S'Ozzastru and the Ancient Olive Trees of Sardinia

This Old Tree with Doug Still
S’Ozzastru and the Ancient Olive Trees of Sardinia - Transcript
Season 3, Episode 2
August 24, 2025

Doug Still  00:00
You're listening to This Old Tree, the show about heritage trees and the human stories behind them. I'm Doug Still. 

Doug Still  00:07
Some trees we've met on this show are old. And then, there's S'Ozzastru. 

[Sardinian Launeddas music]

S'Ozzastru is the name locals call a 4000 year old olive tree near Luras, Sardinia off the west coast of Italy. It is one of dozens of ancient wild olive trees still thriving in groves around the island and perhaps the oldest throughout the Mediterranean. It was a sapling about 1500 years before the Parthenon was built on the Acropolis of Athens, and 2000 years before the Colosseum in Rome. How could this tree survive for so long? What civilizations has it seen come and go? Who has sat beneath it?

Doug Still  01:04
To find out, I toured Sardinia with my traveling companion, Ed Nardell, this past April. I spoke with Anna Maria Corda, tour guide and spokesperson for S'Ozzastru, which is now a promoted tourist attraction. I also met with four agronomists from AGRIS, the Regional Agricultural Research Agency of Sardinia, whose mission, in part, is to protect and enhance oliviculture, the practice of growing olives. We visited the site of a devastating wildfire that destroyed another 1000 year old olive tree - a tragedy that kicked off an effort to preserve the genetic heritage of wild olives. As drought and destructive wildfires become more common with climate change, will the ancient olive trees of Sardinia continue to survive? 

Come along with me to learn about the fantastic S'Ozzastru and the ancient olive trees of Sardinia. I'm Doug Still, and this is This Old Tree.

[This Old Tree theme song]

Doug Still  02:24
Ed and I rented a car in Cagliari, the charming capital city on the southeast coast of Sardinia, and headed north. It was hard to contain my excitement. We were on our way to see one of the oldest trees in the world. In order to get there, the highway took us inland away from the coastal resorts and renowned beaches with clear aquamarine water that most visitors to the island come for. It got rural fast as we drove through rolling fields of green and yellow. 

After a few hours, we found ourselves heading up steep, craggy mountains. The road narrowed and began to snake in an endless series of curves, up one mountain side and down the next. Every turn brought stunning views across forested valleys. Higher elevations caused the trees to disperse into groupings surrounded by grassland with wildflowers in full bloom. Rocky outcrops capped each mountain, although cliff drop-offs could occur anywhere, traversed by narrow bridges. Periodically, a small town would come into view across the valley, its clustered houses in pastel hues clinging to the side of a mountain. It was incredibly picturesque. Within 10 minutes, the road would wind its way through the very same town we'd seen from a distance, usually a single, narrow, horizontal street edged with old buildings. Driving often required slow, coordinated maneuvering with oncoming cars and strolling townspeople. Even smaller streets ascended steeply off the main street to one side and descended precipitously down the other. 

There were many towns like this. They felt truly authentic, unspoiled by tourism. We could have been peering back through time. We learned that most of the people who lived there -  those who hadn't moved away, that is -  had lived in their community their whole lives, their ancestors extending back generations. We stayed one night in a town called Seulo, famous for having the highest concentration of centenarians in the world outside of Okinawa, Japan. This is one of the world's “blue zones,” characterized by low rates of chronic disease and a lifestyle that promotes long lives. Some credit Sardinian longevity to the red wine they drink called Cannonau. Maybe some of its powers will rub off on me - I had a glass or more every night with dinner. As a prelude to visiting the famous olive tree, I was beginning to get a sense of the island's dreamy, unchanging nature.

Doug Still  05:05
We made our way to Luras in the north where S’Ozzastru is located. It is a rural commune that contains the stunning Lake Liscia, set among craggy mountains. Purple thistle and rosemary were blooming along the roadside next to yellow scotch broom. We drove through groves of olive trees, holly oak, myrtle and cork oak. It turns out, this area is a major producer of cork used by Italy's wine industry. We visited a museum that described how cork has been harvested over the centuries. Many of these oak trees were stripped of old bark up to about 10 feet in height or more, but we learned that new bark was growing in a continual, time tested process that didn't harm the trees. 

We arrived at Olivastri Millenari di Luras, directly translated as the “Millennial Olive Trees of Luras.” It is a sanctuary that cares for a grove of 1000 year old trees and regulates guided tours. A group of bikers dressed in leather was just leaving, otherwise there was no one else to be seen. We walked up a hill to the bar that served as a small visitors center to buy tickets. It overlooks a sweeping view of the lake. I was scheduled to meet with an experienced tour guide named Anna Maria Corda who speaks fluent English, but she was down in the grove with a group of local school children. We ordered a cappuccino as we waited for her, but then I heard the sound of bells. 

[bells tinkling]

I stepped around back and peered over a fence to see a flock of sheep in a sunny field herded by a few dogs. The sheep were wearing the bells. I didn't know it yet, but a clue to S’Ozzastru’s secret of longevity was grazing in front of me about 30 yards away. 

Eventually, Anna Maria came back, and we were surrounded by school children, which was great fun. We met over the din, and as we headed down to the grove, we started chatting. 

Doug Still
How do you pronounce your name?

Anna Maria Corda  07:17
My name is Anna Maria Corda.

Doug Still  07:26
This tree is called S’Ozzast……

Anna Maria Corda  07:29
S’Ozzastru, yes, it's a Sardinian to say the wild olive tree. Because for us, it is, yeah, the only one. It's like it is the only one.  Ozzastru with a big O. It is our tree. We consider it our tree.

