The thousand-year-old larch still is the oldest tree, of ascertained age, present in Italy.
They say that hugging trees has therapeutic power over human health. Imagine the energy that a larch born in 1007 can transmit to you. It is still alive and is in good health, at an altitude of 2160 m. Anchored at the roots, the trees do not move. They get their own nourishment thanks to chlorophyll, transforming solar energy into organic matter. They do not have a heart, two eyes or two legs yet they exert great fascination on man. This special tree, which survived for over 1000 years under severe conditions at high altitude, has many things to tell. It is not alone: there are many other trees, mostly larches and some Swiss stone pines, all with a different destiny, struck by lightning, avalanches and boulders or smashed by the wind, which almost resemble whitened fossils. For several years researchers at Padua, Pavia and Turin Universities have been studying this handful of trees to transcribe what they tell us. To reach the thousand-year-old larch it takes just 40 minutes from Gerli-Porro and Ventina shelters. An easy hike along a scenic route: a wild and solitary place, which invites you to reflect on the nature of things, on life and the time that runs.