The gardens at Ninfa are said to be the most romantic in the world.
Certainly many vistas could be the backdrop for Belcanto operas.
One of the most interesting aspects of this huge park, the site of a medieval city abandoned in the 15th century, was the so-called gene bank to preserve the genes of otherwise extinct trees, in this case Oak trees.
Oak is a suitable subject for a wine blog even if the species represented here will probably never be used for making barrels. Not many of us will be around in any case even if they are.
For us even more relevant to this blog are the efforts to save ancient varieties of oak from extinction. Just as moving as when we record the efforts of winegrowers to save grape varieties for posterity.
So here are the 9 species currently planted in the gene bank.
Children of extinct trees
The garden of Ninfa hosts a gene bank to preserve the genes of the plants of the future.
Starting from 2024, the Garden of Ninfa – a natural monument where poetry embraces architecture - hosts the children of the great trees that are no longer with us
Welcome to the Children of Extinct Trees
The Garden of Ninfa hosts a gene bank to preserve the genes of the plants of the future Starting from 2024, the Garden of Ninfa - a natural monument where poetry embraces architecture - hosts the children of the great trees that are no longer with us, but which were the most resistant and suitable plants to combat climate change. This is why we wanted to save their offspring and part of their DNA as natural heirs from extinction by creating a gene bank that will be fundamental in mitigating the environmental stresses taking place in our era. Thanks to the collaboration between the Roffredo Caetani Foundation (to whose family we owe the optimisation of this unique place seven centuries ago) and the association "Patriarchi della Natura in Italia" (Patriarchs of Nature in Italy) these small trees of great genetic value will grow and help us to better face our future.
Farnia di Meduna di
Livenza
Meduna di Livenza English oak
(Quercus robur
L.)
Comune / Location: Meduna di Livenza
(TV)
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk circumference: 5,8 mt
Età
stimata / Estimated age: circa 300 anni / about 300 years
Splendido
esemplare monumentale che troneggia nel giardino
della
cinquecentesca Villa Weil, nel comune di Meduna
di Livenza. Si
tratta probabilmente di una delle farnie più bélle
e grandi
del Veneto, ma purtroppo è ormai giunta alla fine
dei
suoi/giorni.
A splendid
mohumental specimen towering in the garden
of the 16th-century
Villa Weil, in the city of Meduna di Livenza.
It is probably one
of the most beautiful and largest English oaks
in the Veneto
region, but unfortunately it has now reached the end
of its
days.
Leccio di S.
Francesco
Holm Oak of St. Francis
(Quercus ilex L.)
Comune
/ Locarion: Sermoneta (LT)
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk
circumference: 5,1 mt
Età stimata / Estimated age: circa 528
anni / approx. 528 years
The plant is linked to St Francis
and is said to have been planted
in 1495 at the behest of Pope
Alexander VI, on the occasion
of the donation of the convent ef
Sermoneta to the Minor Friars.
Unfortunately, the patriarch has
lost a large branch and
is unbalanced, to the point that they
had to build a scaffold to support
him. But it does not look
like he will be able so resist for long.
Rovere di
Caronia
Caronia durmast oak
(Quercus petraea subp.
austrotyrrhenica)
Comune / Location: Caronia (ME)
Età
stimata / Estimated age: 400 anni / years
Circonferenza del
tronco / Trunk circumference: oltre 5 mt / over 5 mt
Caduta
probabilmente nel 2021 / Probably fell in 2021
The mother
plant grew in the extensive forests of the Nebrodi
Natural Park,
where there are several monumental oaks that have
survived human
action. During an excursion organised
in the summer of 2021, the
large durmast oak was found
on the ground with its trunk broken;
next to it were some small
seedlings that were recovered like
this specimen.
Cerro di
Amatrice
Amatrice Turkey oak
(Quercus cerris L.)
Comune
/ Loçation: Amatrice (RI)
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk
circumference: oltre 7 mt / over 7 mt
Età stimata / Estimated
age: circa 600 anni / about 600 years
Caduta nel 2021 / Fell in
2021
It was the largest and oldest Turkey oak in Italy
that had withstood
even the great earthquake of 2016, but died a
few years ago.
