il barone rampante
If I have to think of a novel that incorporates the essence of treehugging that would be The Baron in the Trees (Il barone rampante) by Italo Calvino. The novel is set in the 18th century in an imaginary town on the Italian Riviera. It is the story of Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, a kid that, in protest against his noble family and society, decides to spend the rest of his life living on the trees. What seems, at first, just the capricious decision of a young noble, turns out to be a life-long unique experience of arboreal living. Cosimo wanders from tree to tree all his life and is never to set foot on the ground again. The story revolves around his many life experiences and his vision of the world “from above”. It is one of the first books I ever read and it stays one of my favorites. It gives a charming sense of freedom and natural, uncompromised, living.
