What is the oldest tree in Parma?
Parma's tallest and most measured tree is a London plane growing near Palazzo Ducale in Parco Ducale, recorded at 47 metres, the tallest tree anywhere in Emilia-Romagna. Its exact planting date is not on record, but the park around it was replanted from 1749 after occupying troops burned every mature tree there in 1745, and further planes went in around 1830, so its age likely runs to roughly two centuries.
None of Parma's monumental trees carry an individually documented planting date; Italy's national register gives girth, height and position but no age field, so every age on this page is an estimate built from the history of the ground the tree stands on. Parco Ducale's own history sets a hard floor: Duke Ottavio Farnese began the park in 1561, but occupying forces under Prince Lobkowicz cut and burned every mature tree in it in 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, so nothing standing today predates that destruction. Duke Filippo di Borbone had the grounds replanted from 1749 with the architect Petitot, and further plane trees went in around 1830 under Duchess Maria Luigia, Napoleon's second wife, who ruled Parma as her own duchy. The park holds over 1,500 catalogued trees today. Piazzale della Pace is much younger ground, laid out after the Second World War over an area reshaped by bombing, though its cedar of Lebanon and surviving planes have been under municipal protection since the 1950s.
See more themed collections of remarkable trees.