The Downy Oaks of Maro Castello

These two oaks are listed together on Italy's national list of monumental trees, a few metres apart in the meadow called Prato della Corte at Maro Castello, and the list gives them the same measurements: 3.32 metres round and 19 metres tall each. Maro Castello is a hamlet of Borgomaro, high in the Impero valley, named for the castle of Maro, now in ruins after it was destroyed in battle. Borgomaro itself is an odd one among Ligurian villages, laid out on a grid like a chessboard instead of in rings, and the valley is known for its rare Conio beans. The downy oak is the oak of dry Mediterranean hillsides, named for the soft hairs on the underside of its young leaves and shoots. It holds its dead brown leaves through much of the winter, so even in January the pair will not look bare. Nobody has published how old they are. If you know, tell us. Our pin is the register's point, and we could not confirm whether the meadow itself is open, so look from the lane if you are unsure. Seeing them costs nothing.