Monumental Trees

What are monumental trees?

A monumental tree is an individual tree given official recognition and legal protection because of some exceptional quality — its great age, its size, the rarity of its species, its ecological role, or its cultural, historical or landscape value. The idea captures trees sometimes called "millennial trees" in everyday speech: living beings that stand out as landmarks and as witnesses to time.

In Italy, monumental trees are defined and protected by national Law 10/2013 and its implementing decrees. The law established an official national registry, the Elenco degli alberi monumentali d'Italia, maintained by the ministry of agriculture with the regions and municipalities. Once a tree is listed, felling or damaging it without authorisation is prohibited and subject to penalties. Trees qualify through criteria such as trunk circumference, height, age, canopy spread, rarity, and their tie to historical, religious or cultural memory.

Sardinia is central to this story: the island has the highest number of officially recorded monumental trees of any Italian region — 285 in the national count — reflecting both its wealth of ancient trees and the care taken to document them. Among them are dozens of monumental olives, but the category spans many species, from cork oaks and holm oaks to ancient wild trees rooted in local history.

How Terra Humana understands monumental trees

Terra Humana sees monumental trees as a bridge between ecology and culture — precisely the meeting point our mission is built on. A protected ancient tree is at once a functioning habitat, a store of carbon and biodiversity, and a piece of shared human heritage that communities recognise and gather around. It shows that protecting nature and honouring human memory can be the same act.

We also value the principle behind the law: that some living things deserve protection simply for what they are and how long they have endured, independent of any use. That respect for the intrinsic worth and longevity of trees runs through our restoration work, which aims to establish plantings resilient enough that they too might one day be old.

Monumental trees in practice

Working in Sardinia places Terra Humana in the Italian region richest in monumental trees, and this shapes our outlook at Project Eden in Sa Medada, near Jerzu. Where notable old trees stand on or near the foundation's land, our intention is to identify, protect and document them, and — where appropriate — to support their formal recognition under the national registry.

Monumental trees also serve as a standard for our own planting. Terra Humana's millennial olive trees of Sardinia show what centuries of resilience look like; our restoration plantings are designed in that spirit, chosen to endure. This article is a brief introduction to a subject the foundation studies in greater depth as part of its ongoing work.