Bare, with arms raised to the sky, the branches of the almond tree await the arrival of spring. The buds emerge before the leaves, eager to bid farewell to winter and embrace the new season. They are a symbol of hope and rebirth, of courage and determination, of the timeless love that can do anything, even defeat death.

In his Metamorphoses, Ovid transforms the blossoming of the almond tree into the poignant love story between Princess Philides and Acamas, son of Theseus, who had left for the Trojan War. After ten years of waiting, Philides, not seeing him return, dies of grief. Athena transforms Philides into an almond tree, a symbol of the hope that has kept her alive. When Acamas discovers what has happened, he visits the tree and embraces it; the sap awakens and responds to the desperate embrace with a fragrant and precocious blossoming.