Somebody tried to burn this tree down in the early 1960s and the fire scars are still on the trunk. The olivastro of Santa Maria Navarrese survived the arson and is still rated in good condition by the region's own foresters, despite a trunk that is partly hollow, which is the usual state of an olive this old. It stands in the village square beside the church of Santa Maria di Navarra, built in 1502 and, on every estimate anyone has offered, many centuries younger than the tree next to it. Sardinia's forestry agency measures the trunk at 8.40 metres around at 1.3 metres up, with a crown of 9 to 10 metres. The national register gives a slightly larger figure, 9.05 metres, probably taken at a different point on the trunk; nobody has reconciled the two. The age is stated loosely on purpose. The regional agency calls it millenario, at least a thousand years, and gives no number. Local press quotes botanists at about 2,000. Neither figure comes with any working attached, and no one has published a dating. The Region declared it a natural monument in January 1994, along with the other old olives, carobs and hackberries in the same square. It is free, in the open, and a short walk up from the harbour.
In fruit
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Piazza Principessa di Navarra, next to the church of Santa Maria di Navarra (1502), Santa Maria Navarrese, BauneiYou can recognise it by fire scars still visible on the trunk, 8.4 metres round, from an arson attempt in the early 1960s. It stands in the village square beside the 1502 church of Santa Maria di Navarra.
Free, standing in a public square beside the church, open at all times.
In the village of Santa Maria Navarrese, a coastal frazione of Baunei; walkable from the harbour and beach. A car is the realistic way to reach the village itself, about 150 km south of the Luras trees.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
- In the official register: MASAF, Elenco degli alberi monumentali d'Italia
- sardegnaforeste.it
- vistanet.it
- MASAF, Elenco degli alberi monumentali d'Italia (Italy's national register of monumental trees) (sheet 01/A722/OG/20)
