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Theme Trails – The Historical Sonvico Nature Trail

Stage 21: The Chestnut Wood of Pian Piret

At this stop we can observe a plantation of chestnuts that is still as it was run in the past. In the chestnut woods the trees are panted at a good distance from each other.

The chestnut is not an indigenous tree: The Romans introduced it to our latitudes at the beginning of the Christian era, about 2'000 years ago. This kind of tree had a very important role in the past, both as source of food and a source of raw material, therefore, was considered as the "tree" par excellence. With the passing of time the chestnut lost its importance from an alimentary and economic point of view. At the end of the last century the transition to an agriculture based on the cultivation of corn marked the end of the exploitation of this tree. Today, with the chestnut woods no longer being cultivated indigenous species such as Lime, Beech, Ash, and Birch have settled themselves into these chestnut woods.

This way the ground gets sufficient light to develop a herbaceous layer which in the past was used as pasture. The trees belong to a grafted variety of fruit: in some of the trees, if you look closely, it still is possible to see the cleft of the graft. The grafts were made with different species. Each species had a particular use: the smaller chestnuts were milled for flour for the production of bread, others were dried, and some were eaten fresh. A recent survey established that there are more than 120 species of fruiting chestnuts in Ticino. The trees were pruned so to stimulate the growth of new branches and to obtain firewood and timber. The pruning was made in a way that the animals at pasture could not reach the buds on the remaining branches. The particular shape and structure of chestnut forests are precisely due to this practice. Managed this way the trees produced enough fruit to feed the population for more than six months a year. Additionally, they were used to produce firewood and bedding for the animals. Nothing of what the chestnut produces was left unused.  

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1. Related Excursions

   The Historical Sonvico Nature Trail
   Stage 1: Well and "Riaron"
   Stage 2: House of Reason
   Stage 3: Graad
   Stage 4: Cassinel
   Stage 5: The mixed broadleaf woods
   Stage 6: Geological oddities
   Stage 7: Mill and bridge
   Stage 8: The glade in the wood
   Stage 9: The torrent Franscinone
   Stage 10: Wash-house
   Stage 11: The birds of the wood
   Stage 12: The eroded valley of the Franscinone
   Stage 12: Water and energy
   Stage 13: The edge of the flood-level wood
   Stage 14: Dairy farm for the processing of milk
   Stage 15: Lime-kiln
   Stage 16: The rural area
   Stage 17: The Humid area of Canéed
   Stage 18: The earth kiln for charcoal production
   Stage 19: Terracing
   Stage 20: Madonna d'Arla
   Stage 22: The Beechwood
   Stage 23: The Boulder with Engraved Cupels
   Stage 23: I Denti della Vecchia
   Stage 24: R’Alborón
   Stage 25: The Oratory of S. Martino
   Stage 26: The old center of Sonvico
   Stage 27: The Walnut Press
   Stage 28: The Church of Saint John the Baptist

2. How to arrive

   The Luganese Regional Bus Line covers the Lugano – Sonvico stretch; from Val Colla you can reach Sonvico, using the postal bus from Tesserete to Sonvico.

   Journey by public transports!

3. Signalization

   

4. Download

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