Slate gray bedazzled by iridescent green. The boschi (forests) of Latera burst with spring color, softly surrounding the town as a breathing cloud, a magical green world. One minute you are in town and the next you are enveloped in a woodland lush with new growth and birdsong.

But the forests surrounding Latera are also a living presence in town.

In the photograph above, Zehava Prerez captures the way the forest softens and colors the townscape of stone and slate and tile, sometimes creating a “green wall” as background. 

The verdant spring penetrates into town and catches you by surprise as you round a corner or turn into an alleyway. A mediterranean mixed forest of oak, chestnut, and beech trees, the stunning canopy creates a living nearness. 

There are also dozens of trails around town to hike or run, including the infamous Trail of the Brigandi. As I understand the complex history, some rural farmers of southern Italy saw the 1861 unification as a takeover by wealthier landowners of the north. Their cause was ultimately unsuccessful: violence, poverty, and emigration were some of the results. Today the Trail of the Brigandi is one of many trails and farm roads that traverse the area. 

Once you discover the proximity of the bosco, you see that living in the village is also living in the larger environment of forest and field.  

As a medievalist, the border between town and forest, so different from today’s sprawling suburban transition zones, clarifies a common literary trope in Arthurian literature: a knight leaves the court for the magic or misfortune of the forest, such as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In the forest, adventures could quickly present themselves, but even at court the beckoning presence of the forest feels close by.  

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