The Riddle of the Old Forest

Retired Colonel Sebastiano Procolo – a man who never smiles – inherits a house and a plot of forest in the mountains; however, most of the estate is inherited by the colonel's nephew – twelve-year-old Benvenuto, an orphan living in a boarding house. The Old Forest is a magical place: in the trunks of ancient fir trees live spirits that can take the form of a human or a beast. And so, no one has ever dared to cut down those trees. But the colonel does not believe in silly legends and decides to impose his own order in the Old Forest while also dealing with his nephew… The whimsical and graceful Riddle of the Old Forest, with its light and sad tone, at first glance, belongs to the genre of literary fairy tales for adults; however, behind the unpretentious plot resembling a folk legend lies a profound parable about the harmfulness of the confrontation between man and nature.