The Plane of Porta San Donato

age unknownLondon Plane

London PlaneNobody has published a photograph of this tree under a licence we can use. Send us yours and it goes on this page.
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Lucca's Renaissance walls are planted almost entirely as a single ring of trees, but the register singles out only three individuals along the whole circuit, and this plane, growing on the ramparts near Porta San Donato, is the thickest of the three: 4.88 metres round and 30 metres tall, the largest plane tree in the city by that measurement. Porta San Donato itself dates to 1629, one of the six gates built when Lucca reinforced its walls against a siege that never came; the fortifications outlasted every threat they were built for and became, instead, the tree-lined promenade that rings the old town today. Nobody has dated the tree specifically, only the gate beside it. The wall-top path, the Passeggiata delle Mura, is public, paved and open around the clock, wide enough for the joggers and cyclists who use it as Lucca's ring road for people rather than cars. This plane stands about a kilometre and a half west of the Orto Botanico cluster, an anchor for the far side of a wall walk rather than an extension of it. If you know when it was planted, tell us.

Been here? Worth the visit?

The button above opens directions in your maps app. On foot, about 1.2 km (15-20 minutes) west of the Orto Botanico cluster, reachable directly by walking the wall-top path from any of the city gates; no vehicle access onto the walls themselves.

Species
London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia)
Age estimate
Location
On the ramparts near Porta San Donato, Passeggiata delle Mura, 55100 Lucca (Mura Urbane (city walls), Centro Storico)
Access
Free, always open. The tree stands on the public ramparts of Lucca's Renaissance walls (Passeggiata delle Mura), a pedestrian and cycle path that rings the whole old town with no gate or ticket.
Getting there
On foot, about 1.2 km (15-20 minutes) west of the Orto Botanico cluster, reachable directly by walking the wall-top path from any of the city gates; no vehicle access onto the walls themselves.

Trees nearby

The Nepal Camphor of Via Barsanti e Matteuccinot documented · 850 m awayThe Holm Oaks on the Torre Guiniginot dated, the living oaks are replantings · 880 m awayThe Magnolia of Via dell'Orto Botaniconot documented · 1.1 km away
Curious what else is standing in Lucca? See all 14 remarkable ancient trees in Lucca or find out what the oldest tree in Lucca is. It is a London Plane; see every london plane on the site.
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This page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.

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