Doug Still  07:49
Is it sometimes called the Great Patriarch?

Anna Maria Corda  07:51
Yeah, exactly. It was called the Great Patriarch when he was.. when they started considering it as a natural monument. So in 1991, about. But for us, it is always our S’Ozzastro, our olivastro in Italian. Wild olive tree.

Doug Still  08:18
We walked through a rustic gate and down a sloped path of wooden planks, and immediately it was there, directly before us. It appeared to hold court in the landscape, a strong presence that, on first impression, inspired reverence rather than awe. From where we stood, it was more like a large mound of light green vegetation than a tree, its horizontal branches spreading wide and sweeping to the ground. The tree's canopy is about 45 feet tall and 75 feet wide, a picture of health. It sat in a meadow and was surrounded by a wooden rail fence placed outside the drip line so you couldn't walk underneath it. The fence protected the roots from likely thousands of visitors eager to touch the trunk. 

(to Anna Maria)
And this is a national monument?

Anna Maria Corda  09:06
Yes, it's a national monument, a national natural monument. So it's been safeguarded since then. 

Doug Still  09:17
A national list of monumental trees has been kept by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies in Rome since a Ministerial Decree was announced in 2013. Local municipalities and regions throughout Italy are tasked with inventorying trees and submitting potential candidates for consideration as monumental trees. Criteria to be considered are longevity, size, rarity and cultural value. Local authorities are also responsible for protecting these recognized trees. The unauthorized damage or killing of a monumental tree is against the law, with steep fines of up to 100,000 euros. 

(to Anna Maria)
Who's the owner of the property? Who manages the property?

Anna Maria Corda  10:03
The property is managed now by a society who is in charge to, well, you know, protect him, to guide the visits to this tree and to explain the history of the place where it is. And give some, you know, some curiosities, some information about it. Because it's not only history, it's also legends sometimes that people say, you know. People say a lot of things. [absolutely] And I work with a few other guides and people, well, people from Luras. We all are from Luras, the people who work here, and so we’ve known this big tree since we were kids.

Doug Still  10:58
Wonderful. And you're an English teacher?

Anna Maria Corda  11:01
Yeah, I'm also an English teacher and a translator. Well, I've translated some books also, you know, some novels, but I like to work as a guide here.

Doug Still  11:17
Is S’Ozzastru the oldest olive tree in Sardinia?

Anna Maria Corda  11:21
Yes, actually it's the oldest wild olive tree in Italy. In Italy it is also the oldest tree in general.  

Doug Still  11:33
It’s the oldest tree in Italy. [Yes] And is it the oldest olive tree in the Mediterranean?

Anna Maria Corda  11:38
It's the oldest olive tree in all Europe and in the Mediterranean, yeah, the oldest wild olive tree.

Doug Still  11:45
Anna Maria made the important distinction between the wild olive trees growing in Luras and the cultivated olive tree, whose origins, according to the International Olive Council, have been lost in time. Theories abound, but both types are ancient. The Phoenicians disseminated the cultivated olive throughout the Mediterranean during the 2nd millenia B.C., including Sardinia most likely. Evidence of the wild olive dates thousands of years before that. 

The Latin names are confusing even to me, but I looked it up and I’ll give it a shot. The species is Olea europaea, which is divided into six subspecies. The subspecies in question here is also called europaea, so Olea europea, subspecies europaea. It, in turn, is divided into two varieties. The first variety is - you guessed it - europaea (ugh) which is the cultivated olive. So Olea europaea, subs europaea, var. europaea. You’ve got to be kidding me. It used to be called Olea sativa, but the botanists changed the name based on good reasons, I’m assuming. The variety for the wild olive is sylvestris, so it is Olea europaea subs. europaea var. sylvestris. If I got this wrong, let’s start a thread for sticklers on social media.

The point is that Anna Maria claims S’Ozzastru is the oldest wild olive. Other claims for having the world’s oldest olive tree like in Crete or elsewhere, are dealing with a different variety. It’s apples and oranges. 

Anna Maria Corda  13:29
We have some information. I know there is. There should be some old common olive trees in the Mediterranean. I guess it's the territory, maybe Israel, Palestine, but it's a common olive tree. It's not wild. It's not like this one that grew spontaneously here. [I see]

Doug Still  13:49
In Sardinia, olive trees are a deep part of the culture. Like the visiting school group we met earlier, children are taught about olives from a very young age. So the difference between the wild olive tree and the cultivated olive - or common olive, as Anna Maria called it - is very clear, including where they grow on the island.

Anna Maria Corda  14:10
Here and in Sardinia, we have, well, a lot of wild olive trees, Europea olea actually, in this area, in this part of Sardinia. We don't cultivate common olive trees. It's not the right climate or the right conditions. In Sardinia, you find cultivation of olive trees in other areas, like the Alghero area or Ogliastra. The same name says l’olio ogliastra. It's a place where there is a lot of cultivation of oil and everything. You see the difference when you see it from, also from a bit far. It looks like a big bush, because the branches go all the way to the ground. So the common olive tree grows in eight [sic] and also the branches go up…

Doug Still  15:03
Like a “v.”

Anna Maria Corda  15:07
Yeah, up and out. This one. Now the wild olive tree grows like a bush, so the branches grow horizontally and down. 

Doug Still  15:19
The overall habit, I can see around us, they're round. Does it produce olives?

Anna Maria Corda  15:26
It still produces olives. So they are very, very small, very small. 

