Platano di Indro age undocumented, likely 100-240 years
London Plane (Platanus x hispanica). The largest plane tree in Milan does not grow tall so much as it grows sideways, in every direction at once.
Ancient Trees in the Giardini Montanelli
Milan's first public park, laid out in 1784, and the trees in it have been measured more carefully than almost anywhere else in the city.
Five of them are on the monumental register. The largest plane in Milan grows here, spreading sideways rather than up; a bald cypress that gardeners called a metasequoia for years until somebody checked the genus properly; and the widest of Milan's three Caucasian wingnuts, five and a half metres round. One plane has become a research subject in its own right, with the city counting what lives on it.
All 5 stand in Milan, which maps 15 remarkable trees in total.
Bagolaro dei Giardini Montanelli approximately 164 years
Mediterranean Hackberry (Celtis australis). Milan calls this species spaccasassi, the stone-splitter, for roots strong enough to crack paving, and this hackberry has had over a century and a half to test the claim against the paths of the city's oldest public park.
Il Platano della Biodiversita age undocumented, likely 100-180 years
London Plane (Platanus x hispanica). Milan picked one plane tree in this park and started counting what lives on it.
Il Sacerdote approximately 156 years
Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum). For years, gardeners in Porta Venezia's park called this tree a metasequoia and had the genus wrong before anyone checked properly.
Il Noce del Caucaso dei Giardini Montanelli age undocumented, among the oldest of its species in Milan
Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia). Milan has three Caucasian wingnuts worth crossing town for, and this is the widest of them: 5.5 metres around, against 4.7 in the Brera botanical garden and 4.35 for the better-known specimen leaning over the pond in Parco Sempione.
More parks worth the walk: every park we map. Or explore by city: Guimaraes · Fukuoka · Amsterdam · Lisbon · London · Paris