Majestic, wise, solitary: the walnut tree is the tree with a solemn bearing, its wide foliage expands luxuriantly from the robust trunk, expressing its presence in the space that surrounds it. A plant cultivated since ancient times for the versatile value of its precious wood and for the nutrients contained in its fruits, in the past also used in medical practices as a remedy against infected wounds or to soothe pain. In the Roman tradition, walnuts were associated with the most important stages of an individual’s growth. Virgil recounts that in wedding processions the throwing of the fruit indicated that childhood was over for the bride and groom and they were entering adult life. The rituality of the gesture wishedblessings to the family that was about to be born and wisdom for the new time of existence. Roman children always carried a bag attached to their belt containing walnuts with which they played imaginative games. In the poem Nuces,attributed to Ovid, the competitions that the boys loved to practice, especially during the Saturnalia festivities, are described. Walnuts represented the time of children and of the playful-formative experience of youth, enshrined in the expression relinquere nuces: by “relinquishing the walnuts” the Romans accepted the responsibility of having grown up in the memory of their childhood.