NEWS

Milan, 25^th October 2024 – This morning, Forestami Academy, the initiative created by Prada Group and Forestami to promote and disseminate the scientific foundations, principles and values of urban forestry, held its last event of the year, at Parco Nord Milano.

As the previous events, the outdoor session entitled “Forest Therapy: Nature as a Tool for Promoting Emotional Well-being” “was fully attended.

Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada Group Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, said: “We are proud to have stood by the Forestami Academy’s side in this year’s educational journey leading citizens to discover the influence of trees on their quality of life. We hope that the increased awareness of the positive impact that spending time in nature has on people’s health will lead to a change in everyday habits.”

The experts involved in the event were: Francesco Becheri, Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Professor at the University of Florence; Elena Barbierato, Doctoral Researcher in the Sustainable Management of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Resources at the University of Florence; and Viola Benedetti, Doctoral Researcher and Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Florence.

In the excursion into the green spaces of Parco Nord Milano, Francesco Becheri analyzed what happens inside us when we are immersed in nature.

Using this question as a starting point meant that the 100 citizens present could explore, first-hand, through a guided experience of immersion in nature, how one’s emotional state can change significantly, fostering an improved sense of well-being, developing positive emotions and reducing negative ones.

“Thanks to the research tools and methods that we used for our work and which we made available to the participants, everyone present had the opportunity to directly experience what happens ‘inside’ our brain when we establish a relationship with nature, whether in person or virtually, and investigate how the emotional and physiological processes that regulate our daily behavior change” stated Francesco Becheri, Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Professor at the University of Florence.

The public also took part in the workshop “Experiencing the Mind in Nature” by Elena Barbierato, Doctoral Researcher in the Sustainable Management of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Resources at the University of Florence and Viola Benedetti, Doctoral Researcher in Neuroscience and Professor at the University of Florence, which provided practical examples of the effects of greenery and nature on cerebral and cognitive functions.

“Forests are good for our health. It’s no longer just individual and personal experience that recognizes it, but a vast quantity of studies and research that, starting from the Eighties, have demonstrated increasing interest in the effects that time spent in forests and woods produces on the human body in terms of a reduction in blood pressure, cortisol levels and an improvement in memory and concentration capacity” stated Maria Chiara Pastore, Professor from the Politecnico of Milan and Scientific Director of Forestami.

The next Forestami Academy event will be held next year, with a new educational cycle with three meetings. The central theme of the new edition will be “Do we know plants? The trees and shrubs of our cities.”