Hidden giants of Bari: four trees proposed for Italy’s monumental list

In the southern Italian port city of Bari, famous for its Norman castle, seafront promenade and dense traffic, a team of botanists has quietly identified four living giants that may soon join Italy’s official register of monumental trees. Three specimens of the Kashmir cypress, Cupressus cashmeriana, and one black poplar, Populus nigra, were found during a wider survey of ornamental plants in Apulia, and their measurements, ages and conditions satisfy the criteria laid down by Italian law for awarding a tree the character of monumentality. The researchers, publishing in the Italian Botanist, now propose their inclusion in both the regional and national lists, a step that would grant these trees the same formal protection as historic buildings and archaeological sites.

Monumental trees occupy a curious position in modern conservation thinking. For centuries, trees were valued almost exclusively as timber and production assets, and many urban specimens were felled without regard to their history, size or intrinsic worth. Growing environmental awareness has shifted that perspective: trees are now recognized as sinks of ecosystem services rather than mere productive resources. In cities, they mitigate the urban heat island, reduce stormwater runoff, act as natural barriers against noise, filter air pollution, and provide recreational and gathering spaces that improve quality of life. Individual trees of exceptional aesthetic, ecological and historical value can enrich the urban landscape to the point of being catalogued as cultural heritage, which is precisely why both the scientific community and citizens’ associations have become increasingly invested in so-called monumental trees.

Italy has one of the most developed legal frameworks for such trees anywhere in the world. Law 10/2013, the national regulation for the development of urban green spaces, defines a monumental tree as an individual or grouped specimen distinguished by its remarkability, whether majesty, botanical rarity, or symbolic value connected to events or memories of historical, cultural or religious significance. Trees of landscape value, or those located within architectural contexts of significant historical or cultural reputation, may also fall into the category. The law was implemented by a Ministerial Decree of 23 October 2014, which establishes the list of monumental trees of Italy, defines the criteria for their census, and sets the parameters for attributing monumentality while guaranteeing protection of such specimens. The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies manages, updates and publishes the national registry, which currently counts 4,006 monumental trees, roughly 90 percent of them individual specimens and the remaining 10 percent groups.

Apulia, the region that contains Bari, adopted the national definition of monumental trees through Regional Government Resolution no. 683 of April 2, 2015, and later produced a first regional list of 63 specimens with Resolution no. 1103 of June 28, 2018. An update by the Apulian Regional Commission for Monumental Trees certified five additional lists, raising the regional total to 180, alongside six dead monumental trees that were also recorded. The province of Bari currently holds 44 monumental trees, second only to Foggia with 96. Within the city of Bari itself, five specimens had previously been registered: one holm oak, Quercus ilex, two Aleppo pines, Pinus halepensis, one Phytolacca dioica, and one Nolina parviflora. The four newly documented trees would represent a substantial addition to the city’s living heritage.

The survey work that led to the discovery was carried out in spring and autumn of 2023 and 2024, as part of an ongoing census of ornamental trees, shrubs and succulent plants across Apulia. The researchers applied the identification sheet for monumental trees outlined in Annex 3 of the 2014 Ministerial Decree, examining criteria such as age, size, particular shape or habit, ecological value, plant architecture, botanical rarity, historical, cultural and religious value, and landscape value. For each tree they recorded the number of stems, circumference at breast height, estimated and measured heights, presumed age, height of the first branch, and the shape and average crown diameter. They also evaluated vegetative and structural conditions, including vigor, defoliation, discoloration, microphyllia, dryness, cracks, root system status, and interference with structures or power lines, together with the phytosanitary status covering pest infections and fungal, viral or bacterial diseases.

The technical measurements relied on specialized instrumentation. Circumference at breast height, taken 1.30 meters from the ground, was collected using a metric wheel rotated around the trunk and read directly once the circle closed. Tree height and average crown diameter were determined with an Electronic Vertex IV BT hypsometer, a device that combines ultrasound and trigonometry with a reflector placed at the base of the tree. The instrument first calculates the horizontal distance between observer and tree by aiming at the reflector, then records the angle of inclination toward the treetop, and combines the two values through trigonometric formulas to compute total height automatically. Age estimation followed dendrochronological techniques: a thin wood core was extracted at breast height with a Pressler borer, dried and smoothed in the laboratory, analyzed under a stereomicroscope, and measured with TSAP-Win software specialized in tree growth ring analysis.

