Cypress in the tuscan landscape as sign of harmony between culture and work: protection and enhancement

In Tuscany, the cypress has become over time an essential and irreplaceable element of the rural landscape, in woodland stands, as a structural element of avenues and parks, as a tree of use in agricultural activity and, set in isolation or in clusters, as a graveyard tree par excellence, a sentinel keeping watch over sacred places. The Authors describe some significant examples of the role of the cypress in landscape, in historic gardens and in art, religion, craft work and agriculture as well. Attention is drawn to the danger represented by cypress canker disease, which has inflicted dramatic damage on cypress throughout the Mediterranean area since the 1950s, from Portugal to Greece. In Tuscany, after a number of outbreaks occurred in the past decade, the disease keeps on to be extremely aggressive, its destructive attacks in many cases severely impairing the aesthetic appearance of the landscape. Since 1975, the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante of the National Research Council (CNR), assisted by other research institutions and funded by EU, Regional and Provincial Councils, has been engaged in the endeavour to safeguard the cypress heritage. Over twenty years of research has led to knowledge on host and pathogen biology and on interaction between the two bionts. In addition, canker resistant common cypress clones have been selected and patented, and a series of targeted projects have been set up with the aim of restoring and safeguarding cypress stands affected by the pathogen, through sanitation and use of canker resistant trees to replace those felled and removed.