100 Horse Chestnut Tree

During October a friend and I took a drive up to Sant’ Alfio to visit the Hundred Horse Chestnut tree.  It was a beautiful day and we took a little picnic for the kids.  

The Hundred Horse Tree is recorded as the largest and oldest chestnut tree known.  It is estimated be be between 2,000 – 4,000 years old and measured at about 190 ft circumference when it was measured in 1780.  The tree has split into several trunks above the surface, but they all share the same root system.

Legend has it that the Queen of Aragon along with her company of 100 knights were caught in a thunderstorm and they all took refuge under the tree.  The following is a poem written in Sicilian translated into English. 

Un pedi di castagna	A chestnut tree
tantu grossu	was so large
ca ccu li rami so' forma un paracqua	that its branches formed an umbrella
sutta di cui si riparò di l'acqua,	under which refuge was sought from the rain
di fùrmini, e saitti	from thunder bolts and flashes of lightning
la riggina Giuvanna	by Queen Giuvanna
ccu centu cavaleri,	with a hundred knights,
quannu ppi visitari Mungibeddu	when on her way to Mt Etna
vinni surprisa di lu timpurali.	was taken by surprise by a fierce storm.
D'allura si chiamò	From then on so was it named
st'àrvulu situatu 'ntra 'na valli	this tree nestled in a valley and its courses
lu gran castagnu d'i centu cavalli.	the great chestnut tree of one hundred horses

Written by Giuseppe Bordrello

 

  There was a little apple orchard next to the tree and I want to go back in the Fall to collect apples for apple butter!