Hundred Horse Chestnut
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The Hundred Horse Chestnut (Italian: Castagno dei Cento Cavalli ; Sicilian: Castagnu dê 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 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.
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][5]
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 an umbrella |
| 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.[6] |
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.[6]
References
- ↑
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Chestnut tree of Mount Etna, detailed account of the tree, its state and its surroundings, written by Wm. Rushton on June 29, 1871.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Various illustrations of the tree throughout history at the Wayback Machine (archived May 9, 2006)
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with no article parameter
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing Italian-language text
- Lang and lang-xx using deprecated ISO 639 codes
- Articles containing Sicilian-language text
- Castanea
- Flora of Sicily
- Individual trees in Italy
- Italian folklore
- Visitor attractions in Sicily
