The fate of the seven chestnut trees on the hotel terrace seems to have been sealed. A few days ago I talked to Emil Soldatić, who seems to be the designated tree man in the municipal office, and today I talked to Igor Legović, the hotel director. Both of them have been advised by forestry people that the chestnuts have grown way too tall, which means that most of their branches will have to go. Just like the chestnuts along Barbacan last year, they will be reduced to trunks with several branch stumps. Neither Emil nor Igor can tell me when this is likely to happen, but my guess is that the carnage is nigh—say, this year or maybe the next. Although I would like to consult an independent forester, if such a one existed here, the municipality will have the last say since the chestnuts are on public land. It is thus high time to adjust to the inevitable. As I sit on the hotel terrace, I do my best to imagine these marvelous trees as they will soon become. Like gnarled hands with fingers chopped off. If everything goes well, they will again be in fine shape in about a decade. Or maybe two. Fingers crossed.

Addendum (September 25, 2016)

Luckily, the carnage never took place. For some reason, the chestnut trees on the hotel terrace were spared the fate of those on Barbacan. And it is amazing to compare the two. Several trees treated by forestry people under the Motovun walls are gone by now. They let out the ghost after most of their branches were summarily removed. A few years later, their trunks were also removed, and only stumps remained in their place. And all the remaining trees are a sorry sight to this day. Thin branches have grown out of the awkward stumps, but they are simply ridiculous by comparison with those that have been removed. Eight years later, the trees are no less than pitiful to see. It is enough to compare the chestnut trees on the hotel terrace and those on Barbacan to see how incompetent the forestry people actually are. And it is nothing but luck that has saved the trees on the hotel terrace from their incompetence. Alleluia!