Il Bagolaro di Varedo

Five metres round the trunk and twenty-seven metres tall, and it is only the largest of four. The national register lists four monumental hackberries in this one small park in Varedo, spread across about ninety metres: 500 centimetres of girth on this one, then 450, 390 and 350 on the others. Most Italian towns would be pleased with one. They run along the edge of Parco 1 Maggio, the green between the town hall and the parish church, so the group works as a border rather than a set of specimens on a lawn. You walk along them instead of around them, and the biggest declares itself without anyone having to point. Lombardy's regional tourism board singles out that largest trunk as measuring over five metres round and puts its diameter near 165 centimetres, where the national register's own figure works out closer to 159. Two measurements of the same tree, taken by different people on different days, and the difference is not worth arguing about. The journey is a real day trip rather than a Milan stroll: the Milano-Asso line from Cadorna reaches Varedo in about twenty-five minutes, and the park is under ten minutes on foot from the station, free and open during park hours. No age has been recorded for any of the four. If you know what dates them, tell us.