Olivier millénaire de Filitosa

Sollacaro

Among the granite statue-menhirs that have brought worldwide fame to the prehistoric site of Filitosa, in Corse-du-Sud, grows an olive tree whose age, like that of the neighbouring sculptures, is counted in millennia. Rooted some thousand years ago in the midst of this Bronze Age sanctuary, where Torrean tribes raised warrior figures carved in the rock, this broad, gnarled olive has grown up surrounded by the remains of a vanished civilisation. Its tormented trunk, hollowed and misshapen by the centuries, has wrapped itself around the neighbouring stone blocks, blurring the boundary between plant and mineral, between human handiwork and living thing. Visitors who today walk the five hectares of the archaeological site, open to the public since the excavations led by Roger Grosjean in the mid-20th century, come upon this tree like a silent sentinel, contemporary with several civilisations that followed one another on this promontory above the Taravo valley. Photographed by night as by day, it has become one of the most recognisable symbols of prehistoric Corsica, embodying single-handedly the permanence of the olive, the Mediterranean tree par excellence, at the heart of a landscape shaped by five millennia of human history.

Getting there : Prehistoric site of Filitosa, commune of Sollacaro, Corse-du-Sud

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound