HISTORY AND LANDSCAPE OF TRENTINO: THE CASE OF CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS L.

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2 HISTORY AND LANDSCAPE OF TRENTINO: THE CASE OF CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS L. Daniela Turri 1-2 and Nicola La Porta 2 1 Politecnico di Milano, Facoltà di Architettura, Polo Regionale di Lecco, Italy. 2 Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Istituto Agrario S. Michele all'adige (Trento), Italy INTRODUCTION In the last century Trentino was frequently object of landscape studies. This work aims at analysing in particular one of the Trentino landscape elements: the common cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.). It is interesting to show how this Mediterranean tree was perceived by tourists and the local population from the past until today; it s also important to understand the history of cypress diffusion and the images, views and foreshortening of the cypress uses in this land. In this way it is possible to translate the presence of cypress in its landscape value. This study is a part of the ECOCYPRE project, started in 2002 and supported by the Autonomous Province of Trento (La Porta et al., 2003). The purpose of this project has two main branches: one is to join tree resistance studies against cypress canker and cold stress; the other is about the economical evaluation of cypress in the landscape together with a census of the individuals of Cupressus sempervires growing in the Trentino territory. 131

3 HISTORICAL PRESENCES OF COMMON CYPRESS Data have been collected about the use of cypress in relation to the images that it has left in popular culture. Cypress presence in art works such as: pictures, lithographs, frescos, prints and metal engravings, ancient postcards, philatelic images and works made from old (since XIX century) and modern photographers have been collected together with notes and chronicles about cypress in the literature. Even though tracing back when cypress fist arrived in Trentino is not a simple task, we tried to figure out when this tree appeared for the first time in popular culture of this land. One important evidence about nursery plants of cypress in Trentino and about its diffusion was found on the Farmers Almanac of 1895 (Almanacco agrario; AA.VV., 1895), edited by the Agricultural Council of Tyrol. Its catalogue reported that the forest nursery of Povo, a hilly town near Trento, stocked young cypresses seedlings. This finding means that already in 1895 cypress had a good market as a forest and ornamental plant in the region. Besides, Povo is far away from Garda Lake, where the Mediterranean climate allows for excellent growth of cypress and where there were probably some other tree nurseries. We can hypothesise that the Povo nursery was perhaps used as source of cypresses for the other more favourable macrothermic sites in Tyrol. LITERATURE PRESENCES Despite a notable literature search, not many references about cypress have been found; this is because cypress is never the subject of texts or opera so no direct references are available. Two interesting quotations were found in the travel report of two English tourists who visited Trentino in the XIX century. They wrote: We are moving along that road, we 132

4 cross the town: just on the right side of Adige, there we can see the dark fortress called Veruca. Arises a sadly cypresses line and on the other side is visible the lonely church of Cappuccini. In this austere and melancholy place, under the shadow of those mournful trees, for a while we recall those famous people that came in this city. (Stieler, 1885 in Saletti, 2000) and very detailed is the description of the cultivated trees nearby Neumarkt-Egna the high cypresses ascending as pyramids, still visible on the road alongside Adige, nearby S. Michele leave the place to chestnuts, and figs trees with majestic crown. (Coxe, 1815 in Saletti, 2000). In these quotations, in spite of the fact that cypress was not the dominant component of the landscape, it was described as an important and unforgettable element. During the restructure works of the front a Cappuccini church were found some written lines: Saint Francesco in the desert, lagoon hermitage, covered by a simple cypress row (Pranzelores, 1981). In modern literature reference were found related to landscape and to vegetation descriptions. One example about landscape description was written by Aldo Gorfer, a famous historical journalist in Trentino: The houses with yellow roofs made a fan around the hill of the St. Andrea church. The church dominates the lake. On the church parvis there are ancient olive trees tormented by wind and age, the cypress rows, nineteenth-century cobbled paving (Gorfer, 1981). The example about vegetation description was written by Saletti: The southward vegetation of the valley feels the effect of Mediterranean influence, olive, oak, grapevine, cypress trees create interesting microclimatic islands, especially in the basins of Toblino-Santa Massenza, Vezzano and Avio. ( ) Maps which represent the villas with their gardens and the surrounding landscape, where choirs of cypresses on the hills are perceptible as musical notes of a landscape that just in that centuries assumed the admirable physiognomy that is appreciated still nowadays. (Saletti, 2000). 133

