The Plane by the Eridano

Six metres round, and it is the widest trunk in the park. This plane stands on the river side of Viale Virgilio opposite the Eridano, and the regional register puts it in the oldest band it uses, over two hundred years, which would make it older than the park around it. That is entirely possible. Parco del Valentino opened to the public in 1856, but the grounds of the Castello del Valentino had been Savoy property with planted avenues for two centuries before that, so a handful of trees here predate the park by a long way. It is not the tallest plane in Turin. At twenty-six metres it is fourteen short of the one waiting at the end of this walk, and the whole difference sits in the trunk: this tree put its growth sideways instead of up. That usually means light and space on every side rather than a place in a row. The Po running just behind it is the other half of the explanation, because a plane with its roots in a river's water table grows fat with very little effort. Stand at the base and the bark reads as a jigsaw of grey, olive and cream.