Rogolone and Rogolino

Rogolone and Rogolino are two monumental oak specimens, also known by the dialectal names Rugulon e Rugulin.
They are located in the municipality of Grandola ed Uniti, in 450 m altitude, in a clearing in the hamlet Velzo, near the "Bosco Impero" location.

The Rogolone, in particular, is a centuries-old oak tree of exceptional size: 8 m by circumference e 25 m by height, making it the largest oak tree in northern Italy and one of the most majestic in Europe. The tree, owned by the Italia Nostra association, has been protected as a National Monument since December 18, 1928, and has also been the symbol of the Val Sanagra Museum since 2001.

The large size of the two trees has, over the centuries, fed legends and beliefs about their age: until a few years ago, the Rogolone was thought to be centuries old, with an age reaching hundreds or even thousands of years. Popular tradition associated it with the place where, in the year 1530, elders from neighboring towns gathered to mark the boundaries between territories. According to other interpretations, the two trees would have been the landmark of an ancient location where, in ancient times, a pagan festival was celebrated in honor of spring, accompanied by magical-religious rituals. Numerous legends are associated with the great Rogolone. Until the 1980s, some believed that the tree was about 1,500 years old.

The controversy over its origins was resolved in 1988, when Italia Nostra organized a celebration at the Rogolone, entitled "The Rugulon: history of a tree," during which the results of the dating performed by the Lausanne Dendrochronological Laboratory were made public. Thanks to this study, it was discovered that the Rogolone grew from 1730, so it is about 280 years old, while the Rogolino, which dates back to 1820, is about 90 years younger.