I just saw this video and read the page

http://goodlady.hubpages.com/video/How-to-Care-For-Fig-Trees


It is stated that it is a wild fig, so I wonder if in Italy many seedlings can bear decent fruit. I wonder if there are pollinating wasps in Italy as most trees are common trees. In Northern Italy winters can be cold and I wonder what is the survival strategy for the wasps (also in Turkey and Greece winters can be cold especially on the mountains).

Anyway love that tree shape. looks like a tropical banyan.
look at all the photos. click on one to look at the rest, not too obvious.

Wow!  I loved that video!  And the comments after!  People do not realize the damage a fig tree roots can do to structures.  You need to put the in-ground trees far from any structure.

Wish i had one of those figs!  Beautiful!

Suzi

Thank u for sharing

I read somewhere that in Greece figs are usually pollinated and in Italy they are more common. Anyway I saw a common fig in Milan growing on an old wall 10 ft above the ground, no soil, at a garden center. Associate told me it was a wild fig and that probably a bird dropped a seed up there. 

In Milan winters can be cold, I was told of a week of -20C nights. So can the fig wasp overwinter somehow in cold climates? That tree in the video is in Tuscany that has mild winters but still some freezes.

Based on its origin (if it was actually in Tuscany, Italy), leaf shape and the fruit shape, I am leaning towards the "Blk Tuscan". Leaves of that tree matches the leaves on my Blk Tuscan plant exactly.
Also, its fruit's characteristics- the exterior ribs, color and semi-flattened fruit, do also resemble what my original plant of Blk Tuscan used to produce. Anyway, great video and thank you for sharing it with us, stefpix.

Navid.

I wonder how old is that tree and if it was grown from seed. I like that look with a single trunk. That place is Tuscany and looks like Tuscany.

http://www.maremmaguide.com/

I would love to air layer some branches from that tree!

It has all these suckers along the way and they chopped some branches. Wonder if cuttings with no roots nor soil could be sent between countries  she has a B&B business on that farm, so there is contact info. I am sure she has extra cuttings from such a huge tree.

Beautiful to see fig trees growing in their natural habitat.  That old fig tree looks like it needs to be growing in that kind of rustic countryside...dry, sunny, and hot.  The leaves look like thin leather.

Stefano...The Bronx, and Brooklyn are not Tuscany, and it's a miracle that we can grow such nice trees in NYC...and eat such a delicious fruit!  I can't understand how anyone could not like a sweet, honey-thick fig.


Thanks for the brief vacation to my ancestral land...Italy.



Frank

Thanks for  posting that link . That tree is phenomenal !

Frank, Milan and the Po river valley have a very different climate than southern Tuscany, yet I saw many figs in Milan. 

I was checking the weather and winter averages are the same between NYC and Milan, just Milan has a warmer spring and NY  a warmer early fall. NYC may have more extreme lows in the winter but it is a lot drier than humid Milan. Also I read that NYC has 2500 average sun hours while Milan has 1900. So figs' natural habitat change. I am just wondering if in Northern Italy the fig was is present. 

I have seen fig trees in Montreal *but with weak trunks. 

I loved this fig tree at some beer garden in Milan. very gnarly trunk. in a hurry no time to look for a close up

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/561105_10151251110523066_1019466128_n.jpg

What a neat picture!  I love the old dude on the bench by the tree, and all the stuff in the background.  A little slice of life in Italy!

Suzi

Stefano...

Your descriptions of the different climates in Italy had me completely surprised!  I had no idea that the climates can be so similar to the climates in NYC.  Judging by your statistics, NYC is not so bad after all for growing figs.

Knowing this, I feel more inspired to grow heirloom, Italian figs that have proven to be winners in my NYC climate.  I will look more closely at all the backyard figs in my area.

I have noticed something, and I'm not sure that this has happened in past years, in my area of The Bronx, but many trees are NOT ripening figs.  The figs have stayed green, and are not maturing on far too many of the trees.  I seriously doubt they they will ripen at this point.  I wonder why?  I made some mental notes, and I will check these trees out next season.

Thank-you for the very interesting information, and I look forward to some new postings when you find more special, backyard treasures.

Frank

I really didn't know.  Whenever I think of Italy, and figs...I just envision olive trees, grape vines, dry rocky soils, blinding sun, and heat...and, more heat.  Sort of like Don Ciccio's garden in the Godfather-ll.

Live and learn.

F

I know for shure that the southern part of Italy indeed does have the wasp. My fathers orchard in Bari had both the wasp and caprifig.    Angelo zone 7A NY

My folks came from the Adriatic side, just twenty miles south of the latitude on which Rome sits, and it gets plenty of snow. 

Dale - central Italy is mostly Apennine mountains so there is elevation and snow. Climate in Italy changes South of Emilia Romagna. Bologna is still cold in the winter but Florence is a lot milder even if the distance is not big, but they are separated by a mountain pass. 
anyway climate in Milano, the city is warmer and less foggy than the surrounding area.
you can look at temperature / humidity etc,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan#Climate

but north of Milano there is in Switzerland by lake Lugano an area with a warm microclimate where many palm trees are thriving.


I remember many nights in Milan of -9 / -10 C  = 14 F. But average winter days are  usually warmer than NYC, but it can vary. I just feel there spring and fall are both  longer and both come earlier. 

As a kid I went to Pantelleria that is an island south of Sicily halfway from Tunisia (must be like Malta climate wise). I remember warm dry wind and caper plants / vines all over. Very different climate. Drier. 

Po Valley that is the largest valley (and Europe's  largest rice producing area) in Italy is humid, not dry like most of the Mediterranean coat

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/archiv_sensut/umwelt/uisonline/envibase/handbook/climate3.htm

Description of the Problem

The city of Milan is situated in the central-western area of the Po Valley. The area is surrounded by Brianza hills on the northern side and plains on the other three sides. The topography is quite simple, with an average altitude of 100 m. The altitude sharply increases as it extends north beyond Brianza hills until reaching the Alps, over 3,000 m high and only 200 km from Milan.

Milan has a typical continental climate. Generally winters are quite cold and foggy and summers warm and humid; autumn and spring are characterised by highly changeable weather conditions with more frequent precipitation in September and October.

The Alps and Apennines that surround the Po Valley form the physical barriers that protect the area from the major circulations coming from Europe and the Mediterranean.

The presence of a large, densely urbanised centre has, as is well known, a considerable influence on microclimatic conditions, both in terms of temperature and wind fields. The examination of measured data in Milan points out a typical effect of metropolitan areas, the so-called "heat island" phenomenon, due to different anthropogenic causes such as multiple reflection between vertical walls of buildings, the turbulence caused by buildings, the production of energy generated by industry, heating plants, etc.

Moreover, the presence of the large, densely populated centre determines marked deviations in prevailing winds entering the city. The analysis of wind direction measured at different monitoring stations in the city shows that the degree of deviation from the original direction depends on the location of the station and on the developing direction, with a tendency to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction in relation to the city centre.

The Italian laws in the environmental field don’t include specific rules to protect climate on the local scale; in fact, its protection is indirectly committed to air quality legislation, which is generally focused on emissions and emissions control.