Do you know the history of the Pi d’en Xandri, one of the natural icons of the city of Sant Cugat? Is a stone pine of 23 meters high and more than 230 years old.
Location
Pi d’en Xandri is located within the Torre Negra Rural Park, a prelude to the more protected Collserola Natural Park. This natural area is ideal to disconnect, go jogging, cycling or horseback riding. If you come to discover it, you can see natural and cultural spaces worthy of contemplation, such as the medieval building of the Torre Negra and a great variety of flora and fauna.
History of Pi d’en Xandri
Pi d’en Xandri is one of the oldest pine trees in Catalonia and an ecological, cultural and historical symbol of Sant Cugat del Vallès. Moreover, it is estimated to be about 234 years old and was born around 1774, in the middle of the modern period and has lasted until today.
This natural icon has a considerable height, about 23 meters, and a trunk of 3.20 meters in diameter. Its crown is 21 meters wide and has a peculiar, umbrella-like shape. Pi d’en Xandri lost part of its branches and adopted its current shape because of the snow that accumulated on Christmas Eve 1962, when it snowed heavily all over the Vallès region. Not many years ago, in 1997, some vandals tried to cut it down and burn it. Even though they failed in their purpose, from that moment on, it was necessary to reinforce the pine tree with wooden poles to help it hold on and recover from the attack, which are still necessary today.
As a curiosity, the area where the tree is located has been urbanized on several occasions, but citizen protests stopped the project and achieved the conservation of the landscape.
Have you ever visited it? You can’t miss it!
