The Forest in My DNA

It's all Dad's fault. He was also the one who, from childhood, infused the love for the forest into our blood. You can't help but fall in love with nature too when you're around someone so deeply enamored with it. He taught us to marvel at leaves and cones, at the scent of freshly cut wood, to admire the bark and trunks of trees, to eagerly anticipate gathering wild strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or hazelnuts, and to leap for joy if, after some rain, porcini or chanterelle mushrooms appeared.

He took us to mountain peaks, along ridges, through narrow passes, with the zeal and joy of a father who grew up an orphan and who lived his entire life selflessly, striving to offer what he never had the chance to receive from his own father...

From Dad, a minor beta-thalassemia is inherited in my DNA. And a major love for the forest.

Georgiana Camalessa

Photography by Georgiana Camalessa