Doug Still
Are they tasty? 

Anna Maria Corda
Actually, they are bitter. They are very bitter.

Doug Still  15:37
Even after curing them?

Anna Maria Corda  15:39
Well, someone has tried to produce oil or to put it, you know, under salt pickles like pickled olives. But, well, maybe they are not so suitable to eat. You can eat them, and maybe someone likes them…

Doug Still  16:04
[laughter]…but not you?,

Anna Maria Corda  16:06
Well no, actually, they are very bitter. Also, since they are so small, so small, a great quantity is needed to produce oil. So it would cost a lot. And well, if you would like to purchase some oil, yeah, it would be very expensive I guess, because of these reasons.

Doug Still  16:28
And you already have so much great olive oil in Sardinia. 

Anna Maria Corda  16:34
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, maybe that is the reason - in Sardinia we have great olive oil. So if we had needed the olive oil, maybe we would have used it. Another difference with the common olive tree is - besides the way it grows, are also the leaves. They are very small. They are smaller than the common olive tree. And they are different colors. And also, you will see the branches, the twigs that are knotty, very knotty.

Doug Still  17:15
That's knotty, k-n-o-t-t-y, not the other kind of “naughty.” We walked up as close to the tree as possible without hopping the fence, and peered into an opening in the canopy to see the trunk. It was unbelievable, and knotty only begins to describe it. How about gnarled, contorted, pulsing, scarred, hollowed. If I were to describe it in anthropomorphic terms, I would use the words elderly, wise, weary, grounded, wrinkled, alive - and indomitable. Here and there, dead branches fell out of the center, their dry tips leaning on the ground. 

But most notably, the trunk is very, very thick. The trunk is over 3.5 meters or 11 feet in diameter at breast height, and then widens out at ground level to a whopping 6 meters or 18 feet in diameter. You can feel the mass of it all. Its surface alternates between live wood and decay, a tangle of life and death. The trunks, edges and hollows undulate in and out, making it hard to discern the tree's actual shape. How could someone possibly determine how old it is? 

(to Anna Maria)
How have experts been able to estimate its age?

Anna Maria Corda  18:34
Yeah, that's one of the most asked questions.

[theme music]

Doug Still  18:40
With that question hanging, we're going to take a short break. When we come back, you'll hear Anna Maria's answer. We'll also get into how S’Ozzastru has lived for so long. The answer is more than just biological. 

You're listening to This Old Tree. 

Break Announcement  19:03
I'm excited to share some big news! This Old Tree is now a sponsored project of the New England Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture. This partnership is a natural fit, as both the podcast and New England ISA share the same mission: to celebrate and advocate for trees that shape our communities and history, as well as the people who care for them. 

If you love the show, you can now make a tax deductible gift to help us continue bringing you inspiring features about heritage trees and the human stories behind them. Your support is needed to make this possible. New England ISA is a non profit organization dedicated to advancing professional arboriculture research and awareness of the benefits of trees. Your gift will support the production of This Old Tree and New England ISA at the same time. 

Visit www.newenglandisa.org to find out how you can help. The link can be found in the show notes. Thank you to all the faithful listeners of this show, and thank you to New England ISA for helping This Old Tree grow. Now back to the show.

[Sardinian Launeddas music]

Anna Maria Corda  20:26
That's one of the most asked questions, because of course we could not cut the trunk and count the famous rings. That is the science called dendrochronology.  

Doug Still  20:43
Coring the trunk to count the annual rings was not an option because it might damage the historic tree. Besides, it wouldn't work even if researchers wanted to do that due to the trunk’s irregular shape, filled with hollows. So how did they do it?

Anna Maria Corda  20:58
They established it actually, by a comparison. There is, in this area that is Karana. Karana is the place where, this country, this area, there are a lot of wild olive trees. Also old wild olive trees, like centuries old, and they were already maybe sick or dying. So they made studies upon those trees so they wouldn't damage it, damage them.

Doug Still  21:30
They could count those rings. 

Anna Maria Corda  21:34
Okay, yeah. They found out that this type of tree grows very slowly. Very, very slowly, only two millimeters per year in the first 20 years of life. So it's very slow. It's already slow, but it grows even slower as time goes by. So up to half a millimeter per year.

Doug Still  22:00
Is that how it's able to survive so long - slow growth, slow metabolism, so to speak?

Anna Maria Corda  22:07
Yeah, yeah. I guess it could be one of the reasons, also, because, you know, as rings are so small, are so thin, maybe the trunk became thicker, stronger. It could be one of the reasons why, actually. They are still studying it. I guess though, there is a big amount of luck, a great amount of luck to be so old, to have resisted all calamities or parasites and everything.

Doug Still  22:42
Or just agriculture. Nobody ever cut the tree down or took over the spot.

Anna Maria Corda  22:50
But you know, since it is about 4000 years old, 4000 years old means it is about the age of the pyramids. So we had Nuragic culture here. [Yes] So it means that, you know, for Christians, when Christ was born in the year zero, it was already old, already 2000 years old.

Doug Still  23:14
Anna Maria mentioned Nuragic culture. And so what does that mean? It refers to the mysterious Bronze Age civilization that inhabited Sardinia for about 1500 years prior to Roman arrival, but possibly longer. Evidence for the Nuragi people dates back to about 1800 BC, although their emergence is not totally clear. Coincidentally, this is about the same time S’Ozzastru was a young, slow growing sapling. 

