Beech tree life, between history and memory
May 1861. After years of insurrections, Italy has recently become the Regno d’Italia, a unitary state governed by a constitutional monarchy. In these lands, at an altitude of about 1300 meters, the warmth of spring days and the lengthening of daylight hours allow an underground seed to emerge from the ground. A small sprout of […]
Journey to the Ancient Forests of Italy
In August 2020, I was asked to document in pictures the Italian old-growth beech forests inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A complex task, but even more so, an extraordinary experience. Photographing a forest may seem rather easy: trees don’t run away. However, the reality is far more complicated. Portraying an old-growth beech forest […]
The “lungs” of beech trees
While walking in a beech forest, you might have the impression to be in a Gothic cathedral, since the place is shady and wet. In spring, the thin, furry, and bright green leaves of beech trees gradually become thicker and dark green, and the impenetrable foliage of the tree crowns holds most of the sunlight, almost completely blocking out the sun […]