The Siberian Elm of Piazzale Rosmini

The garden at Piazzale Rosmini climbs the San Vito hill above the church of Madonna del Mare, nine and a half thousand square metres of slope and lawn that the city's own parks department singles out for two things: its valuable trees and its play areas for children of different ages. The Siberian elm growing there, 3.58 metres round and 24 metres tall, is one of Trieste's registered monumental specimens and the garden's standout tree. Ulmus pumila earned its place in European gardens for the same reason it earns a mention here: it shrugs off Dutch elm disease far better than the native field and wych elms the fungus devastated across the continent from the 1970s onward. A healthy elm of real size in a European city is worth noticing partly for that reason alone, a survivor by constitution rather than by luck. Like the bagolaro at Piazza Hortis, this elm was fitted with a TreeTag in September 2024, part of the same citywide EU citizen-science campaign that is slowly building a public record of condition and growth for Trieste's 48 monumental trees. No individual age has been published for it, so none is claimed here.