selva
forest
noun SEL-vah Rare
Origin: From Latin silva (forest, woodland).
Also means
dense wood
Usage Note
Selva evokes a wilder, denser, and more literary forest than bosco (a common wood) or foresta (large forest). It appears famously in the opening line of Dante's Inferno: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura. In modern Italian it carries a poetic or archaic register.
Examples
"Il cacciatore si perse nella selva oscura."
Natural Translation
The hunter got lost in the dark forest.

Free starter pack
Building your Italian vocabulary?
Get the 100 most common Italian words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.
Related Words
Explore Italian by topic
ItalianNow
5 min read