In all likelihood, this small seedling daughter
of the old Turkey oak
is the only surviving offspring that will
be able to preserve the genetic
makeup of the mother plant. If
we had not reproduced
its DNA would have become extinct forever.
Quercia delle
Streghe
Witches' Oak
(Quercus puberscens Willd.)
Comune
/ Location: Loreto Aprutino (PE)
Circonferenza del tronco /
Trunk cireumference: 6,5 mt
Età stimata / Estimated age: circa
420 annă / approx. 420 years
Caduta nel 2023 7 Fell in 2023
Una
delle più belle e grandi querce d'Abruzzo cresceva in località
Passo
Cordone (Pescara). A causa di lavori agricoli probabilmente
sono
state tagliate alcune grosse radici. Una conseguente potatura
ha
farto si che questo monumento della natura sia crollato
esanime
afterra nel 2023. L'associazione Patriarchi della Natura
aveva
recuperato alcune plantine nel 2022; eà oogi possiamo
conservare
M getmoplasma di questa mapriarca.
One of the
most beautiful and largest oaks in Abruzzo which used
to grow ar
Passo Cordone (Pescara). Due to agricultural work, some large
roots
were probably cut off. Subsequent pruning caused this monument
of
nature to collapse lifelessly to the ground in 2023. The
Patriarchs
of Nature association had recovered some seedlings in
2022, so today
we can preserve the germplasm of this matriarch.
.JPG)
Farnia di
Forlimpopoli
English Oak of Forlimpopoli
(Quercus
robur L.)
Comune / Location: Forlimpopoli (FC)
*
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk circumference: quasi 4 mt / almost 4
mt
Età stimata / Estimated age: circa 200 anni / about 200
years
This oak, unfortunately, has now reached the end of
its days: in fact
it has begun to dry out part of its branches.
Since it grows inside
the urban park of the hometown of the
famous gastronome Artusi,
for safety reasons it has been
surrounded by a fence that prevents
it from being approached.
This is why it is important to preserve
its genetic makeup
before it disappears forever.
Cerro di
Brienza
Brienza Turkey oak
(Quercus cerris L.)
Comune
/ Location: Brienza (PZ)
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk
circumference: 7,8 mt
Età stimata / Estimated age: quasi 500
anni / almost 500 years
Caduta nel 2020 / Fell in 2020
The
mother tree grew in the municipality of Brienza, in the Cerasa
valley
and was one of the largest Turkey oaks in Italy Although
its
trunk was hollow it resisted until the summer of 2020 when
it
collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, the Petriarchi of
Nature
association had visited this monumental tree and bad
taken
a seedling, thus saving the matriarch’s genetic makeup.
Rovere di
Mozzo
Mozzo durmast oak
(Quercus petraea Matt.)
Comune
/ Location: Mozzo (BG)
Circonferenza del tronco / Trunk
circumference: oltre 5 mt / over 5 mt
Età stimata / Estimated
age: circa 220 anni / approx. 220 years
The plant - a
gigantic monumental oak - grew near an ancient villa
on a hill
near the town of Mozzo. Today it no longer exists because
it was
burnt down a few years ago. Unfortunately, man's ignorance
knows
no bounds, but luck would have it that at its feet were born
some
of its offspring, such as this one that is standing here.
Rovere
Tiglieto
Tiglieto durmast oak
(Quercus petraea
Matt.)
Comune / Location: Tiglieto (GE)
Circonferenza
del tronco / Trunk circumference: 4,7 mt
Età stimata /
Estimated age: circa 300 anni / approx. 300 years
This
monumental oak has a curious history: it is said, in fact, to
have
been planted by Napoleon's troops during the Italian
campaign
in 1800. This is due to the discovery of a horseshoe in
its trunk,
baring the imperial symbol 'N'. The horseshoe had
probably been
substituted to a horse in the troops' force.
