The Mahaleb Cherry of Contrada La Vaglia

This is the thinnest evidenced tree on our list, and the story says so plainly rather than dressing it up. A Mahaleb cherry, also called St Lucie cherry, stands somewhere near the junction of the SS7 Appia and a minor road on Matera's northern edge, in Contrada La Vaglia. The regional register lists it as a monumental tree, five metres tall, no girth recorded, no age given. Nobody has photographed it recently, and this pass could not confirm it is even still standing. What tips it from unlisted to published is a small piece of evidence: the register flags this tree urban, the same flag it gives Matera's roadside stone pine on Viale Aldo Moro, and different from the flag on the eleven masseria and jazzo trees nearby that sit on private working farms and stay off this list. Mapping data shows no building or private land over the coordinate, only open ground near the old road into Matera from the north, which points toward a public roadside tree rather than one behind a farm gate. The species itself has left its mark on the city: Matera's Lanera district takes its name from this cherry. That is a fact about the neighbourhood, not about this individual tree, and the two should not be confused. If you have stood in Contrada La Vaglia and seen this tree, or know it is gone, tell us. This entry exists to be corrected.