Chestnut tree of a hundred horses
The chestnut tree of the hundred horses ( Castagno dei cento Cavalli in Italian ) is a particularly old chestnut tree east of the Etna volcano near the town of Sant'Alfio in Sicily .
The sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ) is found in the Carpineto forest, part of the Parco dell'Etna protected area .
history
The first reliable mention of the chestnut tree of the hundred horses can be found in 1636 by Don Pietro Carrera. In his work Il Mongibello he writes of a "tree with an imposing trunk, big enough to house thirty horses inside".
On August 21, 1745, the Tribunale dell'Ordine del Real Patrimonio di Sicilia placed the tree and the neighboring "chestnut tree of the ship" under protection. Considering the time (mid-18th century), this represents one of the first nature conservation acts.
The naturalist Giuseppe Recupero described the tree in detail in his main work Storia naturale e generale dell'Etna and tried to find evidence of the unity of the tree, since it was assumed that the tree actually consisted of several individual trees. He also told of a hut inside the tree, which he found dilapidated on his last visit in 1766. In addition, the polymath Alberto Fortis also examined the chestnut tree. He also described the hut in Della coltura del castagno in 1780 as dilapidated.
The tree was drawn by many travelers on the Grand Tour , including Jean-Pierre Houël , who described and painted it in his major work Voyage pittoresque de la Sicile, de Malta e Lipari in 1787. The hut mentioned by Recupero can also be seen in his painting .
In 1923, the tree survived a fire that damaged the main trunk. Rumors speak of an act of revenge by some residents of Giarre after Sant'Alfio, previously a district of Giarre, gained independence.
The chestnut tree was formerly owned by local noble families who used it as a venue for banquets for their guests. In 1965 the tree was expropriated and declared a national monument. It was not until the end of the 20th century that local authorities initiated a series of investigations aimed at protecting and preserving the tree.
The chestnut tree today
The sweet chestnut is 22 meters high and has a circumference of 50.20 meters and a diameter of 22 meters. In fact, the tree is now divided into three sub-trunks of 13, 20 and 21 meters in circumference. There is a lively debate as to whether it is actually a single tree. The Guinness Book of Records has listed the chestnut as the thickest tree in the world for several years; The basis for this, however, is the mention of 1780, which indicates the circumference at that time as 57.9 meters.
A science program on the television station Rai Uno took DNA samples from the chestnut and had them examined. The results are intended to confirm that the tree is indeed a single plant and is in fact the largest tree in the world, ahead of the Árbol del Tule (a large cypress in Mexico ) with a girth of 38 meters. However, these results are controversial.
In the vicinity of the tree, about four hundred meters away, there is another, old chestnut tree, the “ship's chestnut tree”. Its circumference is 20 meters and its height 19 meters. Also on the eastern slope of Etna, but in the area of Zafferana Etnea , there is an old holm oak , the "Ilice di Carrinu", with a circumference of 4 meters and a height of 19 meters.
The legend
The legend tells of a queen who, along with a hundred riders and horses, was surprised by a thunderstorm during a hunt and found shelter under the branches with her numerous entourage. The thunderstorm lasted until evening, and so the queen passed the night under the leaves of the tree in the company of one or more of her lovers among the riders of her retinue.
It is unclear which queen might be meant, Joanna of Aragón is often mentioned , according to others it is said to be Joanna I of Anjou or Joanna II of Anjou , who was known for her amorous debauchery. Most likely, however, the legend arises from popular fantasy. At least the first two have probably never been to Sicily.
See also
literature
- Johann Gottfried Seume , K.-F. Shepherd (Illustrator): Walk to Syracuse in 1802 . Ed .: Albert Meier , Anette Syndikus, Marianne Sedlmeier. 5th edition. dtv -Taschenbuch 12378, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-12378-8 (1991 as dtv-Klassik 2149, ISBN 3-423-02149-7 , complete reprint after the 2nd, extended edition from 1805).
Web links
- Stefano Rosini: Monumental Trees. Associazione ARDEA, 2001, archived from the original on March 6, 2012 (Italian).
- Il Castagno dei Cento Cavalli. In: dipbot.unict.it. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017 (Italian).
- Il Castagno dei cento cavalli nei beni ambientali dell'Unesco. In: unesco.it. September 26, 2006, archived from the original on July 16, 2009 (Italian, application by the municipality of Sant'Alfio to include the tree as a Unesco World Heritage Site).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b La storia del Castagno dei cento cavalli. In: dipbot.unict.it . Archived from the original on March 29, 2007 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
- ^ Gesualdo Campo: Origini siciliane della tutela culturale e ambientale. In: SalvalarteSicilia.it. 2005, archived from the original on July 28, 2011 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
- ↑ Gli alberi le nostre radici. In: sant-alfio.ct.it . Archived from the original on July 8, 2001 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
- ↑ a b Alberi Monumentali in Sicilia. In: corpoforestale.it. Archived from the original on June 11, 2010 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
- ↑ Greatest tree girth ever. In: guinnessworldrecords.com. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 (English).
- ^ Il Castagno dei cento cavalli. In: guidasicilia.it. June 24, 2002, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
- ^ Il Castagno dei Cento Cavalli - L'Albero piu 'grande e vecchio d'Europa. In: prolocosantalfio.it. July 17, 2010, archived from the original on August 27, 2011 ; accessed on August 21, 2020 (Italian).
Coordinates: 37 ° 45 '0.7 " N , 15 ° 7' 49.4" E