Of the ancient “Astura Forest”, later known as the “Brick Wood”, all that remains today are the lush yet modest Astura pinewood and the woods of Foglino and Crocette. The location has inspired writers and poets for centuries. “The forest near Astura is wonderful – is the account provided by Ferdinand Gregorovius, written in 1854 – the flora is of a tropical magnificence and the ivy wraps itself around the majestic oak trees”. And Giuseppe Brovelli Soffredini, in 1887, adds: “the immense, imposing and grandiose garden, where the soil is covered in a dazzling green in the sunny patches and by a more turquoise green in the shade of the ancient turkey oaks”.

 

Gabriele D’Annunzio, who spent a month here in 1897, tells us of “a marvellous pine forest: the tree trunks are so thick that only the occasional glimpse of sunlight is allowed to penetrate it and the tawny trees, their branches loaded with needles, shimmer with this divine iridescence, this overwhelming work of arachno-enchantment”.