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Coordinates: 37°45′00.7″N 15°7′49.4″E / 37.750194°N 15.130389°E / 37.750194; 15.130389
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{{Short description|Largest and oldest known chestnut tree}}
[[File:Castagno dei Cento Cavalli.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Sweet Chestnut]] tree today]]
[[File:Castagno dei cento cavalli - Jean-Pierre Houël.jpg|thumb|right|The tree in a [[gouache]] by [[Jean-Pierre Houël]], ca. 1777.]]
[[File:Castagno dei Cento Cavalli.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[sweet chestnut]] tree in 2005]]
[[File:PSM V03 D337 Great chestnut of mount aetna.jpg|thumb|right|Pencil sketch from ''Popular Science'' monthly, circa 1872]]
[[File:Castagno dei cento cavalli - Jean-Pierre Houël.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The tree in a [[gouache]] by [[Jean-Pierre Houël]], around 1777]]
[[File:PSM V03 D337 Great chestnut of mount aetna.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Pencil sketch from ''Popular Science'' monthly, ''circa'' 1872]]
{{coord|37|45|00.7|N|15|7|49.4|E|region:IT_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{coord|37|45|00.7|N|15|7|49.4|E|region:IT_type:landmark|display=title}}


The '''Hundred-Horse Chestnut''' ({{lang-it|Castagno dei Cento Cavalli}}; {{lang-scn|Castagnu Centu Cavaddi}}) is the largest and oldest known [[chestnut]] tree in the world.<ref>{{1911|wstitle=Chestnut|volume=6|pages=112–113}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
The '''Hundred-Horse Chestnut''' ({{langx|it|Castagno dei Cento Cavalli}}; {{langx|scn|Castagnu Centu Cavaddi}}) is the largest and oldest known [[chestnut]] tree in the world.<ref>{{1911|wstitle=Chestnut|volume=6|pages=112–113}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.barillaus.com/Chestnut_Dinner__Intro.aspx
|url=http://www.barillaus.com/Chestnut_Dinner__Intro.aspx
|title=Chestnut Dinner in the Mountains of Italy
|title=Chestnut Dinner in the Mountains of Italy
Line 15: Line 16:
}}</ref> Located on Linguaglossa road in [[Sant'Alfio]], on the eastern slope of [[Mount Etna]] in [[Sicily]]<ref name="senna">{{cite book
}}</ref> Located on Linguaglossa road in [[Sant'Alfio]], on the eastern slope of [[Mount Etna]] in [[Sicily]]<ref name="senna">{{cite book
|author = Senna, Luciana
|author = Senna, Luciana
|url = https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8836534031
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN8836534031
|title = Authentic Sicily
|title = Authentic Sicily
|publisher = Touring Editore
|publisher = Touring Editore
|year = 2005
|year = 2005
|isbn=88-365-3403-1
|isbn=88-365-3403-1
|page = 112}}.</ref> — only {{convert|8|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old (4,000 according to the botanist Bruno Peyronel from [[Turin]]).<ref>{{cite book
|page = 112}}.</ref> — only {{convert|8|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old (4,000 according to botanist Bruno Peyronel from [[Turin]]).<ref>{{cite book
|author = Lewington, Anna
|author = Lewington, Anna
|author2=Edward Parker
|author2=Edward Parker
|url = https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1855859742
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN1855859742
|title = Ancient Trees: Trees That Live for 1,000 Years
|title = Ancient Trees: Trees That Live for 1,000 Years
|publisher = Sterling Publishing Co.
|publisher = Sterling Publishing Co.
|year = 2002
|year = 2002
|isbn = 1-85585-974-2
|isbn = 1-85585-974-2
|page = 92}}</ref> It is a [[Sweet Chestnut]] (''Castanea sativa'', family [[Fagaceae]]). ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' has listed it for the record of "Greatest Tree Girth Ever", noting that it had a circumference of 57.9&nbsp;m (190&nbsp;ft) when it was measured in 1780. Above-ground the tree has since split into multiple large trunks, but below-ground these trunks still share the same roots.
|page = 92}}</ref> It is a [[sweet chestnut]] (''Castanea sativa'', family [[Fagaceae]]). ''[[Guinness World Records]]'' has listed it for the record of "Greatest Tree Girth Ever", noting that it had a circumference of 57.9&nbsp;m (190&nbsp;ft) when it was measured in 1780. Above ground, the tree has since split into multiple large trunks, but below ground, these trunks still share the same roots. An early 1895 image with a man next to the tree for perspective, shows it was closer to 10 m in diameter at breast height, rather than the claimed 18.5 m in diameter at breast height. <ref>{{Cite web |date= |title= Sweet Chestnut 'Castagno dei 100 cavalli' at Castagno dei Cento Cavalli, Sant'Alfio, Sicily, Italy|url=https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/ita/sicily/santalfio/2310_castagnodeicentocavalli/3519/}}</ref>


