"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky. 

We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness."

                                                                                - Kahlil Gibran, Sand & Foam (1925)

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This monograph of fifty photographs represents my homage to the cultural  landscape of the Italian region of Tuscany and, in particular, the areas known as the Val d'Orcia and the Crete Senese. 

These "Tuscan Squares" are part of a wider series of images, "Square Trees", in which I try to portray the elegance and beauty of trees in a simplified square format. The focus of this series, "I Cipressi", is the humble Italian cypress tree (cupressus sempervirens), which epitomises the utopian aesthetic of the Tuscan landscape. 

The trees are historically symbolic of death and grief, and are said to mark spots where people have perished. The tradition has ancient and mythological roots, as explained by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, where the youth Cyparissus is so overcome with grief at having killed his beloved tame stag that he is transformed into a cypress tree and weeps sap eternally over the spot. 

The Val d'Orcia was afforded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2004, on the basis that it was an exceptional reflection of the way the landscape was re-written in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing environment. Specifically, images of the Val d’Orcia, and particularly depictions of landscapes where people live in harmony with nature (being celebrated by painters of Sienese School), have come to be seen as icons of the Renaissance and have profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking .

Throughout the Crete Senese and the Val d'Orcia, distinctive groups and avenues of cypress trees mark out the settlements and define routes. Lone cypress trees or pairs are often found atop rolling hills, either by themselves or accompanying individual buildings. The images in this monograph feature  both the famous and the lesser known cypress trees of the two regions, taken during five blissful visits over the past nine years.

Far from being momento mori, the cypress trees of the Tuscan countryside are now worshipped as idols of the aesthetic and symbols of la dolce vita.