Killer bacterium attacks Italy's prized olive trees, threatening tourism

Many tourists visit olive groves and plantations in Italy each year. — Unsplash

Italy's tourism industry, which took a heavy battering from Covid-19 travel restrictions, is now faced with the loss of one of its most popular natural attractions.

In early November 2021, the Italian government ordered the uprooting of 1,150 olive trees in the Piana degli Ulivi Monumentali (Plain of Monumental Olives) in Puglia, a southern Italian region that attracts millions of tourists and celebrities such as Madonna and George Clooney.