5 THE ARCHIVES OF TOPONYMIC DICTIONARY OF TRENTINO RESEARCH Consulting the archives of the Toponymic Dictionary of the Province of Trento produced interesting results. None of the 223 municipalities in Trentino have names derived from Cupressus sempervirens (don t exist dialect name),. However 17 citations of localities in which the cypress name appear were found. In particular there is one citation of the city of Rovereto (locality Lizzana) and one citation of Mori village (locality Tierno) where the cypress name appears in the place-name category. There were three citations about Dro village, two about Vervò and Avio, one about Drena and Arco and, interestingly, six citations about Riva del Garda town. In all these cases the cypress name is present five times in the description of locality category, and five in the geographical indicator category. It is significant that all these towns, except Vervò that is in Non Valley, are in the Southern part of Trentino to confirm that it is not correct to consider the Trentino landscape as a continuum South to North. Finally, we think that just the presence of the name cypress in the Archives of Toponymic Dictionary of Trentino it is a rather interesting result. ICONOGRAPHY RESEARCH Previous studies about cypress and landscape in the artistic iconography noted that the imaging of this tree testifies the evolution of its land diffusion, along with the use in different cultures and the various awardable meanings (Faini and Della Rocca, 2004). Since the 14 th century, cypress was frequently painted especially in Tuscany and Umbria (Serra et al., 2004). In our iconography search about Trentino we collected and catalogued 116 images: 48 photographs between 1850 and today; 42 postcards, in particular between ; 10 stamps; 5 pictures and frescos; 5 philatelic images, such as a stamp from Riva del Garda that showed some cypress trees (Bridi, 2002); 5 engraving; one lithography. This iconographic approach permitted to investigate a 134

6 longer time span that a literature research. Table 1 shows the territorial distribution of the iconography data compared to recent census data of the Ecocypre project (La Porta et al., 2004). Eighty percent of the images showed views of South Trentino. The townships of Arco and Torbole in particular contributed with more than half the data. Table 2 shows the temporal distribution of the iconography data.. The main part of it covers the period between In the Italian landscape the oldest historically presence of cypress trees are records about parish churches and convents (Serra et al., 2004). In the Trentino landscape much more panoramic images show that the oldest historically presence of cypress are records about gardens, near palaces and near parish churches. For example, many views were found of lake Garda towards Riva del Garda and in these views cypresses are clearly visible in the square near the Garda Hotel and, in general, in the centre of the town. In several lake views cypress trees are in the forefront. Several images of Trento, the biggest city in Trentino, were found. In these images single cypresses are seen towering and sinuous. Perhaps one of the best images of this study was a lithography of Boyer von Berghof entitled City of Trento. Panoramic view of Pietrastretta of Gettfried Seelas from1859 (Chemelli, 1990). In this picture, showing Trento before the Adige river was artificially redirected by the Austrian authority, the main natural component is represented by the two big cypresses growing on the left shore of the Adige river. Another interesting site is the castle of Arco. Commonly the town of Arco and Arco Castle are particularly rich in images with cypresses starting from the beginning of Surprisingly, two other pictures were found that showed the Arco castle without a cypress. These pictures are a watercolour painting by Albrecht Dürer from 1495 (Turrini, 2004) and an etching created by Matthaus Merian in 1650 (Grazioli et al, 1992). An engraving with the same subject is conserved at the Art Museum of Trento, but the author and the dating are unknown (Pranzolers, 1981). 135

7 Among the four oldest images that were found in this iconography research, the oldest one is a fresco painted ca by a unknown artist in Trento Cathedral. It shows the knightly adventures of Giuliano l Ospitaliere that are reported in a medieval poem of Jacopo da Varazze (Lorenzi and Lorenzi, 1987); in the painting appear two cypresses. The second oldest image is from 1666, a copper-plate engraving by Ludovico Sardagna, existing in two version, that shows a Triumphal Arc paying homage to Margherita, Queen of Spain (Cappelletti, 1966). In this opera two sinuous and towering cypresses are growing near the monument. The third oldest image is an engraving by Giacomo Ruffano of Riva del Garda from 1675 (Grazioli et al, 1992). The fourth oldest image is a paint of Riva del Garda in 1703, at the time when the French troops of general Vendome besieged the city. In the last two images the cypresses are clearly visible near the lake and the hotel. That most of the collected photographs were made between was due to the fact that we have found the album of the famous photograph Silvio Pozzini who wrote an extensive work on the Garda Lake (Garzioli, 2003). His work is particularly interesting because he often used cypresses as a main subject for his photos. This becomes particularly clear in the views of Arco Castle and Fortress. Finally, the cypress landscape role in South Trentino results quite evident observing tourist playbills and postcards: in such images, proposed to tourists and the public by the towns, frequently elegant cypresses can be found both in photos or stylised in pictures. Today, as in the past, some artists represent cypresses in the Trentino landscape, for example in the work of two professional photographers, Gabriele Basilico and Angela Prati. The former often uses, as Pozzini, the cypress as a subject in his photos, the latter shows cypress not as close-up, but as one of a lot of elements of landscape. 136