The Nuragi left no writing or records of any sort, although various Greek and Roman authors describe them in a way some say is more mythic than historical. We know very little about them, except for found artifacts like bronze figurines and pottery. What we also have, and any visitor to Sardinia can tell you are numerous stone, tower-like monuments spread across the island. Thousands of them. As a matter of fact, these rustic structures are also called Nuraghe, and over 7,000 of them can be found standing on a lone ridge here, or a mountain top there. Some are extensive and require admission and a tour guide to enter, while others are just standing on their own, randomly waiting to be discovered on a hike. 

It's amazing that these incredibly old monuments still stand after all this time. Like Ed said, traveling through Sardinia is akin to stepping back into the Bronze Age. Sardinia is not just a Blue Zone for human longevity. Add to the list these wonderful Nuraghe and - oh yes - the wild olive trees.

Anna Maria Corda  24:51
So maybe the old inhabitants of the area, we imagine that they, maybe it was, you know, worshiped as a great plant, a big plant. I guess it could be an hypothesis, because they were, the old inhabitants had the natural religions. It was where they worshiped in nature. So a big tree like this. I guess it's…

Doug Still  25:21
Sort of like a holy tree. 

Anna Maria Corda  25:26
Yeah, like a holy tree. I don't know, we actually don't have many monuments like nuraghes, much nuragic sites here. Maybe they were destroyed in the course of the years. But, well, it's just an hypothesis, Nuragic or other people who lived here.

Doug Still  25:45
Due to its key position in the western Mediterranean, Sardinia saw many, many foreign invaders come and go, each group leaving their mark. Here’s a simplistic, lightning-round run-down. Prior to 1,800 B.C. there were stone age peoples that we know even less about than Nuragic Civilization. But when the Nuraghi appeared, they thrived throughout the island for nearly 900 years until the Phoenicians made landfall sometime in the 9th or 8th century B.C. The Phoenicians were seafaring people originally emanating from current day Lebanon. They were traders who explored the Mediterranean and created settlements, mostly peacefully. For the most part they did not fight with the Nuraghe they encountered, but mixed with them, genetically and culturally.  

The Phoenician period led to more trade with the outside world, and more interest from foreigners. The Greeks settled for a short time, but left after 60 years. The warlike Carthaginians, ancestrally related to the Phoenicians, took hold of southern Sardinia in 535 B.C. as they began to expand across the region from current day Libya. They fought with the Nuraghi, but were not successful in taking the inner mountainous areas or the northern part of the island. The Carthaginians were eventually repulsed in 238 B.C. by the Romans during the First Punic War.  Hence, the arrival of the Romans. The Romans stayed for nearly 600 years, building coastal towns, roads, and other infrastructure. The southwestern town of Tharros is one example. I visited the ruins of the site during my trip to Sardinia. It overlooks the sea on a beautiful peninsula. It is just stunning. Like the Carthaginians, the Romans kept mainly to the coast, and were not able to adequately tame the wild tribes of the inner mountains. Their main interests were trading, fishing, and farming in the low plains. They had fits trying to control the desolate mountains that were home to scrappy natives. 

After Rome fell, there was a brief invasion by the Vandals, but then the island became part of the Byzantine Empire. In the 8th century there was a series of coastal Arab-led invasions, more like pirate raids than a full occupation. They were expelled in the middle ages by armies controlled by rulers in Pisa and Genoa. The island was divided into four entities known as Judicates. S’Ozzastru stood in the Judicate of Gallura. The region is called Gallura to this day.  The Aragonese from Spain touched down in Northwestern Sardinia to rule the region where the City of Sassari is. Spanish influence can still be felt there, a proud part of their heritage. Eventually, the whole island was incorporated into Italy during its unification in 1861 led in part by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the famous general and revolutionary. Garibaldi absolutely loved Sardinia. He had a country house on the island of Caprera, the house is now a museum. Like him, the rich and famous inhabit today’s coastal Sardinia. The area is invaded by hordes of tourists, especially mainland Italians. They revel in summer resort towns in order to soak up the sun, drink Sardinian Vermentino and Myrto, and bathe in the crystal clear water. 

By now, one thing might be obvious to you. Since ancient times there has been a marked difference in culture and way of life between Sardinia’s more worldly coastal communities and the interior mountains and rural countryside. There, little changes from year to year, century to century, and perhaps from one millennium to the next. THIS is where S’Ozzastru lives. 

Anna Maria Corda  29:41
One of the reasons why it grew so old, it could be also the place where it grew. Where it was born.

Doug Still  29:50
Why is this valley a special place for growing all old olive trees?

Anna Maria Corda  29:56
I guess he found the right habitat. Maybe, because we don't have only this one that is a 1000 year old tree, but also another tree that is 2,500 years old.

Doug Still  30:13
Right? And we're not giving that one any attention. Well, you do…

Anna Maria Corda  30:16
Actually, also, because, well, it is protected. This is a kind of a valley, you know, there's a hill that protects it, and it's kind of a shelter. Maybe it's sheltered by everything.

Doug Still  30:34
We're on the south side of this mountain… I can tell from the sun [laughter].

Anna Maria Corda  30:39
Oh, wow, yeah, you're better than me.

Doug Still  30:43
And if the landscape has been a factor in the olive tree’s long term survival, then by extension, so have the people who have made use of it and fended off change since time immemorial. Not anyone rich or famous, I discovered, but people who could be considered the heart and soul of Sardinia. Shepherds. 

(to Anna Maria)
Do you know of famous historical people that have visited this tree? Any stories?

