The chestnut tree that grows near Vallupo, is estimated to be 400 years old and is included in the list of green patriarchs, the centuries-old trees preserved and protected by law 10/2013 of the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
The centuries-old chestnut trees have wrinkled and cracked barks, full of cavities and fissures, which can offer shelter and food to various animal species. One of these is the treecreeper, a species of bird which builds its nest behind detached strips of bark and extracts insects and spiders from the cracks in the chestnut tree’s trunk. Among the other species which make this tree their home are the stag beetle - a beetle whose larvae are xylophagous, feeding on the rotting wood of the trunks, - the great spotted woodpecker, the green woodpecker and the tawny owl, which nests in the larger cavities.
