A Tale of Three Forests: Oasis along the Italian Po River Valley

In the heart of Bosco Limite, Sara Belpinati is busy with a pan of popcorn. Beside her, two-year old Giulio stands in a raincoat. A few steps away, a wooden shelter offers them a place to escape the rain, play and learn. Sara is a teacher at Raìse, a forest kindergarten where classes are dictated by the natural events that can be observed among the trees.  

If this school exists, it is thanks in part to Lucio Brotto, a forest manager who firmly resisted pressure to convert this land into farmland. Since then, his goal has been to restore a forest on the verge of disappearing - and he succeeded. In doing so, he also transformed Bosco Limite into a water reservoir. An intricate network of channels now supplies nearby communities with water during summer shortages. In winter, those same channels nourish the forest’s roots, keeping the soil moist.

In another quiet corner of the Po River Valley, a community has been protecting the forest 'Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza' for 800 years. They have done so by taking turns harvesting wood among its co-owners. Ivano Ferrarotti, the Chief of the Community, takes us through the history of their 'generational forest', a place so intertwined with the lives of the locals that it feels like part of their very families.

Not far away, Gabriele Ceresatto rides his bike through Bosco delle Lame, following trails under the shade of trees. With his fellow association members, he finds in these woods a balance of passion, connection with nature, and a sense of peace. He highlights that this is only possible since the 1990s. Before then, the forest had almost vanished.  

Five people, each engaged in different activities, yet all part of the same picture. The forests of the Po Valley are a precious resource for the people and communities who live in and benefit from them daily. These pockets of forest require protection from agricultural expansion, which has dominated the Valley for centuries.

Explore this interactive tale that walks you through the Po Valley’s geography, its history, and the scattered forest pockets that still remain.