Umbrella pines in Villa Borghese, one of Rome's historic parks
They are as distinctive a feature of Rome as buzzing Vespas and ruined temples.
But the city’s iconic umbrella pines, which cast welcome pools of shade across cobbled streets in summer and provide a stage for the metallic rasping of countless cicadas, are in mortal peril.
An estimated one million umbrella pines – so named for their flat-topped crowns – are under threat from a voracious species of bug.
The insect, known as the pine tortoise scale (Latin name Toumeyella parvicornis) arrived in Italy from North America in 2014, possibly in a consignment of timber.
Since then it has ravaged umbrella pines in Naples and the surrounding region of Campania and has now moved north to Rome.
More than 30 environmental organisations raised the alarm this week, writing an open letter to the agriculture and environment ministries calling for urgent action to be taken to combat the insidious invader.
The associations called for “immediate intervention” to try to halt the march of the insect, which feeds off the trees’ sap, slowly turning its canopy from a healthy green to a deathly black.
They warned that “the landscape of the capital risks being changed irreparably in just a few months” as a result of the bugs’ relentless progress.
Healthy umbrella pines in front of the Vittoriano monument in Piazza Venezia in central Rome
Credit: Nick Squires
The authorities had failed to take “urgent and necessary measure” to address the scourge, they added.
From public parks and private gardens to streets and patches of forest along the coast near Rome, more than a million umbrella pines are at risk.
They provide a backdrop to many of Rome’s most celebrated sights, from the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum to the Appian Way, a stretch of ancient Roman road.
“These bugs are a bit like the coronavirus – they spread exponentially and they are very aggressive,” Natalie Naim, a local politician, told The Telegraph.
“They kill the pine tree very quickly, then they move onto other trees. There are more than a million umbrella pines in and around Rome so the threat to the landscape is huge.”
There is a way of combating the bugs – trees can be treated with insecticides and the canopies sprayed with high-pressure jets of water mixed with soap.
The Vatican has had success experimenting with this method, saving many of the umbrella pines within its walls.
“But Rome city council and the regional government of Lazio have done practically nothing,” said Ms Naim, an opposition councilor.
“It’s not because of a lack of money — the council has spent millions of euros cutting down trees that are deemed to have made roads and pavements uneven. It’s a question of mentality – in Italy we don’t manage our trees, we cut them down.”
Healthy umbrella pines in Piazza Venezia, central Rome
Credit: Nick Squires
As the world learns more of the connection between the destruction of the environment and the emergence of viruses such as Covid-19, preserving trees has become even more important, she said.
“The pines act as natural ventilators. Studies have shown that mature trees can reduce the temperature of urban areas by up to five degrees centigrade.”
The city council maintains that it is taking action. Earlier this month, a pilot project was launched to test out various methods for tackling the non-native insect.
It involves 200 pines in a public rose garden that overlooks the Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman stadium where charioteers once raced. The €75,000 project will last two months.
“The aim is to treat groups of trees with different methods to work out which is most effective,” said Laura Fiorini, a city councilor in charge of environmental issues.
But it may be too little, too late, says Ms Naim. “They’ve known about this threat since 2014 but they did nothing. Rome was once a pearl but it has become increasingly neglected. It just won’t be the same if it loses a million pine trees.”
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