The tree's name originated from a legend in which a queen of [[kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] and her company of one hundred knights, during a trip to Mount Etna, were caught in a severe [[thunderstorm]]. The entire company is said to have taken shelter under the tree.<ref name="senna"/><ref name = rushton>[http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech001201260012&isize=text The Chestnut tree of Mount Etna], detailed account of the tree, its state and its surroundings, written by Wm. Rushton on June 29, 1871.</ref>
Despite its name, the tree is not a [[horse chestnut]]. Rather, the tree's name originated from a legend in which a queen of [[kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] and her company of 100 knights, during a trip to Mount Etna, were caught in a severe [[thunderstorm]]. The entire company is said to have taken shelter under the tree.<ref name="senna"/><ref name = rushton>[http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech001201260012&isize=text The Chestnut tree of Mount Etna], detailed account of the tree, its state and its surroundings, written by Wm. Rushton on June 29, 1871.</ref>

== History ==
The tree is located in the wood of Carpineto, on the eastern slope of the Etna volcano, near zone D of the Etna park.

Authors of botany agree the chestnut tree is thousands of years old but do not agree on its exact age.{{clarify|date=August 2022}} It is likely between two and four thousand years old. The thesis of the Turin botanist Bruno Peyronel suggests it could be 3-4 thousand years old, making it the oldest tree in Europe and the largest in Italy (1982).<ref name="autogenerato1">{{cite web |url=http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/castagnostoria.htm |title=Copia archiviata |access-date=5 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402025625/http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/castagnostoria.htm |archive-date=2 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="Enciclopedia italiana e dizionario della conversazione: opera originale">{{cite book |title=Enciclopedia italiana e dizionario della conversazione: opera originale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dWZBAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1009|publisher=Tasso|pages=1009–|year=1842|access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref>

The first historical information on the Chestnut of the Hundred Horses is documented as early as the sixteenth century. In 1611 Antonio Filoteo<ref name="Ferro1830">{{cite book |title=Biografia degli Uomini Illustri Trapanesi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KECgazsNvRgC&pg=RA1-PA178|author=Giuseppe M di Ferro e Ferro|pages=1–|year=1830|access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref> spoke of it, while in 1636, in "Il Mongibello", Pietro Carrera majestically described the trunk and the tree "... capable of accommodating thirty horses inside".<ref name="Carrera1636">{{cite book |title=Il Mongibello descritto da Pietro Carrera in tre libri: nel quale oltra diuerse notitie si spiega l'historia degl'incendi, e le cagioni di quelli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GrI-QgAACAAJ|author=Pietro Carrera|publisher=Per Gio. Rossi|year=1636|access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref>

On 21 August 1745, a first act was issued by the "Court of the Order of the Royal Heritage of Sicily",<ref name="Gambacorta1846">{{cite book |title=Storia del regno di Sicilia dell'epoca oscura e favolosa sino al 1774: seguita da un'appendice sino alla fine del secolo XVIII|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kuc_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA688|author=Giovanni E. di Blasi e Gambacorta|pages=688–|year=1846|access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref> with which the Chestnut of the Hundred Horses and the nearby Chestnut Nave were institutionally protected. This law is one of the earliest acts of environmental protection in Sicily, if not the very first.<ref name="urlwww.salvalartesicilia.it">{{Cite web |url=http://www.salvalartesicilia.it/focus/?argomento=monumenti&page=doc008.htm |title=www.salvalartesicilia.it |access-date=23 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728150122/http://www.salvalartesicilia.it/focus/?argomento=monumenti&page=doc008.htm |archive-date=28 July 2011}}</ref>


