★ Through the prism of ten key trees that shaped medieval society and economy, a holographic picture of medieval society is refracted - the olive tree carries religious metaphors, the oak tree establishes the economic lifeline, and the elm tree witnesses the nascent form of democracy. Each ring of the tree trunks seals the forgotten genes of civilization.
★ A new paradigm in paleobotany: Breaking through the traditional historical framework, it fuses botany, architecture, and sociology into a cross-disciplinary lens, revealing the material foundation of medieval survival wisdom from the famine defense line supported by chestnut trees to the Gothic domes held up by ash trees, creating a new paradigm in paleobotany.
★ Girollo, an expert in medieval history at the University of Milan, with the meticulousness of a naturalist and the rigor of a historian, transforms hard-core academic research into a lush and flourishing epic narrative.

A journey into the Middle Ages through ten trees that shaped its society and econ-omy.

Paolo Grillo tells us about the Middle Ages through ten trees that played a central role in the social and econom-ic life of the time. From the olive tree, the quintessential Christian symbol, to the oak tree, neglected by the Ro-mans but crucial in the Middle Ages as a source of lum-ber and nourishment. From the chestnut tree, known as the breadfruit tree, to the ash and the poplar, used in construction and symbols of the great Gothic cathe-drals. But also the elm: public assemblies and courts met under its shade in urban and rural municipalities before public buildings were built. Every tree reveals a piece of history and conveys a rich and complex era in a new and fascinating way.

Paolo Grillo teaches Medieval History at the University of Milan and is a scholar of Italian history from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. His most recent books include La falsa inimicizia. Guelfi e ghibellini nell’Italia del Duecento (2018) and Manfredi di Svevia (2021). Mondadori published his volumes Nascita di una cattedrale (2017), Le porte del mondo (2019), and Federico II (2023).