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Hundred Horse Chestnut

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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The chestnut tree today
The tree in a gouache by Jean-Pierre Houël ca. 1777.

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

The Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses (Template:Lang-it; Template:Lang-scn) 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 miles) from the mountain'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).[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.[5]

The tree's name originated from a legend in which a queen of 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.[3][6]

Literary allusions

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

Sicilian English
Un pedi di castagna A chestnut tree
tantu grossu was so large
ca ccu li rami so' forma un paracqua   that its branches formed a shelter
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 Joanne
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.[7]

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

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.[7]

References

  1. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ "Chestnut Dinner in the Mountains of Italy". Barilla online. 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b Senna, Luciana (2005). Authentic Sicily. Touring Editore. p. 112. ISBN 8836534031..
  4. ^ Lewington, Anna (2002). Ancient Trees: Trees That Live for 1,000 Years. Sterling Publishing Co. p. 92. ISBN 1855859742. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Greatest Tree Girth Ever". Guinness World Records online (Internet Archive). 2004-10-01. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  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. ^ a b "Poesie sul Castagno dei Cento Cavalli". (Sicilian) Catania Natura. Dipartimento di Botanica, University of Catania. Retrieved 2006-12-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)