What does it mean to draw a tree? First of all, one must think about light: the orientation of the branches, the distribution of the leaves, the economy of the crown. The master tree wastes neither space, nor light, nor energy.

There is something pagan in drawing a life-sized tree, because everything is measured in relation to the body. One climbs the drawing, grasps the branches, picks the leaves, and, one by one, traces them relentlessly. No leaves can be omitted: the mathematics of the chestnut does not allow it. To draw a tree carries the flavor of childhood, for the tree was the first peak, the first height conquered by each of us.

In memory of the great Modenese architect Cesare Leonardi, of his research and of the book The Architecture of Trees, created together with Franca Stagi, which highlights the importance of proportion and balance between the parts-qualities in which trees are masters when allowed to grow free from the arbitrary, and too often brutal, interference of humankind.