During unregulated land speculation by the Savoy administration in the 19th century, 80% of the Sardinian forests were cut down. In 1861, the Kingdom of Sardinia became the Kingdom of Italy; Sardinia paid its dues for entering the new state by becoming barren land good for sheep raising. After the speculators, the lumberjacks, the charcoal makers, and the wildfires took their share, the forest on Monte Ortobene, Nuoro, has begun to regrow. Shoots sprout from the ancient holm oak stumps, forest animals are returning, Cecco watches over his goat herds, Gianmario climbs a tree, and Donatella reads from Grazia Deledda, who wrote praise of the forest, to Giulia and Giacomo before going to sleep. A journey in the present and in the past, in memory of the spirit of predecessors who lived in harmony with nature.