==Literary allusions==
==Literary allusions==
The tree and its legend have become the subject of various songs and poems, including the following [[Sicilian language|Sicilian-language]] description by the [[Province of Catania|Catanese]] [[poet]] [[Giuseppe Borrello]] (1820–1894):
The tree and its legend have become the subject of various songs and poems, including the following [[Sicilian language|Sicilian-language]] description by [[Province of Catania|Catanese]] [[poet]] [[Giuseppe Borrello]] (1820–1894):


{{Verse translation
{|
|Un pedi di castagna
!Sicilian
tantu grossu
!English
ca ccu li rami so' forma un paracqua
|-
sutta di cui si riparò di l'acqua,
|Un pedi di castagna
di fùrmini, e saitti
|A chestnut tree
la riggina Giuvanna
|-
ccu centu cavaleri,
|tantu grossu
quannu ppi visitari Mungibeddu
|was so large
vinni surprisa di lu timpurali.
|-
D'allura si chiamò
|ca ccu li rami so' forma un paracqua &nbsp;
st'àrvulu situatu 'ntra 'na valli
|that its branches formed an umbrella
lu gran castagnu d'i centu cavalli.<ref name="unict">{{cite web
|-
|sutta di cui si riparò di l'acqua,
|under which refuge was sought from the rain
|-
|di fùrmini, e saitti
|from thunder bolts and flashes of lightning
|-
|la riggina Giuvanna
|by Queen Giuvanna
|-
|ccu centu cavaleri,
|with a hundred knights,
|-
|quannu ppi visitari Mungibeddu
|when on her way to Mt Etna
|-
|vinni surprisa di lu timpurali.
|was taken by surprise by a fierce storm.
|-
|D'allura si chiamò
|From then on so was it named
|-
|st'àrvulu situatu 'ntra 'na valli
|this tree nestled in a valley and its courses
|-
|lu gran castagnu d'i centu cavalli.
|the great chestnut tree of one hundred horses.<ref name="unict">{{cite web
|url = http://www.dipbot.unict.it/ctnatura/flora/LIR_100.html
|url = http://www.dipbot.unict.it/ctnatura/flora/LIR_100.html
|title = Poesie sul Castagno dei Cento Cavalli
|title = Poesie sul Castagno dei Cento Cavalli
|work = (Sicilian) Catania Natura. Dipartimento di Botanica, University of Catania
|work = (Sicilian) Catania Natura. Dipartimento di Botanica, University of Catania
|accessdate = 2006-12-22}}</ref>
|accessdate = 2006-12-22
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070918182836/http://www.dipbot.unict.it/ctnatura/flora/LIR_100.html
|}
|archive-date = 2007-09-18
|url-status = dead
}}</ref>
|A chestnut tree
was so large
that its branches formed an umbrella
under which refuge was sought from the rain
from thunder bolts and flashes of lightning
by Queen Giuvanna
with a hundred knights,
when on her way to Mt Etna
was taken by surprise by a fierce storm.
From then on so was it named
this tree nestled in a valley and its courses
the great chestnut tree of one hundred horses.}}


Another poet from [[Catania]] in Sicily, Giuseppe Villaroel (1889–1965), described the tree in the following [[sonnet]] (written in [[Italian language|Italian]]):
Another poet from [[Catania]] in Sicily, Giuseppe Villaroel (1889–1965), described the tree in the following [[sonnet]] (written in [[Italian language|Italian]]):


