Castiglione dei Pepoli (Bologna), the exhibition “The men who planted trees”: the history of the Apennine forests

In Castiglione dei Pepoli, inside of of the Town Hall, until the 23 June 2024, it will be possible to visit the new setup of the photographic exhibition “The men who planted trees” which recounts the last two hundred years of the history of the territory, the woods and the populations of the Bolognese Apennines in parallel to that of State Forestry Corps today merged into the Carabinieri.

The exhibition was inaugurated at 16 pm on May 24, 2024 da Maurizio Fabbri – Mayor of the Municipality of Castiglione dei Pepoli, Aldo Terzi – Commander of the Forestry Carabinieri Group of Bologna and Ferrara and Vittorio Ranuzzi Segni – President of the Pro Montibus and Sylvis Association.

The photographic exhibition, made by Forestry Carabinieri Region Command "Emilia Romagna", From Savings Bank Foundation and by ' National Academy of Agriculture takes inspiration, in its name, from from the story of the French writer Jean Giono, which, in the book "The man who planted trees" narrates the invented story by pastor Elzéard Bouffier who, with the sole strength of his commitment, manages to create a forest in an arid valley at the foot of the French Alps, changing and improving its destiny.

The Italian mountain territory and particularly the Apennine one it really was transformed by the action of the mountain populations throughout the history of the Republic as well as in the story of the French writer. The landscape we can enjoy today, when we walk or visit our Apennines, rich in greenery and forests, it is very different from what our ancestors saw at the beginning of the twentieth century much more similar to a lunar landscape, desolate and bare.

The objective of the exhibition project is to raise awareness through photographs taken from historical archives of the Forestry Corps and other city archives, the impressive work of landscaping and of the forests created by the men and women of the populations of the Apennine territories together with the Foresters, first in the Forestry Corps and today in the Carabinieri; a sort of “forest epic” which saw the Bolognese territory at the center of a project to reorganize the national territory which profoundly changed it thanks to the return of the forest and which today, despite climate change, continues to ensure its benefits.

The management of this immense heritage It is a very current topic as clearly emerged last year with the consequences of the climate emergency which hit the Emilia Romagna region.

The setup was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Municipality of Castiglione dei Pepoli and the Association Pro Montibus et Sylvis which are two institutions that have been an active part in the history of Italian forestry; in fact, on 27 August 1899 the first Tree Festival in Italy was held right in the square in front of the Town Hall.

Previous 1 di 5 The next