If conditions permit it, chestnut trees will grow to an imposing size. The 'a thousand horses' chestnut tree on the Etna volcano is three thousand years old and one of its three trunks measures 22 metres around. If the tree is cut repeatedly for wood, on the other hand, it will grow to a smaller size and split into many slender shoots (called scions). Also called the "Bread Tree", the chestnut saved entire generations of mountain peasants from famine until after the second world war. Its fruit gives a flour which is as nutritious as wheat flour,