{{Verse translation
{|
!Italian
!
!English
|-
|Dal tronco, enorme torre millenaria,
|Dal tronco, enorme torre millenaria,
i verdi rami in folli ondeggiamenti,
|
sotto l'amplesso quèrulo dei venti,
svettano ne l'ampiezza alta de l'aria.
Urge la linfa, ne la statuaria
perplessità de le radici ergenti,
sotto i lacoontei contorcimenti,
dal suolo che s'intesse d'orticaria.
E l'albero - Briareo lignificato -
ne lo spasimo atroce che lo stringe
con catene invisibili alla terra,
tende le braccia multiple di sfinge
scagliando contro il cielo e contro il fato
una muta minaccia ebbra di guerra.<ref name="unict"/>
|From the trunk, huge millenary tower,
|From the trunk, huge millenary tower,
the green branches in mad waves,
|-
under the chattery embrace of the winds,
|i verdi rami in folli ondeggiamenti,
lance into the air's tall expanse.
|
The sap rises in the statuesque
|the green branches in mad waves,
astonishment of erect roots,
|-
under Laocoön-like contortions,
|sotto l'amplesso quèrulo dei venti,
from a nettle-woven soil.
|
And the tree – wooden Briareus –
|under the chattery embrace of the winds,
in the throes of the invisible
|-
fetters that bind it to the earth,
|svettano ne l'ampiezza alta de l'aria.
strains its many limbs as a Sphinx
|
hurling against the sky and against fate
|lance into the air's tall expanse.
a voiceless threat sodden with war.}}
|-
|
|-
|Urge la linfa, ne la statuaria
|
|The sap rises in the statuesque
|-
|perplessità de le radici ergenti,
|
|astonishment of erect roots,
|-
|sotto i lacoontei contorcimenti,
|
|under [[Laocoön]]-like contortions,
|-
|dal suolo che s'intesse d'orticaria.
|
|from a nettle-woven soil.
|-
|
|-
|E l'albero - Briareo lignificato -
|
|And the tree – wooden [[Briareus]] –
|-
|ne lo spasimo atroce che lo stringe
|
|in the throes of the invisible
|-
|con catene invisibili alla terra,
|
|fetters that bind it to the earth,
|-
|
|-
|tende le braccia multiple di sfinge
|
|strains its many limbs as a [[Sphinx]]
|-
|scagliando contro il cielo e contro il fato
|
|hurling against the sky and against fate
|-
|una muta minaccia ebbra di guerra.
|
|a voiceless threat sodden with war.
|-
|-
|}
<ref name="unict"/>


The novel ''[[The Overstory]]'' by American writer [[Richard Powers]] includes the following in the chapter titled "Nicholas Hoel": "Seven hundred years before, a chestnut in Sicily two hundred feet around sheltered a Spanish queen and her hundred mounted knights from a raging storm."
The 2018 novel ''[[The Overstory]]'' by American writer [[Richard Powers]] includes the line that: "Seven hundred years before, a chestnut in Sicily two hundred feet around sheltered a Spanish queen and her hundred mounted knights from a raging storm."

==See also==
* [[Sweet chestnut of Gölcük Highland]]
* [[List of individual trees]]
* [[List of oldest trees]]


==References==
==References==
Line 160: Line 123:
==External links==
==External links==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/stampe.htm |title=Various illustrations of the tree throughout history |accessdate=December 22, 2006 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509023642/http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/stampe.htm |archivedate=May 9, 2006 }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/stampe.htm |title=Various illustrations of the tree throughout history |accessdate=December 22, 2006 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509023642/http://www.comune.sant-alfio.ct.it/stampe.htm |archivedate=May 9, 2006 }}

{{Sicily}}
{{Sicily}}


[[Category:Castanea]]
[[Category:Castanea|+]]
[[Category:Flora of Sicily]]
[[Category:Flora of Sicily]]
[[Category:Individual trees in Italy]]
[[Category:Individual trees in Italy]]

Latest revision as of 20:35, 3 November 2024

The sweet chestnut tree in 2005
The tree in a gouache by Jean-Pierre Houël, around 1777
Pencil sketch from Popular Science monthly, circa 1872

