The Cork Oak of Villa Siotto Pintor

A Sardinian family brought this cork oak to the Bergamo plain, where the species is a rarity. It stands at the centre of the front garden of Villa Siotto Pintor in Gorlago, 18 metres tall and 320 centimetres round the trunk by the national register's measure, close enough to the street that the closed gate costs you nothing. When it went in is a small dispute. Local tradition says 1861, the year the Kingdom of Italy was founded, which makes the neater story. The documents point to 1872, the year the Siotto Pintor family moved into the villa, and that puts the tree at roughly 150 years. Both versions agree it came with the family from Sardinia, where cork oak is at home. The house behind it has changed hands several times, from the Lanzi to the Vimercati Sozzi, the name on the street outside, and finally to the Siotto Pintor. After the last descendant died it stood empty for years with its rooms left exactly as they were, wardrobes open and beds unmade, until urban explorers started photographing it. FAI opened it for its autumn open days in October 2020, with the oak still holding the middle of the old formal garden. The rest of the year the grounds stay shut and the villa asks for visits by email. The tree does not need you inside. You see it through the portal gate, which is the whole visit and a good one.