger. Even Anthea becomes part of the narrative, not as a heroine or deity, but as a human figure moving through the same tensions of love, exhaustion, responsibility and vision that define the village itself.
Written in Benitses village, inspired by those who explore Corfu beyond the surface.
What the gods really represent
Greek mythology has always been about flaws.
Power without awareness.
Desire without responsibility.
Presence without understanding.
The gods in this book do not live on Mount Olympus.
They arrive by plane.
They take space.
They reshape the rhythm of a place simply by being present.
Some readers notice details that feel strangely familiar. A symbol here. A gesture there. A god wearing something that does not quite belong to ancient Greece.
The book never explains itself.
It trusts the reader.
And quietly asks:
What happens when gods forget they are guests?
Illustrations that followed their own path
The visual world of the book was created by Theodora, another former intern at Bella Vista. Trained as an architect, she gradually allowed her artistic voice to take shape during her time here.
Her illustrations were not designed to decorate the text. They evolved alongside it, responding to mood, symbolism and emotion rather than instruction.
Like the writing itself, the artwork exists because someone chose to listen to something internal before it became impossible to ignore.
What this book represents
This book is not a product designed to sell an image.
It is proof that ideas can materialise when people are given time, space and belief. It represents a way of working that values process over pressure and meaning over speed.
At Bella Vista, creativity is not extracted.
It is hosted.
Sometimes what emerges is a book.
Sometimes it is the confidence to follow a path that was already asking to be taken.
Availability
When the Gods Came to Benitses exists in limited circulation. It can occasionally be found online and is often shared directly with guests who feel a connection to its story.
It is offered quietly, without campaigns or promises.
Like Benitses itself, it tends to be discovered rather than advertised.
Buy the book
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Author: Matthew J. Leppington
Illustrations: Theodora Dimitrova
Created during a Bella Vista creative internship programme