Anna Maria Corda  31:09
Any stories? Well, the stories are mostly legends about, well, the animals who found shelter under this, under the tree. Also, we had a lot of shepherds here. It's a place where shepherds have lived for centuries. So they brought their sheep, their flocks, to stay here. And also there's a sign of fire in the trunk. Maybe on one of those cold, cold evenings, cold nights in winter, maybe some shepherds they are to light a fire.

Doug Still  32:08
Archeological evidence suggests that sheep have been on the island for at least 6,000 years. Domesticated sheep farming is deeply engrained in Sardinian culture. The image of the shepherd guiding his flock around ancient ruins in the windswept landscape is at the same time mythic and still an everyday occurrence. While driving one day in the countryside, we had to stop our car to allow a massive group of sheep pass by. Among the flock were tiny lambs that were adorable as they struggled to keep up with their ambling elders.  They were guided by several young men who nodded to us as we watched out the car window. They were modern day shepherds. 

S’Ozzastru’s own shepherd story made me search high and low for folk legends about them, but they’re difficult for an English speaking person to find. I did find a novel called Elias Portolu written in 1903 by a Sardinian author named Grazia Deledda. She is famous in Italy, but relatively passed over elsewhere. In fact, she is the only Italian woman ever to win the Nobel prize for literature. The novel was translated by American Kevan Houser, who gave me permission to read a passage from the book. 

Elias Portolu is the name of the main character, a shepherd, who has tragically fallen in love with his brother’s fiancee. His turmoil and inner dialogue is expressed while he is out in the desolate, dramatic landscape tending to his duties. There’s a Sardinian word you should know, which is tanca, t-a-n-c-a. Kevan Houser defines a tanca as a large holding of land - some of it cleared, some in a natural state, with woods, streams, boulders, and other elements - surrounded by a low wall for agricultural purposes, like grazing sheep.  Here’s a taste of the passage in Italian, and then in English. 

Elias Portolu reading  34:03
Now, Elias was finally back in the boundless solitude of the tanca, where the only signs of life were the cries and whistles of a shepherd, the tinkling bells of sheep and the bellowing of bulls. Thick woods of cork oak trees silhouetted the horizon framing the serene backdrop of the sky. The Portolu’s tanca had been mostly cleared of trees here earlier and now stretched out in the vast open sunbeaten expanse. Only the occasional Cork Tree rose up here and then amidst the green grasses, shrubs and brambles. 

Tender, delicate vegetation scented with mint and thyme graced the damp expanses. Only under the trees and in damp stretches did the grass remain green and cool. Although flat and unwooded, the tanca has secret recesses, rocks and bushes. At night, the scent of the Russian mint was almost irritating. The Portolus’ reasonably large flock pastured in the tanca. The sheep were plump with their long, thick fleeces. Elias felt physically well in the solitary and primitively beautiful place where he’d grown up, where he spent his early childhood. Day after day, he revisited and became reacquainted with every nook and cranny of the tanca. 

Meanwhile, perched unmoving on his rock, eyes glassy, Elias stared as if captivated by the moon’s sheer splendor, immersed in nebulous visions. It was the same bewilderment, buzzing, and vague dizziness he’d felt that first night of his return, in the little courtyard at home. The soft breeze rustling in the woods, far away, sounded to him like an indistinct voice, sweet one moment, frightening the next. What was it saying? What was the wind saying? What was the forest whispering?

Doug Still  36:22
Elias sought answers about what to do about his secret passion from the primal voices of his natural world. You’ll have to read the book to find out how he emerges from his dilemma. But in a general sense, shepherds are emblematic of that part of Sardinia that remains timeless. Tancas have been passed down from generation to generation. Anna Maria informed me that S’Ozzastru and its companion wild olive trees stand in a tanca as well, although this one is now owned by the local municipality. The trees have given shelter to shepherds who fiercely protect the landscape and their way of life. In turn, S’Ozzastru has been protected too. 

[sound of sheep bells]
 
Time for another short break. 

[This Old Tree theme music]

When we return the question is, will the ancient wild olives survive a new, more insidious threat: the effects of climate change? You’re listening to This Old Tree.

Doug Still  37:40
I was going to ask you, have there been any fires through here, low level ground fires? And how does the ground, you know, the field around the trees stay open?

Anna Maria Corda  38:08
Well, there haven't been fires here. Well, not to my memory, nor to the memories of people who live here. So I guess I don't know why. How can it be possible? Because in Sardinia, every year has a lot of problem with fires. So maybe, I guess, a bit of luck.

Doug Still  38:39
Well, S’Ozzastru and the Millennial Olive Trees of Luras may have been lucky, but the summer of 2021 was not so lucky for a 1,000 yr-old olive tree on the west coast of the island. A dramatic wildfire broke out in the Montiferru area of Oristano Province, forcing inhabitants of the towns of Cuglieri and Scano di Montiferru to flee their homes. 7,500 people from across Sardinia were employed to extinguish the fires, bolstered by planes and helicopters. Over 20,000 hectares burned, causing extensive damage. One of the biggest apparent losses, at least symbolically, was the Millennial Olive Tree of Sa Tanca Manna, a symbol of nearby Cuglieri. 

We decided to visit the site of the fire, and we were joined by three agronomists from AGRIS, the Agricultural Research Agency of Sardinia. Their names were Marco Campus, Fabio Piras, and Gianluigi Pili. Marco did the interpreting for us. Their jobs as researchers are to provide science and technological innovation to support the farming and forestry sectors. In particular, they are experts on oliviculture. They were kind enough to show us where the famous olive tree stood and talk about what happened. Despite the talk of drought and fires, it was absolutely pouring when we met. The sound you hear is the rain on the umbrellas we squeezed under.

