The kissing Olive trees

The kissing Olive trees in Puglia, Italy.

In Puglia, many of the Olive trees stand like sculptures and are unbelievably old - we are talking about thousands of years old! Their age are depicted through their twisted trunks that have evolved over centuries to form unique patterns of knots and gnarls. In fact, Olive trees twist clockwise and there are different theories as to why this occur.

Some think it is related to the earth's gravity force, while others believe it's due to the rotation of the earth or the direction of the wind. Some even suggest that it takes on the helix shape of human DNA. These distorted structure have however toughened the tree trunk, rendering it thick, sturdy and capable of remaining undisturbed for so long. Out of the 60 million Olive trees in Puglia, 5 million are classified as monuments and are protected by the local government. They even bear metal tags with identification numbers so they can be located.

Alessandra (@ale.wood.74)