Helen Mirren, 81, is on a mission to save Italy’s 1,500-year-old olive trees from deadly bacteria

Oscar-winning actor Dame Helen Mirren has spent decades entertaining audiences with her performances, but one of her most important missions lies far from the film sets. The 81-year-old actor is fighting to save Italy’s ancient olive trees from a devastating bacterial infection that has wiped out millions of trees and caused billions of euros in economic damage. For nearly a decade, Mirren has been raising awareness about Xylella fastidiosa, an invasive bacterium that has devastated olive groves in southern Italy. Through her initiative, Save the Olives, she hopes to protect trees that have survived for centuries and preserve an important part of Italy’s cultural, environmental and economic heritage. Speaking to PEOPLE, the MobLand star expressed concern over the lack of attention being paid to the crisis. “It's amazing how people want to put on blinkers and pretend it's not happening,” she said.

Mirren’s fight is deeply personal. In 2007, she and her husband, filmmaker Taylor Hackford, bought a 16th-century farmhouse in Puglia, in southeastern Italy. The couple’s home is surrounded by the region’s olive-growing landscape, which has been severely affected by the spread of Xylella. The bacterium was first detected in southern Italy in 2013, according to the science journal Nature. Since then, estimates suggest that around 22 million olive trees have been lost to the disease. Xylella spreads between plants through certain insects, including spittlebugs. When the infection reached areas near Mirren’s home, she initially believed the threat would not become as serious as it eventually did. “We - just like everybody else - thought, ‘Oh, it won't come to us.’ And it did,” she recalled. “It killed all of the trees.” The experience prompted Mirren and others to take action, leading to the creation of Save the Olives.

Mirren said the initiative initially focused on providing reliable information about the disease and countering misinformation surrounding the crisis. “We started Save the Olives just as a way of getting information out there. Because as always happens with things like this, disinformation starts flying around and bad theories, wrong theories,” she explained. The organisation aims to encourage people to recognise the scale of the problem and support efforts to protect the surviving trees. “We are just really fighting for people to please pay attention and realize that yes, this is happening and you are going to lose 1,500-year-old trees,” Mirren said. “And when you think that this living thing has been in the earth living, surviving since the Romans, come on! We have to save these trees.” For Mirren, the loss goes beyond the destruction of individual plants. These ancient olive trees represent centuries of history, connecting present-day communities with generations that came before them.

Save the Olives has introduced a tree-adoption programme that allows people to contribute directly to conservation efforts. A donation of €500, approximately $560, can fund a lengthy and expensive process in which varieties of bacteria-resistant olive trees are grafted onto endangered trees. According to the organisation, people who adopt a tree can name it and receive photographs and its GPS location. Those who wish to contribute can also make donations in other amounts. Mirren said the initiative is working alongside efforts to develop new olive varieties that can withstand the disease while producing high-quality olive oil. “We're doing that, and then we are also developing new species that produce great olive oil, because that's really important,” she said. The work is particularly significant because olive oil production plays a major role in Italy’s economy. The destruction of olive groves has affected agricultural output, livelihoods and local communities, with the economic damage estimated in the billions of euros. “Producing oil is one of Italy's major economic things,” Mirren said. “So it's really, really serious.”

Despite the scale of the devastation, Mirren remains hopeful that conservation efforts and the development of resistant olive varieties can help protect the remaining trees. Her campaign combines environmental preservation with the need to safeguard Italy’s agricultural traditions and the livelihoods of those who depend on olive cultivation. For the veteran actor, the cause is also about recognising the extraordinary resilience of these trees, many of which have survived for more than a millennium. “They're one of the most miraculous things on this planet,” she said.