ITALY FOR TREE HUGGERS

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2 ITALY FOR TREE HUGGERS Italy is the country of Art, Food and Wines, Fashion and Craft, but travelers could discover the great kaleidoscope of landscapes it embraces. From the big islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia, to the big cities as Rome, Florence, Milan, Turin, Naples, Genoa, Bologna, Palermo, from the woods along the Appennines Crest to the beautiful historical villas in the plane around the Po river, in the North. An Italy completely unknown is the country of Big Trees. All the country is covered by very big trees, some considered among the most ancient and big ones of Europe and of the World. So you can travel to Milan to see big American Red Oaks (Quercus rubra), to Rome to meet four hundred years old Oriental Planes (Platanus orientalis) in the park of Villa Borghese, to Palermo to visit the biggest exotic trees of the continent (Ficus macrophylla), imported from the Australia in the XIX Century. You could visit the biggest Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) of the globe, on the Vulcan Etna, in the little village of St. Alfio, with an age of 2500/3000 years old, some of the oldest olive trees (Olea europaea and Olea oleaster) in Europe, as for example in Sardinia (one monumental specimen around 4000 years old outside the town of Luras), Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia, very big araucarias in Liguria, at the wonderful Hanbury Botanical Gardens near the border with France, or in the public park of Genoa Nervi. The north of the country is populated by very big sequoias (Sequoia sempervirens and Sequoiadendron giganteum), planted since the year 1848, high till 50 meters and with huge trunks, that the travelers could meet in sanctuaries, private and public parks, botanical gardens and other places in Valle d Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Veneto, Lombardia, Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. You could visit the old cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) planted by Saint Francisco in the year 1213, preserved carefully by friars in the cloister of the convent in Verucchio, near the beautiful Republic of San Marino, in Emilia Romagna. Or the big Oak (Quercus pubescens) visited by Carlo Collodi inspiring him during the writing of The Adventures of Pinocchio, at Capannori (Lucca). You could visit very enormous larches (Larix decidua) on the Alps, especially the three giants at Ultimo (Trentino Alto Adige), with an age of 2300 year each. You could visit the Napoleone s Plane (Platanus x acerifolia) outside the city of Alessandria, one hour far from Turin, planted after the victory in the battle of Marenco (1800). You could visit the park of Villa Verdi, in the plain of the north, where the famous composer dedicated a lot of time to plant trees as bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). You could find very big oaks, chestnuts, beeches, pines, firs, limes, eucalyptus, cypress, elms, and also some fruit trees of 200 years old as pears and vineyards; a costellation of botanical gardens (Hortus academicus) with a so long history and extraordinary famous buildings with parks as Villa Taranto in Verbania (Lake Maggiore), Villa Olmo in Como (Lake Como), Villa Doria Pamphilj in Rome, Royal Palace of Caserta, Villa Malfitano Whitaker in Palermo and so on. Trips for Tree Seekers and Huggers, for people who want to know a completely different and unknown Great Italy.

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7 The Author Tiziano Fratus is born in Bergamo in He grew up talking with insects and fishes, publishing collections of poems during his 20es and touring the world. During the trips he met the Big Trees in Singapore and California and decided to dedicate his life to discover them and writing and photographing. He has published books dedicated to Monumental Trees in Italy and other countries, all part of a series titled Homo Radix (Rootman). He design paths for Tree Seekers and guides walks for Tree Huggers. Exhibitions of his photographic work has been shown in museum, galleries, bookstores and botanical gardens. He writes about Big Trees on the Italian newspaper «La Stampa». Official website: Contacts Tiziano Fratus, Casa del Leccio, Via Alighieri Trana (TO), ITALY fratus@homoradix.com Tel