Bosco

Since prehistorical times, forests and woods have been part of the human experience. Shelter, obstacle or material resource depending on occasions and contexts, woodlands inspired a broad and diversified imaginary, often characterized by religious shades. The trees of the woods breathe, their numinous lands resonate with oracular notes and the chance to stumble upon supernatural encounters among their branches was a not-always-desired scenario for woodcutters and passers-by. Beliefs and superstitions aside, the world of the forest also aroused ancient literary motifs, which influenced both authorial narrations and the folktale. Furthermore, groves and forests served quite frequently as settings for institutional cults, and sometimes the ministers’ succession happened to be regulated by violent rules.