(to the AGRIS researchers)
We are at the Olivastro di Tanca Manna, the Olive Tree of Tanca Manna, and I am with - could you state your names?

Marco Campus  40:19
Yeah, Marco Campus from AGRIS Sardinia. 

Fabio Piras  40:23
Fabio Piras, AGRIS Sardinia. 

Gianluigi Pili
Gianluigi Pili, AGRIS Sardinia.

Doug Still  40:27
Thank you so much for taking us out here today, and unfortunately, we are standing next to a burned tree. You had said that this tree was a becoming a tourist attraction? 

Marco Campus  40:43
Yeah, the municipality of Cuglieri was trying to use it as a tourist attraction because of the importance of this specimen. It was one of the largest in Sardinia and one of the most visited sites. Here, it was a “topos” in Latin, an important location.

Doug Still  41:07
How old do you estimate this tree is?

Marco Campus  41:13
Because of the hollow trunk, it's not easy to estimate the actual age, because you can’t count the rings, the growth rings. The circumference was about 10 meters, so it was 16 meters high. 

Doug Still  41:38
Do you have an estimate?

Gianliugi Pili  41:41
(speaking in Italian)

Marco Campus  41:44
1000 years old. Maybe millennial, yeah, 1000 years old. Unfortunately, in 2021 there was a huge fire that destroyed 13,000 hectares, mostly olive orchards. And unfortunately, the Olivastro di Tanca Manna, was lost in this fire.

Doug Still  42:09
Incredible. It must have been a gorgeous tree, because we can see the remnants of the large branches that fell in a circle all around the center of it. And I will share pictures of it on Instagram.

Marco Campus  42:24
Yeah, you can see the original tree, where it was in its full glory.

Doug Still  42:28
How did the fire start? Do we know?

Marco Campus  42:31
Yeah, the fire started a week before the main fire. It was a fire that was extinguished, but not completely. So the fire restarted. They started from Santo Lussurgio.

Doug Still  42:56
And all of these fields must have been on fire. Was it in the summer?

Marco Campus  42:59
Yeah, in August. It started in August. (discussion in Italian) No, July, July 2021.

Doug Still  43:03
Conditions were dry and hot? 

Marco Campus
Was dry, hot, yeah. 

Doug Still
According to many different climate models, the Mediterranean is considered a climate change “hotspot.” A researcher at MIT says the region will experience “the greatest decline of projected rainfall of any landmass on Earth.” Temperatures have already risen 1.6 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, and a rise of 2-3 degrees celsius is predicted by the year 2050. This will mean more extremes in storm-related precipitation as well as the increase of frequency and intensity of drought. The summer of 2021 saw a heatwave that was particularly bad, with record-breaking temperatures in Italy and Spain. Dry conditions caused numerous wildfires, particularly in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Over 800,000 hectares burned that summer around the Mediterranean, equivalent to 2 million acres or 3,000 square miles. Sardinia was primed for an outbreak. 

Marco Campus  44:17
There was also strong wind, so it propagated very quickly and in four or five days, all damage was done. 

Ed Nardell
Was life lost? 

Marco Campus
(discussion in Italian) No, no, fortunately, no life lost. Animals, of course, olive orchards and also vineyards and forest trees. The fire reached near the municipality of Cuglieri, and some houses were burned or severely damaged.

Doug Still  44:58
Were fires common in Sardinia in the past, historically?

Marco Campus  45:04
Yeah, almost every year we have problems with fire. Mainly human…

Doug Still  45:11
Okay.

Marco Campus  45:16
This particular fire started maybe from a car. It was parked, and the exhaust was very hot, so the straws burnt. 

Doug Still  45:32
Are olive trees resistant to fire?

Marco Campus  45:36
Not all olives are resistant, but in particular ancient specimens, because of the hollow trunk. It's very dry, so they burn easily. So much wide is the tree, and easily it burns.

Doug Still  45:59
So there's - there are spaces for the fire to get into the center of the tree where it's dry and old.  

Marco Campus  46:07
As a natural consequence of the growth of the olive, when the olive becomes very old, though the peripheral parts of the plants survive, it grows bigger and bigger, but the center remains. This is dry, so it burns easily.
As you can see, the external parts are all quite, quite, not damaged. But the inside of the trunk was all burned.

Doug Still  46:44
It's like a shell. [yeah] So what's being done to save this tree?

Marco Campus  46:55
To save the tree, they put a lot of water. They maybe saved the plant, because some sprouts grow from the ground, and..

Doug Still  47:07
You checked for the first sprouts and protected them?

Marco Campus  47:10
Yeah, they protect them from weather, from other agents that could potentially damage it.

Doug Still
Because the root system is still alive. 

Marco Campus
The roots are still alive, yeah, of course, yes.

Doug Still  47:22
I've grown a lot of trees from stump sprouts, and they grow fast, actually, once they get going.

Marco Campus  47:30
The direct connection with the roots are extensive, and you can see that the dimensions of the higher part of the tree there, it corresponds to the roots.

Doug Still  47:47
After the fire, botanists from the University of Caglieri looked closely at the remains of Olivastro di Tanca Manna, and discovered there was still photosynthetic activity below the bark of the stump remains. Botanists from the University of Sassari also got involved, along with volunteers from local villages, and the researchers from AGRIS. A series of measures were taken, including installing drip irrigation, mulch, and shading for the tender new shoots. They are also highly protected. Once signs of life appeared in earnest, they shared the good news with the public. In addition, the various organizations coalesced into a group called the Montiferru Association. Its goal is to support local farmers, restore the olive groves, raise money, and publicize the effort.

