“It’s a dinosaur!” says Syracuse Florence gardener Gelso Sassonia. The city of Florence has officially registered our beloved, centuries-old pino, which has towered over generations of U.S. students from the back of the Villa Rossa Garden, as a monumental tree.
That means, among other things, it is now a crime to damage it, with a fine of up to 100,000 Euro. It also means we cannot make any changes to it with approval from the Florence municipality.
A plaque has now been placed beneath the tree, which reads:
On April 10, 2024, this specimen was designated as a monumental domestic Pinus Pinea – Pino.
