They call Rome the “Eternal City.” It’s been around as long as anyone can remember, bearing witness to most of recorded human history. As the seat of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, and the conquerors of Western civilization, the Romans made a lasting mark on the whole world.
I had the tremendous opportunity to visit Rome last week. Our son is studying in Italy this semester, so my family flew over to spend Thanksgiving with him. Always keeping an eye out for new things to learn, I noticed an abundance of large and unusual pine trees everywhere. Then, during a tour of Vatican City, our guide pointed out a 13-foot tall, 2,000-year-old bronze sculpture of a pinecone. The sculpture was touted as a symbol of Rome, which of course got me curious. The pinecone’s formal name is the “Fontana della Pigna,” (Fountain of the Pinecone), as it originally spouted water from the top. The fountain was first located adjacent to the Temple of Isis in the Pantheon. In the Middle Ages, it was claimed by the Catholic Church and moved to St. Peter’s Basilica (the old one) and relocated to its current location at the “new” Basilica in the early 1600s.
It makes sense that an Eternal City might identify with an evergreen tree species. Pines don’t “die” in the winter like other trees, keeping their brilliant green needles throughout even the harshest winter weather. According to the Vatican website, the pinecone sculpture “represents immortality and rebirth.” The sculptor, Publius Cincius Savius, created this unique masterpiece 1800 years ago. The sculpture is extraordinarily realistic, albeit giant. In fact, it is so striking that Dante, the author of literature classic The Divine Comedy, Inferno, mentions it in his book. Referring to the biblical character Nimrod, Dante writes, “His face was long and big like St. Peter’s pine cone.” Dante visited St. Peter’s during a religious pilgrimage—the first one, in 1300 AD—known as Jubilee. In a full circle moment, during our trip the Vatican was preparing for the Jubilee in 2025, when millions of additional visitors will visit Rome.
The iconic pine trees I noticed in Rome are different than their cousins we see in northwest Florida. This tall, crown-spreading Mediterranean variety is known as the umbrella pine or stone pine (Pinus pinea). These trees have a long and important history in Rome, being used for millennia for harvesting pine nuts (an important ingredient in pesto!) and in shipbuilding—especially masts.
Unfortunately, even an evergreen in an Eternal City isn’t immune to attack by invasive species. This time, it’s an insect from our region, the North American pine tortoise scale (Toumeyella parvicornis). Only present in Italy for a decade, the insect has caused widespread damage and destruction. The most recent survey showed 80% of pines in the region were affected by the scale. Scale insects suck the sap from living trees, and the production of the waste product—sooty mold—impedes photosynthesis.
The height (up to 80’) of many of the trees makes treatment difficult, but the city of Rome has been aggressively proactive in treating pines within city management, such as parks and street trees. All of them have been injected with a pesticide to try and hold insect damage at bay. They are optimistic that a biological control beetle or wasp will also help manage the destruction, allowing this ancient species to carry on.
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