Excursions out of Florence - Monte Morello and the sad story of the black pines

Monte Morello is the highest mountain (934 mt) among those close to the city, easily reachable in half an hour by car or by bus, and is the favorite destination of Florentines for nature walks and picnics. You can find meadows, equipped paths, breathtaking views and a dense forest of black pines, oaks, cypresses, silver firs and hazelnuts.
In recent years, due to the mountains depopulation (all ruins or holiday homes now), the forest has grown large and many animals have appeared: pheasants, wild boars, foxes, red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, skunks, badgers, stone martens, porcupines and, inevitably with such a plenty of food, the wolf. Among the prey birds, the buzzard and the kestrel.
Poggio all'Aia, the summit where a large wooden cross rises, has always been very popular because it has been attributed a mystical and spiritual value.

The limestone rocks of which the mountain  is composed, in particular the Alberese stone, were used to make lime and as building stone, especially in Prato and Pistoia, while in Florence only the Certosa del Galluzzo is made with this material.
A characteristic of the area is the presence, favored by the soil and climate, of wild orchids that have found their natural habitat here: the Webb Hyacinth (Bellevalia webbiana Parl), the Mantagon Lily (Lilium Mantagon L.), the Cinnabar Orchid (Ophrys cinnabarina Romolina & Soca), the Scorched Orchid (Neotinea ustulata), the Wasp Flower Ofrys (Ophrys tenthredinifera Willd).

The name "Morello" (moro means dark), which dates back to before 1000, refers to the appearance it already had in ancient times, all covered with woods. But that wasn't always the case. Targioni Tozzetti, a famous Florentine naturalist of the 1700s, states that in the 13th century, at the time of the great plague epidemics, all the trees on the mountain were cut to allow the north winds to "purify" the city, because it was thought that the stagnation air favored disease. In reality, the woods were cut to provide timber for Florentine construction. In fact, the Morello firs provided the beams for all the historic buildings in Florence, including the Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti. At the beginning of the 1900s the slopes were still barren and deforested, continuously producing landslides caused by the water eroded ground.
In 1919, a reforestation campaign was started, which was only completed in 1970. For this purpose was used the black pine (Pinus Nigra), a plant  that manages to settle before others on shallow and poor soils, thus producing humus and making them suitable for other species.
Black pine, however, prefers siliceous soils, not limestone such as Morello. On top of that, these trees have been planted in high density, so they have grown “tall and thin”, up to 30 m high and above, beautiful but weak and easy prey of fungi and parasitic insects. As a result, they are all dying. The 4-month drought that occurred in 2003 made the situation worse.
To get to Monte Morello, Take the old road to Bologna, after 20 km crossroads on the left for Monte Morello.
In the photo above:  snow-capped summit in Monte Morello.