IN WHAT SHOULD COME as a surprise to absolutely no one, the Italian Alps are breathtaking this time of year. As I soak in the magnificent kaleidoscope of colors (and mind you, the foliage hasn’t even hit its peak yet), I’m in awe of the fact that this very landscape was once barren, nothing but cold, jagged rock. Bled dry by the needs of a country engaged in a massive world war, the area’s natural resources had been whittled down to practically nothing, a far cry from the picturesque landscape I’m currently surveying.

Today, I’m standing in a vast nature preserve called Oasi Zegna, named after the man who restored the area to its wild and wonderful roots when he planted nearly 500,000 trees within the region’s one hundred square kilometers in the 1930s. That man, Ermenegildo Zegna, was born and raised in the nearby town of Trivero, where he founded his namesake textiles and, eventually, menswear brand . The reforestation effort says a lot about Zegna the man and his connection to the land of his birth.…