The cyclamen

by | Oct 6, 2021 | The forest

Noah's olive trees

The Cyclamen

Macchia dei Frati,

 

The cyclamen

 

I love this wild woodland flower, which enlivens the earthy colors of autumn. I love this tiny being, slender and very elegant, in the refined and simple form, in the shades of color more intense if a ray of sunlight reaches it penetrating from the dense foliage of the trees. In the autumn season, perhaps the most beautiful and atmospheric in the forest, the cyclamen, with its shy and reserved nature, keeps company with the red berries and mushrooms of the most varied species that populate the undergrowth. Dry fallen leaves rustle beneath my steps, and an intense scent of damp earth envelops me. There, in the middle of the dense thicket, the cyclamen is protected by the foliage and low branches of plants and can express itself in its radiant yet fragile beauty. And I remain as enchanted by such grace today as I was as a child, grateful that I can still be amazed by these small wonders.

Anna Tecchi

The forest of Horta

by | Mar 11, 2021 | Writers of Tuscia

Astonishment

the forest of horta
When I walk in the woods, away from the contagion of the diseases of “globalization,” I spend time slowly, perhaps to regain a sense of living.
STUPORE
…..The forest was all visible, even in the interior; one would have said it was without secrets: such was the piercing and severe, yet strangely sweet, light of that December hour. The branches could be counted one by one, so they were shiny and still; the boulders were stones; the bushes and thickets with an almost inert drowsiness of their own. Everything was simple and normal. But what was extraordinary in the air of the forest, in the existence of those branches and tops and trunks, in the presence of those stones and thickets, was the wonder of light, the presence of a shining silence…..
Bonaventura Tecchi from Resistance of Dreams

Oldest trees in the world are Olive trees

by | Mar 11, 2021 | Olive tree

Noah's olive trees

Oldest trees in the world are Olive trees

The oldest trees in the world are olive trees, and in particular the oldest living olive trees in the world are Lebanese. “Sisters or Noah’s olive trees” are 16 olive trees found in Bchaaleh, Lebanon, and are claimed to have biblical origins. Also called “Noah’s trees,” they are considered by locals to be a living miracle, as they are currently still producing extra virgin olive oil. These olive trees remain one of the great unsolved and virtually unexplored mysteries; common folklore and some biblical scholars believe that these are the trees from which the dove brought the branch back to Noah when the flood subsided. This is a plausible theory considering that during that great flood, when the entire Middle East was under water, Bchaaleh perched 1300 meters above sea level made them the tallest de facto olive trees ever planted from antiquity to our modern era.
I invite you, in these days when we are experiencing the risk of contagion in places closed by the coronavirus epidemic, to appreciate a healthy walk in the countryside, enjoy this beautiful sunshine, the scents of the earth, and if you happen to pass by these wonderful gifts of nature such as these trees, understand how generous our land is.

Van Gogh and the olive trees

by | Mar 11, 2021 | Olive tree

Van Gogh and the olive trees

Olive trees by van gogh
“The effect of daylight and sky means that there are infinite subjects found in olive trees. For my part, I look for the contrasting effects of the foliage, which changes with the tones of the sky. Sometimes, when the tree bares its pale blossoms, large blue flies, emerald beetles and cicadas in large numbers fly over it, all bathed in pure blue. Then, as the foliage takes on more mature tones, the sky is radiant and streaked with green and orange, and then again, in autumn, the leaves take on purple tones the color of a ripe fig tree, and this purple effect is fully manifested with the contrast of the great sun in its pale halo of lemony light. “
These splendid words are from Van Gogh, who in 1889 painted one of his most successful series dedicated to olive trees. Although he ignored them at first, in the latter part of his life he gave these trees, like cypresses and wheat fields, a special significance: they represent the cycle of life, and the relationship between man, nature and the divine. Moreover, the twisting shapes and bright leaves of this tree represent well the strong feelings, particularly tumultuous in that very year 1889 that marks the painter’s illness and eventually his tragic death.
I love Van Gogh and his desperate search for life, in a life, his, so difficult and thankless.

The olive tree in Homer’s Odyssey

by | Mar 11, 2021 | Olive tree

The olive tree sung by Homer

odyssey
The olive tree was considered a most precious tree in ancient Greece, a sacred tree, so much so that its felling was severely punished. Homer chose this plant as the symbol of firm and lasting marital union between Odysseus and Penelope, being inspired by the tree’s sturdiness and longevity.
In the twenty-third book of the Odyssey there is one of the most beautiful and intense passages of the Odyssey, in which the Greek poet describes the love between the two spouses. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca only one thing could have convinced Penelope of his identity: the nuptial bed that had been carved out of the trunk of an olive tree, whose roots had firmly penetrated the ground and around which Odysseus had chosen to build the marital chamber.
“Beautiful of olive tree luxuriant rose in my courtyard, the branches wide, and large much, of column in guise. I of committed stones around it contrived me the marital room, and with a beautiful roof I covered it, and firm doors I imposed on it, and firmly attested. Then, seeing its olive mane, I cut the trunk cleanly up from the root, and with planes I went lightly over it, and used the infallible square and the sharp spike. Thus the support I made me of the bed […]”

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