University in the Woods: Where You Study Sitting on Tree Trunks

A school at 900 meters above sea level on the trails of Monte Brianza, spread throughout the province of Lecco. Here, you can learn how to manage streams and passes, cook naturally, and revive ancient crafts.

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University of the Forest

A university in the wood, where the classrooms are clearings and the desks are logs. It is not a fairy-tale program for children, nor a naturalistic dream, but an increasingly important educational reality. A widespread university without textbooks, located in the paths of the Monte di Brianza, between the municipalities of Valgreghentino, Airuno and Colle Brianza, but extends across the entire province of Lecco.

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UNIVERSITY IN THE WOODS

Inaugurated in September last year, the Free University of the Forest, this particular university open all year round is a project conceived and managed by the Liberi Sogni Onlus Social Cooperative. The educational offering is varied: experiential courses, manual workshops, artistic programs, but above all, forest rediscovery itineraries designed with around twenty teachers and experts. To relearn ancient crafts and restore a more authentic relationship between man and nature. The initiative's beneficiaries are: boys and girls, teachers, educators, adults outside of traditional education, asylum seekers and migrants. All, however, united by the desire to rediscover ancient knowledge through the eyes of modern man and recover traditions and ecological awareness.

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FREE UNIVERSITY OF THE WOODS

Just like a university in the city, the main program is a nine-month course, Nature: Teacher of Life, conceived as a combination of theoretical and practical lessons in nature, daily excursions, and various courses on trail maintenance and the restoration of abandoned clearings and streams. Anyone who enrolls in the LUB can take part in a whole series of workshops, such as natural cooking or eco-printing, guided walks to discover the flora and fauna, study and design sessions for artistic and land-art interventions, and seminars on natural wellness, phytotherapy, and herbal medicine. Above all, for the Free Dreams Cooperative who developed this unique teaching method, it is important to create opportunities for people to meet and do something concrete together to care for the forest, developing personal growth and ecological awareness. The welcoming, inclusive, and inclusive nature of the lessons and outdoor activities at the Libera Università del Bosco is also crucial: everyone who participates should feel part of a community, built on a shared love of nature and forests.

For this reason, the organizers also carefully design spaces and opportunities for interaction with local communities, in a mutual exchange of knowledge and experiences that engages multiple generations. In an interview with Wise Society magazine, the project's creators explained their inspirations and ambitions: "We were inspired by the ideas behind the popular university, and especially by an intergenerational vision of this type of educational program, after realizing, through our field experience over the years, that people who can experience nature together benefit on multiple levels."

(Featured image taken from the Facebook page of the Free University of the Forest)

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