A new space dedicated to the forest heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia has opened amid Trieste’s central streets. Foresta in Città is an immersive, design-driven project curated by renowned Italian designer Matteo Ragni, conceived to reconnect citizens and visitors with the region’s natural resources and the values of environmental sustainability.
The initiative, promoted by Cluster Legno Arredo Casa FVG – Società Benefit, aims to strengthen the relationship between the city, its people, and the surrounding forest ecosystem. Located in a central and easily accessible area, the compact space – a little more than 30 square metres arranged over three levels – acts as both a showcase and a meeting point for learning, dialogue, and awareness.
Matteo Ragni
«Foresta in Città is a showcase in the heart of Trieste representing the essence of Friuli’s forest heritage», explains Matteo Ragni. «I imagined it like the interior of a wooden sailing boat, flexible and reconfigurable, a small yet precious place for exhibitions, talks, and encounters. It’s a tribute to wood as a living material and to the fragile, magnificent landscape that gives us its forests».
The space’s vertical development recalls the natural structure of a forest, inviting the gaze upward just as the trees do. Inside, a striking installation made of wooden slats – each engraved with the name of its species – forms a conceptual forest. The mirrored ceiling allows visitors to see themselves reflected among the wooden “trees”, becoming part of the composition itself.
Outside, the window display extends the narrative of the forest through mirrored surfaces and elevated trays that serve as supports for objects, evoking tree trunks and canopies. The play of reflections multiplies perspectives, creating a symbolic landscape where nature and human craftsmanship merge.
For Edi Snaidero, President of Cluster Legno Arredo Casa FVG, the project marks a key milestone: «Foresta in Città completes a path we’ve been pursuing for years: promoting our main resource, wood, along with the territory and its excellence. It’s a compact yet meaningful space that connects urban culture with forest culture, linking sea and mountains through design and sustainability».
Beyond the permanent installation, Foresta in Città will host a calendar of cultural and educational activities. The inaugural event, held on 9 October, featured the site-specific exhibition Da pietra a bosco by photographers Manuela Schirra and Fabrizio Giraldi. Their work traces the story of the Karst reforestation plan, an ambitious 19th-century project that transformed the barren Carso landscape into a thriving woodland. Through images and research, the artists reveal how that vision still shapes the region’s ecosystem today.
Foresta in Città aspires to be not just a showcase but a living connection between people, design, and the environment – a place where the story of the forest continues to grow in the heart of the city.
