What are the oldest trees in Italy? And where do they grow?

Which, in the case of the tree, appears in all the richness of meaning that the last age
of life brings with it: stable and peaceful strength, quiet wisdom, the capacity for
protection, and so on.
An old or very old tree is always a powerful image: it is as if we
sensed – somewhat obscurely, if you like – that this being stands on the boundary between
earthly life (an adjective never so apt for existence as in this case) and heavenly life.
And so it anticipates, prefigures our inevitable future condition: with
a serenity, however, that is absolutely enviable, a steadfast constancy that we would
so like to have ourselves, when we reach the threshold of this life.
If this is, perhaps, the main fascination of old or very old trees, it is understandable
why they have always been objects of care and even veneration (Hesse’s
sanctuaries, indeed) in just about all ancient civilisations and traditions.
Also, obviously, in our Italic area, as rich in original and
diverse cultures as the peoples who have inhabited it over the millennia have been – before
and after the Roman age.
But which are the oldest trees in Italy still living?
The curiosity is not idle: because, besides the fascination, indeed the thrill, of thinking
of the antiquity of a living being that has grown and breathed right where we see it today
for thousands of years, all these specimens stand in areas that are also rich in human
history, and millennia of it. As if the bond between nature and the remote civilisation that
feared and venerated it with such care had not been entirely extinguished by the passing
of the centuries.
The ‘oldest’ tree in Italy is in fact still considered to be the Olivastro di San
Baltolu. It stands in Luras, in Sardinia, in the heart of the truest, most primitive and
fascinating Gallura. It is estimated to be between 3,000 and over 4,000 years old. Its
circumference is 12 metres: and, naturally, it is still alive.
If in nuragic and ancestral Sardinia there is the olive tree, in Sicily, on the slopes of Etna,
in the area supremely dear to the philosopher Empedocles, we find the Castagno dei Cento
Cavalli (Chestnut of the Hundred Horses).
It stands in the municipal territory of Sant’Alfio (metropolitan city of Catania), whose
civic coat of arms it adorns.
It is certainly the most famous and largest chestnut in Italy, as well as the largest and oldest
in Europe and one of the oldest in the world. The object of study by botanists but also of
visits by many illustrious figures past and present, it is a UNESCO heritage site. Its age