Marco Campus  48:40
There are two projects going on. One is Olivastri Secolari, the catalog and the maintenance of ancient trees. And the other is Montiferru. That is the recovery of local germ plasma propagation through grafting and rain plantation [sic]. Yeah. It's an initiative from the government of Sardinia, and its main aim was to propagate the local germplasm to make plants fundamentally by grafting, and give these plants to the growers so they can replace the trees they've lost during the fire. [Very nice]

Doug Still  49:21
The project “Olivastri Secolari,” which means “ancient olive trees,” blends botany and archaeology to study the history of both millennial cultivated and wild olive trees, including S’Ozzastru and the trees in Luras. More on their work in a bit. But the Montiferru Association is largely involved, of course, with the Progetto di Olivi Montiferru. Marco described it as a way to preserve the germplasm of local olive trees in the Montiferru region. In other words, they aim to perpetuate the genetic legacy of local olive varieties in the wake of this fire, and in preparation for future fires. They carefully track and propagate local varieties through grafting, and then distribute young trees to farmers. These free tree giveaways kicked off in 2025, and farmers had to apply. AGRIS provides technical and administrative support in addition to managing several long term studies. The new groves will be developed for the production of extra virgin olive oil and/or table olives. 

Ed Nardell
How is the market for olives in Sardinia?

Marco Campus  50:29
Now it's a small market. But we produce very high quality extra virgin olive oils. You know, the main producer in the Mediterranean basin is Spain, but the quality is not quite the same. 

Doug Still
Better here. 

Marco Campus
Let's say it's easier to make quality when you have small quantities, because you can take care of every aspect of the processing. So we can plan all the spaces and produce very high quality. And we are producing very high quality. They took prizes all over the world.

Doug Still  51:14
Marco, Fabio, and Gianluigi wanted to show us their tree nursery and local office, so we decided to get out of the rain and head to their facility in Oristano. There, we met Emanuele Cauli, the horticulturalist who manages the nursery. He brought us inside a giant covered staging area with row upon row of baby olive trees growing in small containers. Some were wild olives. Others were cultivated olives separated by variety, many of them grafted onto the root stock of wild olives to create trees more resilient to drought and diseases. It was really cool to be surrounded by all of these olive trees, and see the results of their hard work. We then sat down in the office to talk more about olive tree research. 

Emanuele Cauli 52:00
L’olea sylvatico, the old, the wild, olive in Sardinia is an ancient presence. (in Italian…)

Marco Campus  52:26
Emanuele is saying that olive is an ancient presence in Sardinia. And as Fabio said, archeological evidence dates back at least 10,000 years, maybe starting from the wild variety. Man has made a selection of the most favorable traits - larger fruits, resistant trees - and so the domestication happened. Specifically, the domestication of olive is “polycentric.” It means that it happened in different locations simultaneously. So maybe some varieties specific to Sardinia were selected locally.

Doug Still  53:22
Question for Fabio. There was an article, a paper you published with other co-authors recently about an archeological investigation in Sardinia, where you found and identified ancient fruit stones from olives. Could you describe that study and what some of your findings were?  

Marco Campus  53:53
(for Fabio Piras) This work deals with some findings in archeological sites where archeologists found ancient olive seeds, and this material was interesting because of the ancient origin. So AGRIS, with University of Cagliari, carried out research on this to find out if there were proximities with local varieties, for example.

Fabio Piras  54:27
(in Italian)

Marco Campus  54:32
Using image analysis techniques, they put together the morphological data coming from this material and known varieties, in order to find if there were correlations between this ancient material from an archeological point of view, but also for historical studies about domestication.

Doug Still  55:04
What was the period that you were studying?

Marco Campus
Nuragic.

Doug Still 55:14
How many varieties of olive trees do you think there are?

Marco Campus  55:19
There is a line of research which is carried out specifically by Gianluigi. We are trying to select varieties that spontaneously have grown in the wild, that are potentially new varieties because of this crossing between varieties with wild types. All the genetic work is still to be done. 

Doug Still  55:57
(to Gianluigi) So should we name it after you? [laughter]

Marco Campus  56:03
Yes, “Gianluigi” is the first variety that will be certified. These varieties have been selected by nature. It is very interesting, because potentially they could incorporate genes that are very interesting in the matter of climate change. Also in future scenarios of diseases or pests.

Doug Still  56:27
As natives of the island, can you all tell the difference between olive oil made from the different varieties or the wild olive and the grown olives?

Marco Campus  56:40
We can say that the same variety grown in different areas gives a different oil. This is because obviously of different soil characteristics, different climates, different rain fed - all these characteristics and microclimates give a different oil. In Montiferru, there are mainly three varieties cultivated. They are the Bosana, the most widespread in all Sardinia that gives a very strong oil with a very spicy, very bitter flavor. Another variety is the Semidana, which gives more equilibrated oil. And another variety that is used both for oil or for table olives, that is Manca, which has different names depending on the size.

Doug Still  57:45
In addition to Bosana, Semidana, and Manca - which I believe refers to the producer Domenico Manca that has won multiple awards at the World Olive Oil Competition - Fabio and Gianluigi stated their favorite variety is Nera di Villacidro, which they described as fruity, bitter, and spicy, truly unique. It is an award winning oil too.  It turns out, Marco, Fabio, and Gianluigi are official olive oil tasters. They make sure that olive oil produced locally meets the standards of Sardinia’s unique PDO designation, an acronym from the EU meaning  “Protected Designation of Origin.” We found this out when they took us out to lunch after our site meeting. Marco demonstrated how to properly taste olive oil using the bottle on the table before us. I wish I had recorded it, but at the time my hands were warming a paper cup of the oil before sipping it into my mouth loudly, with the proper aeration. Marco described the flavor as a combination of artichoke, with notes of tomato plant leaves. I’m not sure I ever would have come up with that, but once he said it I realized he had hit the flavor on the nose. 

