The Holm Oak of the Lampedusa Sanctuary, Castellaro

The sanctuary this holm oak stands beside was founded on an escape story. In 1561, the legend goes, a man from Castellaro named Andrea Anfosso was captured by Turkish raiders and taken to the island of Lampedusa, broke free, built a makeshift boat and sailed home using a painting of the Madonna as his sail. That image is still venerated inside. The path up to the sanctuary climbs through old holm oaks, and Italy's national list of monumental trees picks out this one at the sanctuary itself: 3.65 metres round and 13 metres tall. The writer Giovanni Ruffini set a scene of his nineteenth-century novel Il Dottor Antonio here, so you can compare his descriptions with the hill as it is now. The holm oak is the evergreen oak of the Mediterranean, with dark, leathery leaves that are grey and felted underneath, and in a dry place like this hilltop it grows slowly. Nobody has published how old this one is. If you know, tell us. Our pin is the register's point. It stands at a place of pilgrimage open to all, and seeing it costs nothing.