The meeting that concludes the 2024 edition drew attention to the dynamics of forest therapy:
how immersion in nature can favorably affect mental health, fostering improved well-being, nurturing positive emotions and reducing negative ones.

Talks by Francesco Becheri, Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Adjunct 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 in Neuroscience and Adjunct Professor at the University of Florence.

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

This edition – entitled “Urban Forestry: Well-being and Health” – was structured in three meetings coordinated by Maria Chiara Pastore, Professor at the Politecnico of Milan and Scientific Director of Forestami, with some of the most eminent national and international experts on green spaces and forestry in attendance, focusing on the correlation between nature and physical and mental health.

The outdoor session entitled “Forest Therapy: Nature as a Tool for Promoting Emotional Well-being” “was, like the previous events, 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 context of the growing and widespread commitment of many cities throughout the world to the restoration of urban forests, both for the ecological rebalancing of metropolitan territories and the creation of conditions to increase wellness, the search for solutions that can offer opportunities to improve well-being through contact with forest ecosystems is a necessary challenge for those who intend to promote the valorization of urban forests.

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.”

 ¹ The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAFF), the Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA), the National Research Council – Institute for Bio-Economics (IBE-CNR), Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), Regional Reference Center for Phytotherapy (CERFIT) – Careggi University Hospital of Florence, University of Florence – Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Science and Technology (DAGRI), University of Padua – Department of Land and Agricultural-Forestry Systems (TESAF), the School of Cognitive Psychotherapy (SPC Srl), Istituto Superiore di Sanità (the Italian National Institute of Health) – Reference Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (SCIC), University of Florence – Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drugs and Children’s Health (NEUROFARBA), Sapienza University of Rome (Department of Environmental Biology, Botanical Gardens), and a test site for development and research into Forest Therapy at the Pian dei Termini Estate (PT).