Tuesday 07 May 2024 – 10:05
Those of Tuscany are fairy-tale woods and forests, full of legends and suggestions 77 monumental trees they tell us the story of entire communities, their relationship with the environment and nature. Majestic, centenary trees, around which an extraordinary biodiversity has developed and which represent a tourist driving force for villages and rural communities. Among them there are for example the holm oak of San Francesco and the oak of Pinocchio, two examples of trees cloaked in charm and mystery.
Of the 77 monumental trees identified in Tuscany, one in 4 (17 to be precise, 22.1%) are found in small municipalities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants. Instead, 9 of them reside in protected areas. These are beeches, plane trees, maples, ash trees, elms, holm oaks, cypresses, pines and oaks such as that of Checche in the small municipality of Pienzain the province of Siena, the first tree in Italy to become a green monument in 2017, kicking off the process of protecting the monumental trees of our country thanks to the strong activism of the local community.
Montemurloin the province of Prato, is the municipality with the highest number of specimens registered: 21.
This was revealed by Coldiretti Toscana on the basis of the report Small Municipalities and Monumental Trees of Italy 2024 promoted by the Symbola Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Coldiretti, Fai Cisl, Ami Monumental Trees of Italy.
Trees bearing witness to history and culture
Each monumental tree, if it could speak, would have a thousand stories to tell. Some have reached us, fueling the tourist accommodation chain that has revived mountain villages and towns. This is the case of Holm oak of San Francesco that legend has it developed from a stick that the Patron Saint of Italy planted during one of his pilgrimages. It is one of the largest and oldest holm oaks in our country, located in the square of the Capuchin convent which overlooks the city of Montevarchi.
Equally fascinating is the narrative of the oak tree of Villa Carrara which stirs the imagination of Pinocchio enthusiasts. In fact, legend has it that the writer Carlo Collodi found the inspiration to describe the hanging of the puppet protagonist of the famous novel by observing it: for this reason it is also known as “Pinocchio oak”.
The cypress is a very widespread plant species in Tuscany which strongly characterizes the landscape and its international image. An example of this is i Triboli cypresses in San Quirico d’Orcia located at 261 meters above sea level close to the Ombrone valley, in an intimate and silent atmosphere: they are composed of 136 non-tall elements, accompanied by a set of approximately 60 other younger specimens. These cypresses represent a true symbol of our region and have been listed as monumental for their high landscape value.
Of great value is the imposing white fir almost 300 years old, 46 meters high, located in the small municipality of Abetone Cutigliano on the Pistoia Apennines. We need to move to the province of Lucca, a Shedsto meet the oak from Villa Carrara: it is an oak that stands out both for its estimated age of 600 years and for the shape of its long and tortuous branches. Precisely the particularity of the branches has given rise to numerous legends that link the oak of Villa Carrara to witches: popular stories in fact say that they gathered on the branches of the oak to give life to nocturnal parties, thus modifying the shape of the oak with their own weight.
The answer to the climate crisis is in trees
“The trees are there response to the climate crisis that our planet is experiencing. Their presence improves air quality by reducing the smog that grips many cities, mitigates temperatures and counteracts hydrogeological instability”, explains the regional president of Coldiretti, Letizia Cesani.
“The presence of so many magnificent trees, and so on 12 thousand hectares of woods and forests which make our region the second largest in terms of wooded area – he continues – was certainly not always accidental but is the fruit of a mature and conscious will of the generations that preceded us. Those who left us this heritage perfectly understood the importance, not only economic and practical, of trees.”
