The choice of timber determines almost everything that follows in a woodworking project: how the tools behave, how long the work takes, how the finished surface looks, and how well the piece holds together over years. For a beginner, this choice is also one of the most confusing parts of starting out — timber merchants stock dozens of species, each described in terms that are not always easy to interpret.
This article covers the species most commonly available in Italian timber merchants, with enough information about each to make an informed choice before buying a board. Prices are not included because they vary considerably between regions and change with supply conditions.
Hardwood and softwood: a useful distinction, within limits
The terms "hardwood" and "softwood" refer to the botanical category of the tree, not to the physical hardness of the timber. Balsa is technically a hardwood; yew is technically a softwood. In practice, however, most of the hardwoods available in Italy — walnut, oak, chestnut, cherry — are physically harder than the softwoods most commonly stocked (pine, fir, spruce). The distinction is still useful as a rough guide to workability.
Softwoods cut more easily with hand tools and are considerably cheaper, which makes them suitable for learning joinery methods before committing expensive material to the same joints. Hardwoods take more effort to work but produce finer surfaces, hold fine detail better, and — in most species — are more dimensionally stable once dry.
Species available in Italy
Castagno (chestnut)
Chestnut is one of the most historically significant timber species in Italian woodworking. It is durable, moderately hard, and finishes well. The grain is typically straight, which makes it predictable to work with hand planes. The main complication is its tendency to contain ring shakes — separations between growth rings that are not always visible from the surface of a board. Chestnut is widely available in Tuscany and the Apennine regions.
Noce (walnut)
Italian walnut from the Po Valley and Emilia-Romagna is among the finest cabinet timbers in Europe. The wood is moderately hard, cuts cleanly with sharp tools, and its natural oils mean it can be finished with wax or oil alone — no sealer required. The colour ranges from pale grey-brown in the sapwood to rich chocolate in the heartwood. Walnut is not a beginner timber in the sense of being forgiving — mistakes are expensive — but it is genuinely rewarding to work with.
Ciliegio (cherry)
Wild cherry from the Marche and Umbria regions has a fine, consistent grain and a warm reddish-brown tone that deepens significantly with light exposure over the first year after finishing. It is moderately hard and works cleanly. Cherry tends to move slightly more with changes in humidity than walnut or chestnut, which is worth accounting for in panel construction and wide tabletops.
Rovere (oak)
Rovere — European white oak — is the workhorse timber of traditional Italian furniture making. It is harder than the other species listed here, which means hand-tool work requires sharper edges and more effort, but the resulting surfaces are extremely stable and durable. Quarter-sawn oak (cut so the growth rings run roughly perpendicular to the face of the board) shows the ray figure that is characteristic of the species and is also the most stable cut dimensionally.
Abete (fir) and Pino (pine)
Silver fir and various pine species are the most widely stocked softwoods in Italian builder's merchants and DIY outlets. Fir is consistent and knot-free when selected carefully; it takes paint and stain reasonably well and is significantly easier to work with hand tools than any hardwood. Pine is resinous — the resin can clog saw teeth and plane irons — and knots are common. Both are appropriate for practice work and painted pieces where the grain will not be seen.
Reading a board before buying
The surface of a board in a timber merchant is usually rough-sawn and may be cupped, bowed, or twisted — these defects are corrected during the milling process (flattening, thicknessing, and squaring) before the wood is used. What cannot be easily corrected is a board with wide internal checks (cracks along the grain) or end checking severe enough to extend well into the usable length.
Knots are acceptable in softwood structural work and painted pieces, but in a visible hardwood surface they interrupt the grain and are prone to shrink and crack over time. For furniture and joinery work, boards with no knots in the intended working area are preferable.
Moisture content
Timber sold as "kiln-dried" in Italy typically has a moisture content of 8–12%, which is appropriate for interior use. Air-dried timber from smaller local mills may be wetter — asking the merchant for the moisture content and checking it with an inexpensive pin-type meter before buying is a practical habit. Wood that enters a heated interior at 18% moisture content will lose approximately a third of that over the following months, which means measurable movement across the width of wide boards.
Quantities and waste
Italian timber merchants typically sell hardwood by the cubic metre or by the board metre (metro tavola — one metre of board at a given width). Adding 15–20% to the calculated volume for any project accounts for defects, end trimming, and inevitable errors during cutting. For a first project, buying slightly more than calculated is less costly than discovering a critical piece is too short to recut.
Where to buy
Regional sawmills and specialist timber merchants (legname per falegnameria) typically offer better material and more informed service than general builder's merchants. The Italian forestry association Legambiente maintains information on sustainably sourced timber from Italian forests, which is a useful starting point for verifying the provenance of local species.
Related: Essential Hand Tools for Hobby Woodworking — Basic Joinery Techniques for Beginners