Naples, the monumental araucaria in the Sanità district destroyed by wild pruning

The monumental Araucaria della Sanità in Naples, whose roots have been sunk for more than 150 years in the garden of the monumental complex of Santa Maria della Vita, today home to the RSA Fontanelle, a residence for disabled elderly people of the ASL Napoli 1, was destroyed by drastic pruning.

The complaint is from the Premio GreenCare Aps Association, which reported the incident to the Garden Service and the Department of Greenery and Health of the Municipality of Naples, to the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Naples, to the Department of the Environment of the Campania Region.

The massive trunk, about 30 meters high, towers between the buildings and domes of the Sanità, and is a pilgrimage destination for lovers of monumental trees. “Now that all its branches have been amputated, its chances of survival are very slim. I spoke to some agronomists who were astonished by such a lack of expertise in dealing with a tree so important in terms of size and history,” says Benedetta de Falco, president of Premio GreenCare.

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The tree is enclosed within the perimeter of the walls of what was once the ancient monastic complex of Santa Maria della Vita, built in 1577 on a surviving early Christian church: the complex was, over time, a porcelain factory with Giovanni Poulard-Prad and an annexed candle factory (French Decade – 1807), then with the return of the Bourbons, starting in 1836 the area was used as a hospital first for cholera patients and then, at the end of the epidemic, a hospital for women, called Ospedale San Camillo.

In 1990 the structure was closed and used, in the part next to the church, as the headquarters of the La Tenda Center for drug addiction recovery, and in the part towards the Fontanelle Cemetery as RSA Fontanelle, a residence for disabled elderly people of the ASL Naples.

“We hope that our report will help shed light on what happened – explains de Falco – and that such massive and deadly attacks on trees of this value should never be repeated again."