37°45′00.7″N 15°7′49.4″E / 37.750194°N 15.130389°E / 37.750194; 15.130389

The Hundred-Horse Chestnut (Italian: Castagno dei Cento Cavalli; Sicilian: Castagnu dî Centu Cavaddi) is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world.[1][2] Located on Linguaglossa road in Sant'Alfio, on the eastern slope of Mount Etna in Sicily[3] — only 8 km (5.0 mi) from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old (4,000 according to botanist Bruno Peyronel from Turin).[4] It is a sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa, family Fagaceae). Guinness World Records has listed it for the record of "Greatest Tree Girth Ever", noting that it had a circumference of 57.9 m (190 ft) when it was measured in 1780. Above ground, the tree has since split into multiple large trunks, but below ground, these trunks still share the same roots. An early 1895 image with a man next to the tree for perspective, shows it was closer to 10 m in diameter at breast height, rather than the claimed 18.5 m in diameter at breast height. [5]

Despite its name, the tree is not a horse chestnut. Rather, the tree's name originated from a legend in which a queen of Aragon and her company of 100 knights, during a trip to Mount Etna, were caught in a severe thunderstorm. The entire company is said to have taken shelter under the tree.[3][6]

History

[edit]

The tree is located in the wood of Carpineto, on the eastern slope of the Etna volcano, near zone D of the Etna park.

Authors of botany agree the chestnut tree is thousands of years old but do not agree on its exact age.[clarification needed] It is likely between two and four thousand years old. The thesis of the Turin botanist Bruno Peyronel suggests it could be 3-4 thousand years old, making it the oldest tree in Europe and the largest in Italy (1982).[7][8]

The first historical information on the Chestnut of the Hundred Horses is documented as early as the sixteenth century. In 1611 Antonio Filoteo[9] spoke of it, while in 1636, in "Il Mongibello", Pietro Carrera majestically described the trunk and the tree "... capable of accommodating thirty horses inside".[10]

On 21 August 1745, a first act was issued by the "Court of the Order of the Royal Heritage of Sicily",[11] with which the Chestnut of the Hundred Horses and the nearby Chestnut Nave were institutionally protected. This law is one of the earliest acts of environmental protection in Sicily, if not the very first.[12]

Literary allusions

[edit]

The tree and its legend have become the subject of various songs and poems, including the following Sicilian-language description by Catanese poet Giuseppe Borrello (1820–1894):

Another poet from Catania in Sicily, Giuseppe Villaroel (1889–1965), described the tree in the following sonnet (written in Italian):

The 2018 novel The Overstory by American writer Richard Powers includes the line that: "Seven hundred years before, a chestnut in Sicily two hundred feet around sheltered a Spanish queen and her hundred mounted knights from a raging storm."

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chestnut". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 112–113.
  2. ^ "Chestnut Dinner in the Mountains of Italy". Barilla online. 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  3. ^ a b Senna, Luciana (2005). Authentic Sicily. Touring Editore. p. 112. ISBN 88-365-3403-1..
  4. ^ Lewington, Anna; Edward Parker (2002). Ancient Trees: Trees That Live for 1,000 Years. Sterling Publishing Co. p. 92. ISBN 1-85585-974-2.
  5. ^ "Sweet Chestnut 'Castagno dei 100 cavalli' at Castagno dei Cento Cavalli, Sant'Alfio, Sicily, Italy".
  6. ^ The Chestnut tree of Mount Etna, detailed account of the tree, its state and its surroundings, written by Wm. Rushton on June 29, 1871.
  7. ^ "Copia archiviata". Archived from the original on 2 April 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  8. ^ Enciclopedia italiana e dizionario della conversazione: opera originale. Tasso. 1842. pp. 1009–. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  9. ^ Giuseppe M di Ferro e Ferro (1830). Biografia degli Uomini Illustri Trapanesi. pp. 1–. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  10. ^ Pietro Carrera (1636). Il Mongibello descritto da Pietro Carrera in tre libri: nel quale oltra diuerse notitie si spiega l'historia degl'incendi, e le cagioni di quelli. Per Gio. Rossi. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  11. ^ Giovanni E. di Blasi e Gambacorta (1846). Storia del regno di Sicilia dell'epoca oscura e favolosa sino al 1774: seguita da un'appendice sino alla fine del secolo XVIII. pp. 688–. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  12. ^ "www.salvalartesicilia.it". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  13. ^ a b "Poesie sul Castagno dei Cento Cavalli". (Sicilian) Catania Natura. Dipartimento di Botanica, University of Catania. Archived from the original on 2007-09-18. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
[edit]