Trees as shamans, in Sila among therapeutic woods and talking forests

The forests of Sila heal like shamans. There is scientific evidence and certifications: the white firs, beeches, and larch pines of the “Enchanted Forest” of Fago del Soldato emit high levels of volatile organic compounds, substances with beneficial antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, balsamic, relaxing effects, which improve anxiety and mood disorders.

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This was documented by a study carried out on the Italian Alpine Club trail number 421 of Montescuro (Celico, Cs), in collaboration with the Institute for Bioeconomy and the Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Systems of the Mediterranean of the National Research Council. A total sensory immersion within the largest Mab (Man and the Biosphere) area promoted by UNESCO, the Sila Biosphere Reserve where the air is the cleanest in Europe.

Not far away, in the centuries-old forest of Croce di Magara, that of the giants of Fallistro, it has been shown that the trees speak: every branch, a voice, a whisper, a heartbeat, a breath. Sound designer Domenico Palopoli, known as Dasp, originally from Longobucco, specialized in Milan, applied some special microphones connected to a digital recorder on the bark. And he waited hours, even days to capture the sounds of larch pines and centuries-old maples: the wind, the sap, the soil moisture, the moss created a sound world, sometimes noisy, other times harmonious. Sometimes like a deep sleep.

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With trunks 45 meters high, 2 meters wide and over 350 years old, the native trees of the reserve, now managed by Fai, represent a historical-natural heritage of enormous value for the Sila National Park and Calabria as a whole. Its health status is now being evaluated: the forest – which exceeds 50,000 entries per year, with a high percentage of foreign tourists from Northern Europe – is temporarily closed to the public following the fall of two larch trees. The results of the analyses already carried out are awaited to define an intervention plan. The investigations were commissioned to Francesco Iovino, former professor of Ecology and Management of Forest Systems at the University of Calabria and vice president of the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences, and to Gianluca Piovesan, professor of Ecology and Dendrology at the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences of the University of Tuscia.

Simona Lo Bianco is the Fai manager for the Giants of Fallistro and the nearby Casino Mollo, a historic residence donated to Fai by the Cosentino family of the Mollo barons in 2016: a beautiful farmhouse that, after the completion of the restoration, will become a hub of the territory. It will tell the story and evolution of the Calabrian rural landscape. But meanwhile, in the forest, these suspended months are lived with anticipation: “The Giants of Fallistro are an important resource, on a tourist, cultural, but also economic level. We are the gateway to the Sila National Park, we create employment, we animate projects with local communities. The closure to the public, decided to ensure the safety of visitors – explains Simona Lo Bianco – is inevitably affecting our activities. But the analyses will allow us to redesign the visit routes and define new strategies for the protection, conservation, management, and enjoyment of the reserve.”

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