An extraordinary tree known as the Witches’ Oak, the tree that inspired Pinocchio. It is located in the middle of a forest, on the hills located between Monte Pisano and Collodi
For those who find themselves staying or simply passing through the Capannori area, it is worth stopping to admire the monumental oak in the hamlet of Gragnano, on the border with San Martino in Colle.
The oak
It has impressive proportions: 24 meters high, its trunk has a diameter of 4.5 meters (to hug it there must be at least five people) and it has hair that reaches 40 meters in diameter (national record as regards oaks).
His age is a mystery: it is hypothesized that he is even around 600 years old
Recognized as a monumental tree of Italy and appears in maps Born as a military trigonometric point.
THE LEGENDS
The particular shape of the plant has sparked popular imagination, so much so that two legends are attributed to it.
According to the first, the oak was the meeting point for the witches who used to dance and perform their rites on it. The continued presence of witches on the foliage prevented the tree from developing completely in height, so it took on its characteristic “flattened” shape with some practically horizontal branches.
It is for this reason that it is commonly called “Witches’ Oak”.
The second legend connects the oak tree to the novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio. Story of a puppet”.
This would be the “Big Oak” where Pinocchio was hanged by the assassins who wanted to steal his four gold coins and near which the puppet then met the Cat and the Fox, who convinced him to bury the money in the Field of Miracles in the city of Acchiappacitrulli where, according to them, a tree full of gold coins would have grown.
For this reason the tree is also called “Pinocchio’s Oak”.
Still regarding Pinocchio, it is thought that, in the author’s mind, the Land of Toys was a representation of Lucca September, the month in which the nearby city comes alive with fairs and numerous initiatives; from this perspective, the tree would be found exactly along the route that connects the nearby town of Collodi to Lucca.
It is located in the municipality of Capannori, in the Gragnano area (it is for this reason called Quercione di Gragnano), in the park of Villa Carrara in Gragnano, and to get there you have to follow an itinerary that winds through a forest. There are many tourists and hikers who occasionally pass by and stop to admire this wonderful tree and take some souvenir photos.
For a few moments, at the foot of its imposing and majestic hair, you will feel as if you are immersed in a fairy tale from times gone by.
During the Second World War, the Nazis wanted to demolish it to obtain a large quantity of firewood, but fortunately, thanks to the mobilization of the local inhabitants, the project failed.
Il Quercione
Location San Martino in Colle – Gragnano
Capannori (Lucca)
Tuscany – Iyaly