The Centre coordinates the research activities carried out in offices and laboratories located in Arezzo, Casale Monferrato (AL), Trento, Rome and Rende (CS)
Research in Forestry started in 1922 in Florence, with the foundation by Aldo Pavari of the Regia Stazione Sperimentale di Selvicoltura (Royal Forestry Experimental Station), the first Italian research center in this field.
In 1967 the Regia Stazione Sperimentale di Selvicoltura became the Istituto Sperimentale per la Selvicoltura (Forestry Experimental Institute) with headquarters in Arezzo and operational offices in Florence, San Pietro Avellana (Isernia) and Cosenza. In 2007 with the creation of the Council for Research and Experimentation in Agriculture (CRA) it became part of the CRA network of research centers, taking the name ‘Centro di Ricerca per la Selvicoltura’ (Forestry Research Center).
The historical site in Florence was closed and the offices at Isernia (Unità di ricerca per la gestione dei sistemi forestali dell'Appennino) and Cosenza (Unità di ricerca per la selvicoltura in ambiente mediterraneo) become autonomous Research Units (R.Unit for the management of the Apennine forest systems and Research Unit for forestry in the Mediterranean environment, respectively). As a consequence of CREA reorganisation in 2017 the site at Isernia has become an experimental farm while the site at Rende is now a Research Group.
The offices and laboratories at Casale Monferrato, formerly known as the Unità di ricerca per le Produzioni Legnose fuori Foresta (Research Unit for Wood Productions outside Forests), and even before as the ‘Istituto di Sperimentazione per la Pioppicoltura’ (ISP), were built on land owned by Cartiere Burgo and inaugurated on October 1, 1939. Sold in 1952 to the Ente Nazionale Cellulosa e Carta (ENCC) (National Body for Cellulose and Paper) and managed since 1999 by the Agricultural and Forestry Society (SAF), in 2001 they were donated to the Ministry of Agriculture, and from October 1 2004 have been part of CREA together with their branch offices and land in Rome, today an experimental farm (Azienda Ovile).
