Not far from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence is a park called Giardino del Bobolino, home to a California incense-cedar tree (Calocedrus decurrens) that in recent decades has become the subject of some quirky local lore.

The Calocedro del Bobolino is approximately 150-200 years old, a relatively young specimen—in their native Pacific Northwest, Calocedrus decurrens can live 500 to 1,000 years—likely planted in the mid-1800s during expansion of this part of Florence. In 1985, violent winds damaged the tree’s trunk, resulting in its current appearance and subsequent nickname: l’albero dei cornuti, or cuckold’s tree. It’s a playful interpretation of the branches’ resemblance to horns and their traditional, if complex and historically murky, associations with infidelity.

Horns have long been considered lucky and protective. In ancient Rome, horn-shaped amulets were worn to protect against an array of perceived malignant forces, including envy (invidia) and the evil eye (il malocchio). Symbolically related is the hand gesture known as the sign of the horns, or gesto delle corna, popular in rock music culture but originally having nothing to do with Satan or devil worship. Rather, the gesture reflects the same protective symbolism and invocation of good luck as horns. Some Italians still make the gesto to counter bad luck, sometimes when receiving a compliment: in popular folk belief, compliments can attract invidia.

In common with horns, phallic symbols also held protective or auspicious significance, as in the case of the fascinus, a Roman amulet worn by men to invoke masculine potency, fertility, and protection, and by women and children for safeguarding against misfortune and a variety of harms. Following the principle of sympathetic magic’s law of similarity (‘like affects like’), the symbolism of phallic charms continued to adapt over the medieval period, retaining a protective association with what we might call ‘phallic matters,’ or men’s sexual vigor in the symbolic sense.

Today, while it’s not exactly common to see people wearing a phallus charm, one does still see Italians wearing a cornicello, the horn-shaped cousin of the phallus traditionally made from red coral. In any case, the association among horns, phallic symbols, and protection, including against social misfortune, persists. For example, to call an Italian man a cornuto—literally horned, figuratively a cuckold—is a strong insult, reflecting a later development of the imagery.

The Bobolino cedar has become a favorite photo-op for newlyweds and honeymooners. Whether for protection, good luck, or merely the beautiful verdant setting, the custom around this botanical curiosity has spurred yet another of its nicknames: l’albero degli sposi, or newlyweds’ tree. To me, this fascinating contemporary ritual seems to acknowledge, regardless of one’s belief system, that all marriages need a little help, a little good luck. 

In 2020, the City of Florence granted the Calocedro del Bobolino special protected status, along with a handful of other trees designated as rare, significantly old, majestic, or unusual.