In this time of the longest days of the year, if the work of orchards, fields, meadows, apples, etc. is advanced, the atmosphere encourages to climb to the peaks of the mountains. In short, as the days shorten and shorten, the hottest days of summer will arrive and, instead of taking the path to the top, the paths of rivers and forests will be more exciting. Also for writers. Quinta Horacio Flaco (c. 65-8) the Roman poet, realistic and practical, said magnificently: “Writers, all without exception, love forests.” From him, at least, one understands, he was passionate about the harvest of the day, Carpe diem.

In the forest, the writer knows that if she reads her work, someone will listen to her, there are so many creatures that live in her. The forest is said to have ears ... This belief, integrated in many European cultures, was written by the musician poet John Heywood (1497-1580): “The forest has ears and the field has eyes.”

French philosopher Jacques Brosse (1922-2008), a scholar of botany and religions, founded a series of beautiful writings on the forest. In one of them he collected that the ancient ecclesiastics said in Latin Aures sunt nemoris, that the forest has ears. Instead of using silva or lucus to express the simple forest, they used Nemus, the sacred forest. As I was reading this, the corner of my memory in my skull started to soak up. In the Italian town of Genzano di Eroma, a few years ago, the avant-garde objective of some dreamers of a “gaztetxe”: the recovery of an abandoned botanical garden, the dynamics of society, the integration of the sick and marginalized, the promotion of creativity in teamwork, the recognition of heritage, etc. He collaborated with them in a forest near a nearby lagoon, making a night trip. Sometimes people tell each other their things. In Italian, I didn't find a penny, but there was a tremendous charm. It's Lake Nemi, inside a volcano. Diana was a temple dedicated to the goddess of hunting. Also two gigantic vessels built by Calígula: one for the goddess and another for her. Nemus, from the sacred forest. Today I've realized: We were in the best known sacred forest in Europe... The monument of the forest (Myoestan sylvatica), which moves the memories, is now flower. Listening to our writers. Like spiders: half a million hectares of forest.