Sardinian Village Tries to Save an Ancient Tree Scorched by Fire

A team of experts, with the help of local residents and authorities, is trying to revive an ancient olive tree in the hilltop village of Cuglieri that was engulfed in a catastrophic wildfire.

To the people of Cuglieri, a small hilltop village on the Italian island of Sardinia, the tree was simply “the Patriarch.” Over the course of its long life — estimates of its age range from 1,800 to 2,000 years old — the olive tree became a behemoth, with a trunk 11 feet, or 3.4 meters, wide, and an integral part of an ancient landscape in western Sardinia. But after a large area of vegetation and numerous farms and villages in the region were devastated by one of the biggest wildfires in decades, time finally caught up with the Patriarch. The ancient olive tree was engulfed in flames, and its giant trunk burned for almost two days.