8 CONCLUSIONS In this work we have shown evidence about the ancient presence of cypress in Trentino. As a matter of fact, this tree likely arrived with the Roman colonisation near Lake Garda, as well as along all other big lakes in North Italy. However, the larger diffusion started only since the XVIII-XIX centuries. There is also evidences about the importance of this element in the Trentino landscape. Certainly, there are many references for different times and uses, so that cypress had and has a good intrinsic value in the Trentino landscape. Nevertheless there are differences in the landscape if we consider the Northern and the Southern part of Trentino. Cypress is an important element of the landscape especially in the Mediterranean places along Lake Garda and the Sarca Valley, where it can also grow in the wood. While elsewhere, such as in the Southern Adige Valley and in the cities of Trento and Rovereto, although long present, it grows scattered as a lonely landscape tree. For these reasons we propose that it is important to defend the existing populations of this species from its major natural enemies : cypress cancer and cold damage, as proposed in the Ecocypre project. A further goal is to enlarge the potential growing area of this species under the light of the ongoing global change that will shift the cultivation of several Mediterranean species. In addition, the serious decline of Austrian pine (Pinus nigra), caused by diseases, will eliminate from the landscape the only thermofilic evergreen conifer growing on southern slopes in Trentino. For all the above-mentioned considerations it is an absolute requirement to build the widen and exploitation the cypress presence in Trentino in its historical roots. 137

9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank P. Agostini and all other librarians in Trento, Rovereto and other towns in Trentino that kindly helped us in found and collect materials for this study, L. Flöss for the search assistance of Toponymic names, G. Flaim and M. Rubinigg for the English revision of the manuscript. This work is a part of the project ECOCYPRE (Ecological assessment and sustainable management of cypress in the landscape of Trentino; deliberation no. 437.) financially supported by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento. REFERENCES AA.VV., ALMANACCO AGRARIO per l'anno Sezione di Trento del Consiglio Provinciale d'agricoltura pel Tirolo: Stab. Tip. G.B. Monauni, Ed. Trento. BASILICO G., 2003: Trentino. Viaggio fotografico di Gabriele Basilico. Nicolodi Editore, Trento. BRIDI P., 2002: Filatelia Trentina e dintorni. Ed. Società Filatelica Trentina - Regione Autonoma Trentino-Alto Adige, Trento. CAPPELLETTI F., 1966: Imago Tridenti. Incisioni e libri illustrati dal XV al XVIII secolo. Ed. Biblioteca Comunale di Trento, Trento. CHEMELLI A., 1990: Trento nelle stampe d'arte. Provincia Autonoma di Trento-Servizi Beni Culturali, Trento. FAINI A. & DELLA ROCCA G., 2004: Gestione selvicolturale dei boschi di cipresso in aree naturali e naturalizzate. In Contributo del cipresso alla valorizzazione economica ed ambientale del territorio. Ed. Centro Promozione Pubblicità, Firenze. ISBN GARZIOLI M., 2003: Silvio Pozzini. L'immagine del paesaggio dal Garda alle Dolomiti Ed. Il Sommolago Grafica 5 edizioni Museo Civico di Riva del Garda, Trento. GRAZIOLI M., et al 1992: Atlante del Garda. Uomini, vicende, paesi. Vol. I, II e III. Grafo edizioni. Brescia. LA PORTA N., BATTISTI A., AIMI A., Valutazione ecologica e gestione sostenibile del cipresso per finalità turistico-paesaggistiche. Dendronatura, 23, 2: LORENZI D. & LORENZI G., (fotografie di PRATI A.) 1987: Trentino - incanto d'arte e di natura. Luigi Reverdito Ed., Trento. 138

10 PRANZELORES, A. 1981: Storia Tradizioni Arte del Trentino. Saturnia Ed., Trento. SERRA R., TOGNOTTI M., DI LORETO G., 2004: L importanza del cipresso nell area mediterranea. In Contributo del cipresso alla valorizzazione economica ed ambientale del territorio. Ed. Centro Promozione Pubblicità, Firenze. ISBN SALETTI A., 2000: Tesi di laurea Il paesaggio culturale Trentino nei resoconti di viaggio in lingua inglese del XVIII e XIX secolo. Relatore Andreotti G. Facoltà di Lingue e letterature straniere, Università di Trento, A.A. 1999/2000. TURRINI R., 2004: Arco città dell aria. Da Kurort a centro sanatoriale. Il Sommolago. Arco Graphics. 139

11 Municipalities No of images No. of cypresses Arco 36 (31) 3150 (35) Torbole-Nago 27 (23) 1380 (15) Riva del Garda 12 (10) 2274 (25) Rovereto 5 ( 4) 1040 (12) Torbole-Nago 4 ( 3) 927 (10) Others 32 (28) 170 ( 2) Table 1. Presence of cypress in some Municipalities in Trentino. The italic numbers in brackets represent the relative percentage Referred period No. of images Municipalities Trento Trento, Riva Riva Nago, Arco Arco, Riva, Trento Vipiteno, Caldaro Arco, Torbole, Toblino Ala, Avio, Merano Trento, Riva del Garda, Rovereto, Gargnano Malcesine, Nago Riva, Trento, Ala, Avio unknown unknown 33 several places Total 116 Table 2. Distribution of collected iconography along the centuries. To cite this article: Turri D., La Porta N., History and Landscape of Trentino: the case of Cupressus sempervirens L. In: History and sustainability. Edited by The Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies of CNR and the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science of the University of Florence ESEH Ed. Stamperia M. Armano srl, Napoli. Copyright pp

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