The Canary Palm of Gran Via

The beetle killing palms along this avenue prefers this palm's species. In February 2026 local reporting counted ten date palms on the Gran Via del Marques del Turia sick or dead from red palm weevil, and pointed out that the insect's favourite host in Valencia is not the date palm at all but Phoenix canariensis, which is exactly what this tree is. No source names this palm as infested, and the regional register still carried it after that report went out. Worth knowing before you make the trip. What you go for is a Canary Island date palm 24.4 metres tall on a trunk 2.15 metres round, growing on the planted median of a city avenue and individually designated a natural monument, which is not a status Valencia hands out to ordinary street planting. The avenue's better known monumental trees are its Moreton Bay figs, four of which the council was still pruning in 2023. The palm gets less attention. The Gran Via was laid out in 1884 and landscaped in 1907. Whether this palm belongs to that planting, nobody has written down, and the two dates are the avenue's rather than the tree's. Palms carry no growth rings, which makes them hard to age even when somebody tries. If you know how old it is, tell us.