After the wonderful lunch and buzzing on Vermentino, we thanked them profusely for their warm hospitality and conversation. The topic of olive history fills books, and the history is still being written. 

But, as they say, “All history is local.” So that brings me back to the tanca in Luras with S’Ozzastru and Anna Maria Corda.

(to Anna Maria) 
This tree was the tree of the year in Italy, wasn't it?

Anna Maria Corda  59:31
Yes, yeah, it was a competition last year…

Doug Still  59:35
…and then it was nominated for the European Tree of the Year, but didn't win.

Anna Maria Corda  59:39
It didn't win, no. I guess it was third, I don't remember how it came.  

Doug Still  59:46
Yeah, and that's how I learned about it. 

Thankfully, the tree is being looked after by multiple groups, especially people from the University of Sassari.

Anna Maria Corda  59:56
Of course, and since the University of Sassari, it's the agronomists, they are always checking that it's in good health.

Doug Still  1:00:07
It was they who put in the fence.

Anna Maria Corda  1:00:11
Since we started protecting it, well, I have never seen it so beautiful. The foliage is really, really beautiful now.

Doug Still  1:00:20
You really saw a response to the fence being built.

Anna Maria Corda  1:00:25
Well, yeah, I saw a difference because I was, well, I grew up here. I grew up in this area. I grew up in Luras, so I saw it earlier, before it was fenced. I was one of the kids who approached it and played under it. But maybe it was a problem to grow new branches, new twigs. And there's a big difference - from here, you could see the trunk. You see, now, you cannot see it.

Doug Still  1:01:00
So when you were growing up, you could see the trunk from here?! Because now we can't see anything.

Anna Maria Corda  1:01:05
Exactly. When I was growing up, when I was a kid, we could approach this tree, we could play under it, and you could see the trunk. Yes, of course. Because maybe for the presence of men, the presence of human people inhibited the growth of other branches.

Doug Still  1:01:30
And probably the soil, too, is now protected. 

Anna Maria Corda
Yeah, yeah, exactly. 

Doug Still
What do you love most about it?

Anna Maria Corda  1:01:38
Well, I love the country. When I was a little kid, I was often in the country. I played a lot in the country, and I've always known it as a big tree. I had no idea how it could be so old. I like that. You know, some people say trees have some energy, and gives you energy as a gift. So you breathe, breathe good! Oxygen is good here. I've worked in an office before. I work now also as a translator, and I worked with a computer.

Doug Still
So this is way better. 

Anna Maria Corda
Yeah, I like it so much to be here to talk to people, to talk about the country and the little animals. And I also love caterpillars, though I don't love them… [laughs]

Doug Still  1:02:39
…yes, the caterpillars on our arms right now. Well, grazie mille for meeting with me today to talk about S’Ozzastru, the great, the wild olive tree

Anna Maria Corda
Wild, yeah. 

[This Old Tree theme music]

Doug Still
It's absolutely beautiful. Thank you for your time.

Anna Maria Corda  1:02:55
And thank you for being here and for choosing to know, to get to know the story, the history. Thank you.

Doug Still 1:03:10
Will the olive trees survive? With the efforts being taken, I’m optimistic they will. 

There’s a saying in Sardu about olive tree longevity.  “Su olivu vivit cantu su padronu morit.” The olive tree lives as long as its owner dies. I’ve come up with another saying. “As the olive tree endures, so the Sardinian lives.”

[launeddas music]

Thank you tree lovers, for joining me to learn about S’Ozzastru - The Great Patriarch Olive Tree of Luras, The Patriarch of Nature, or simply the Wild Olive. I hope all of my Italian and Sardinian pronunciations weren’t too painful for native speakers. I’d like to offer a very warm thank you to Anna Maria Corda for hosting us at Olivastri Millenari di Luras and teaching us all about the famous tree. Also, the dedicated researchers at AGRIS were incredibly generous with their time as well. It was an honor to meet Marco Campus, Fabio Piras, Gianlugi Pili, and Emanuele Cauli on location in Montiferru and Oristano. 

The unusual and resonant music we’ve been listening to is played by Luigi Lai on the launeddas, an ancient Sardinian reed instrument consisting of three pipes. The Nuraghi played them, as evidenced by a small bronze statuette of a man playing the launeddas found in the archaeological museum in Cagliari. Luigi Lai is a 93 yr-old musician who has dedicated his life to playing this fascinating music and passing it on to later generations. I emailed with him, and he kindly gave permission to use his recordings for this episode. The vocals are contributed by a group called “Su Dillu,” whose pastoral songs in the “Cantu a tenore” tradition constitute some of the most ancient polyvocal music in the Mediterranean area. Thank you Luigi and Su Dillu, for sharing your music. 

The sensitive reading from the novel Elias Portolu was contributed by Manuela Buonanno, and thanks to Kevan Houser for sharing his translation. The show’s theme music is by Dee Lee. I’ll post pictures of S’Ozzatru, the Olivastro di Tanca Manna, and our guests on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks. The show website is thisoldtree.show, where you can find more information and the show transcript. 

I’m Doug Still, and you’ve been listening to This Old Tree. Until next time!