The olive tree is pruned, but never abandoned. The proverb uses the olive tree as a metaphor for anything deeply rooted — a relationship, a tradition, a homeland — that requires maintenance and sacrifice but must never be forsaken. Pruning is an act of care, not destruction.
The olive trees of Puglia are among the oldest living organisms in Europe. Some of the monumental olive trees in the area around Monopoli and Fasano are estimated to be between one and two thousand years old, predating the Norman conquest, the Byzantine presence, even the Roman reorganization of the south. Pruning these ancient trees is a skilled, almost ritualistic practice: cut too little and the tree becomes unproductive, cut too much and you kill it. The Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, which has devastated hundreds of thousands of olive trees in Puglia since 2013, gave this proverb a tragic new urgency — farmers watched trees their great-grandparents had tended die in months, and many refused to abandon even the dead trunks, planting new saplings in the same soil.
An agricultural proverb from the olive-growing Murgia and coastal masserie, given renewed resonance by the Xylella bacterium crisis.
A farmer explaining his philosophy to a journalist
Sì, la potatura è dura — ma l'aliva si potta, ma non s'abbandona. Questi alberi sono i nostri antenati.
Yes, pruning is hard — but the olive tree is pruned, but never abandoned. These trees are our ancestors.
A parent advising a child who wants to give up on a project
Non mollare adesso — l'aliva si potta, ma non s'abbandona. Le cose difficili valgono di più.
Don't give up now — the olive tree is pruned, but never abandoned. Difficult things are worth more.
An olive grower whose trees were hit by Xylella
Ho perso trecento alberi alla Xylella. Ma l'aliva si potta, ma non s'abbandona — ho ripiantato.
I lost three hundred trees to Xylella. But the olive tree is pruned, but never abandoned — I replanted.
An emigrant speaking of his village
Sono andato a Milano per lavoro, ma torno ogni estate. L'aliva si potta, ma non s'abbandona — le radici contano.
I went to Milan for work, but I come back every summer. The olive tree is pruned, but never abandoned — roots matter.