Tree Building is a project born from nearly 20 years of experience. It stems from Gabriele Primavera’s long career as a tree planter.
He is also known as a “shepherd of trees“. This nickname, given to him multiple times along his experience, will surely delight fans of Tolkien’s lore, the author who gave us Ents and The Lord of the Rings saga.
In this post, we reveal the key milestones behind Tree Building. It is a deeply personal story, shaped by the support of many people over time.
The Early Days of a Tree Shepherd
Gabriele Primavera was born in Rome but grew up in Latina. Latina is a planned city with high land consumption and a strong heat island effect.
Active in local organisations from the age of 13, his adolescence was marked by social commitment. At 17, he began his journey as a tree planter, embracing environmentalism and sustainability. At the same time, he promoted cycling through local initiatives, including the famous Critical Mass.
A few years later, driven by a desire for local empowerment, Gabriele helped restore a mountain shelter on Mount Semprevisa. The shelter was renamed Liberamonte. He led a team of over 40 people to an altitude of 1,052 meters. This project proved that his skill in leading teams toward a shared goal was already taking shape.
Working quietly away from media attention, seeing that shelter chosen as the wedding location for Daniele Nardi—the first climber from the Apennine to scale Everest and K2—was a moment of great pride.
However, Gabriele’s efforts would soon return to the plains, where lowland forests had continuously yielded to urbanisation.
Trees for the city
Despite his profession as a web developer and programmer—seemingly distant from the rustic life of a tree planter—Gabriele was already active in his community. He decided to lead a collective effort to bring new trees to the city.
He stepped in where local authorities fell short, particularly in public green areas left in near-abandonment.
In 2011, Gabriele brought together a vibrant local group to create the Libero Orto. This community arboretum featured a mix of food-bearing and native plant species.
It was planted across the neglected flower beds of Parco San Marco, right opposite the public hospital in Latina. Over time, Gabriele and his dedicated volunteers successfully planted dozens of trees there.
The initiative proved to be a huge success. The group grew rapidly and engaged many neighborhood residents, creating one of the country’s largest urban guerrilla gardening projects. As a result, the initiative gained recognition alongside likewise groups in major Italian cities.
The local debate naturally turned to the park’s future. Soon after, the municipality ordered a major renovation. Through collaborative agreements, local authorities intentionally preserved the surviving trees planted by Gabriele and his active volunteer group.
This experience brought dozens of new trees to Latina while acting as a powerful social hub. It also helped kickstart several other similar community groups across the city.
Though the project lasted five years, many of those trees still tower over the city streets today. They provide shade, capture carbon, and offer free fruit to local citizens.
Gabriele nel 2025, arrampicato su un gelso a Latina che ha piantato lui stesso.
Road To Tuscany
In 2016, Gabriele relocated to Pisa for work. Leaving Agro Pontino behind did not stop him from expanding his green trail.
He tried to launch a new community planting project in the city, but it gained little traction. Undeterred, he quietly continued planting trees across Pisa on his own.
Among his many urban plantings, he grew a Turkey oak near Sesta Porta, the city’s bus terminal. The sapling originated from a centuries-old oak in the Lepini Mountains. He also planted a fruiting peach tree near the ancient city walls, right at the entrance of the Fibonacci University Campus dedicated to Math, Physics and IT.
The Monte Pisano Fire
In 2018, shortly after moving, Gabriele together with all the local residents witnessed a devastating arson fire. It struck Monte Pisano in northwestern Tuscany.
Starting on September 24, an arsonist set the blaze. Strong winds spread the flames across three days, destroying over 1,200 hectares of forest. The disaster forced many families to evacuate in the region’s worst forest fire since the 1970s.
The aftermath was grim. The flames stripped away the lush canopy and burned through the topsoil. This exposed bare rock, leaving it covered only in ash and charcoal.
At that time, Gabriele worked in web development for a local company. Replanting immediately was impossible without healthy soil. However, this setback did not stop his long-term mission.
The first team building
Between 2021 and 2022, shortly after the pandemic and a few years after the fire, Gabriele worked at ShippyPro. The company was an e-commerce logistics leader with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility. They gave him the opportunity to organize his very first corporate team-building event.
This event marked the true inception of Tree Building. On a cold but sunny February day, Gabriele led a team of colleagues on a planting expedition up Mount Serra. They targeted land along the Botro delle Conche, a small mountain stream.
During the trip, the team planted over 50 Holm oaks. Gabriele had grown these saplings himself from native Pisa acorns. They also planted Turkey oaks, pedunculate oaks, and strawberry trees.
It was a small drop in the ocean given the scale of the damage. However, the ocean is made of drops and a consistent effort can help rebuild the mountain’s native forest. The event was a major success and greatly boosted team spirit, as ShippyPro itself reported.
Return to the City (And Beyond)
Starting in October 2022, Gabriele once again began leading a local tree-planting group, this time in Pisa, to expand his green footprint.
He started with a team composed mainly of university students. Together, they planted numerous trees across the city while also returning to work on Monte Pisano.
A new chapter for tree planting
From the 2024/2025 season, things took a major turn. The group evolved into a formal grassroots organization. It became a local hub for tree planters, connecting enthusiasts and community growers who raise seedlings in home nurseries.
This effort led to over 45 trees planted in the city during a single season, mostly fruit trees. The group aims to protect public green spaces, fight urban heat islands, and make fresh fruit accessible. This approach addresses the decline of local fruit production in Tuscany.
At the time of writing, the group—wittily named Lecciofanti (leccio, holm oak, and fante, infantryman or servant, sounds like lestofante, Italian for scoundrel) —is on track to manage over 100 active trees in the city. They also run a shared community nursery to propagate native trees.
Gabriele’s volunteer work with Lecciofanti continues alongside his mission with Tree Building. Future synergies between both initiatives will help expand their environmental impact across the region.
The Founding of Tree Building
After finishing his role as CTO and lead developer at an insurtech company, Gabriele took time to reflect on his future. He decided to embark on a completely new path—one deeply aligned with his ikigai (生きがい), as they say in the Land of Rising Sun 🇯🇵.
From this background and reflection, Tree Building was born. The project merges the energy of corporate team building with a vital purpose: restoring our ecosystems and protecting our environment.
With a mission to plant trees where Europe suffers most from climate change, starting in Italy, Tree Building is an emerging reforestation mediator. The company promotes a culture centered around trees—a necessity for human survival. Its core business focuses on facilitating ecosystem restoration for private citizens, institutions, and corporations wherever the need is greatest.
Put simply: a company dedicated entirely to planting trees wherever they are needed most.
That is why we are bringing together skilled people and expert know-how to make this project both possible and scalable. Starting from the tragedy on Monte Pisano, we aim to build a comprehensive list of locations in urgent need of reforestation. In doing so, we are creating a distributed network of professionals committed to a higher purpose—one that meets the great environmental challenges of our time.
We are certainly dreaming big! 😊 This adventure has just begun, and while we do not know what the future holds, one thing is certain: we cannot wait to find out!
We look forward to hosting your next tree-building experience!
AI