The results are striking. The single Kashmir cypress grows in a private garden inside the Santa Fara Veterinary Clinic on Via Generale Nicola Bellomo, on calcareous substrate at 24 meters above sea level. Its presumed age is 110 years, with a circumference at breast height of 215 centimeters, an estimated dendrometric height of 18 meters, a height of the first branch of 2.5 meters, an average crown diameter of 11.22 meters and a crown projection of 98.91 square meters. Dendrochronological analysis of its core revealed radial growth peaks in 1927, 1930, 1972 and 2002, the strongest reaching 5.6 millimeters. The specimen shows good vegetative conditions with no evidence of defoliation, discoloration, microphyllia or dryness, no parasite infections, and no history of pruning, meaning no specific interventions are currently required.

The other two Kashmir cypresses stand 4 meters apart within a traffic island divider flowerbed on Via Giuseppe Di Vittorio, in a public green space at 11 meters above sea level. Their presumed age is 70 years, with an average circumference at breast height of 160 centimeters, a maximum of 176 centimeters, an average height of 16.5 meters and a maximum of 16.8 meters, covering a group surface of 140 square meters. Dendrochronological analysis showed that the two specimens have different growth rates despite growing on the same site under identical soil and climatic conditions. The taller individual, with peaks in 1962, 1966, 1985, 1988 and 1996, grew more vigorously than its neighbor, which peaked in 1962, 1978, 1982 and 1987. Both trees are in good vegetative, structural and phytosanitary condition, and their conical, pyramidal shape and erect bearing carry clear naturalistic value.

The black poplar may be the most remarkable of the four. It grows in the Isabella d’Aragona Gardens alongside the Norman-Swabian Castle, which dates to 1130 AD, on calcareous soil at just 5 meters above sea level. Its presumed age is 70 years, but its dimensions are extraordinary for an urban specimen: a circumference at breast height of 470 centimeters, an estimated dendrometric height of 28 meters, a height of the first branch of 3 meters, an average crown diameter of 12 meters and a crown projection of 113 square meters, with a globose-expanded crown shape. Dendrochronological analysis indicates that its main growth peaks were concentrated between 1965 and 1985, with the greatest growth of 20.3 millimeters recorded in 1977, followed by a rapid decline averaging 2.1 millimeters over the last 20 years. The tree is healthy, with optimal vigor, no defoliation or disease, and only limited pruning restricted to crown lifting of branches. Beyond its size, the poplar carries ecological, historical, cultural, religious and landscape value, with a tangible connection to the history of the gardens themselves, which reach back to the 19th century.

The Kashmir cypress itself is a botanical rarity in Italy. Native to the eastern Himalaya in Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in India, where it grows at altitudes between 1250 and 2670 meters, the species is categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Only two large specimens are currently recorded in Italy, one on Isola Madre on Lake Maggiore, which is already on the national monumental list and became the symbol of the island after being uprooted by the devastating whirlwind of 2006 and restored through an extraordinary recovery operation, and another at Villa San Francesco in the municipality of Varese. The date of the species’ introduction to Italy is unknown, and no cases of spontaneization have been reported. In Bari, the species has adapted remarkably well to urban conditions, reaching heights of up to 18 meters despite its mountain origins, showing majestic bearing, hanging branches and blue-green foliage, and tolerating street pollution from vehicular traffic without any phytosanitary problems. All four trees surveyed meet at least one of the criteria of age and size, shape and growth habit, ecological value, floristic rarity, architectural interest, landscape quality and historical, cultural and religious value provided by Law 10/2013 and the 2014 Ministerial Decree. The researchers now propose the inclusion of the Kashmir cypresses of Via Generale Nicola Bellomo and Via Di Vittorio, and the black poplar of the Isabella d’Aragona Gardens, as monumental trees of the city of Bari, to be entered into the regional catalogues through regional law, a designation that would protect these living witnesses of the city’s past for generations to come.

Subject of Research: New records of monumental trees in the City of Bari (Apulia, Italy)

Article Title: New records of monumental trees in the City of Bari (Apulia, Italy)

Article References: Pardi, R., Di Gristina, E., Tarantino, F., Elia, M., Venturella, G., & Gargano, M. L. (2025). New records of monumental trees in the City of Bari (Apulia, Italy). Italian Botanist, 19, 107-118. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.19.151260

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/italianbotanist.19.151260

Keywords: records, monumental, trees, City, Bari, Apulia, Italy, scientific research