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ITALY (Italia)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 19 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ITALY (Italia) , the name 1 applied both in See also:ancient and in See also:modern times to the See also:great See also:peninsula that projects from the See also:mass of central See also:Europe far to the See also:south into the Mediterranean See also:Sea, where the See also:island of See also:Sicily may be considered as a continuation of the See also:continental promontory. The portion of the Mediterranean commonly termed the Tyrrhenian Sea forms its limit on the W. and S., and the Adriatic on the E.; while to the N., where it joins the See also:main See also:continent of Europe, it is separated from the adjacent regions by the mighty barrier of the See also:Alps, which sweeps See also:round in a vast semicircle from the See also:head of the Adriatic to the shores of See also:Nice and See also:Monaco. See also:Topography.—The See also:land thus circumscribed extends between the See also:parallels of 46° 40' and 36° 38' N., and between 6° 3o' and 18° 3o' E. Its greatest length in a straight See also:line along the main-land is from N.W. to S.E., in which direction it See also:measures 708 m. in a See also:direct line from the frontier near Courmayeur to Cape Sta Maria di Leuca, south of See also:Otranto, but the great See also:mountain peninsula of See also:Calabria extends about two degrees farther south to Cape Spartivento in See also:lat. 37° 55'. Its breadth is, owing to its configuration, very irregular. The See also:northern portion, measured from the Alps at the See also:Monte Viso to the mouth of the Po, has a breadth of about 270 m., while the maximum breadth, from the Rocca Chiardonnet near See also:Susa to a See also:peak in the valley of the Isonzo, is 354 M. But the peninsula of Italy, which forms the largest portion of the See also:country, nowhere exceeds 15o m. in breadth, while it does not generally measure more than roo m. across. Its See also:southern extremity, Calabria, forms a See also:complete peninsula, being See also:united to the mass of Lucania or the See also:Basilicata by an See also:isthmus only 35 M. in width, while that between the gulfs of Sta Eufemia and Squillace, which connects the two portions of the See also:province, does not exceed 20 M. The See also:area of the See also:kingdom of Italy, exclusive of the large islands, is computed at 91,277 sq. m. Though See also:Bound- the Alps See also:form throughout the northern boundary of arks. Italy, the exact limits at the extremities of the Alpine See also:chain are not clearly marked.

Ancient geographers appear to have generally regarded the remarkable headland which descends from the Maritime Alps to the sea between Nice and Monaco as the limit of Italy in that direction, and in a purely See also:

geographical point of view it is probably the best point that could be selected. But See also:Augustus, who was the first to give to Italy a definite See also:political organization, carried the frontier to 10n the derivation see below, See also:History, See also:section A, ad. init. XV.the See also:river Varus or See also:Var, a few See also:miles See also:west of Nice, and this river continued in modern times to be generally recognized as the boundary between See also:France and Italy. But in 186o the See also:annexation of Nice and the adjoining territory to France brought the political frontier farther See also:east, to a point between See also:Mentone and See also:Ventimiglia which constitutes no natural limit. Towards the See also:north-east, the point where the See also:Julian Alps approach See also:close to the seashore (just at the See also:sources of the little stream known in ancient times as the Timavus) would seem to constitute the best natural limit. But by Augustus the frontier was carried farther east so as to include See also:Tergeste (See also:Trieste), and the little river Formio (Risano) was in the first instance chosen as the limit, but this was subsequently transferred to the river Arsia (the Arsa), which flows into the Gulf of Quarnero, so as to include almost all See also:Istria; and the circumstance that the See also:coast of Istria was throughout the See also:middle ages held by the See also:republic of See also:Venice tended to perpetuate this arrangement, so that Istria was generally regarded as belonging to Italy, though certainly not forming any natural portion of that country. See also:Present See also:Italian aspirations are similarly directed. The only other See also:part of the northern frontier of Italy where the boundary is not clearly marked by nature is See also:Tirol or the valley of the See also:Adige. Here the main chain of the Alps (as marked by the See also:watershed) recedes so far to the north that it has never constituted the frontier. In ancient times the upper valleys of the Adige and its tributaries were inhabited by Raetian tribes and included in the province of See also:Raetia; and the line of demarcation between that province and Italy was purely arbitrary, as it remains to this See also:day. Tridentum or See also:Trent was in the See also:time of See also:Pliny included in the tenth region of Italy or See also:Venetia, but he tells us that the inhabitants were a Raetian tribe. At the present day the frontier between See also:Austria and the kingdom of Italy crosses the Adige about 30 M. below Trent—that See also:city and its territory, which previous to the treaty of See also:Luneville in r8oi was governed by See also:sovereign archbishops, subject only to the See also:German emperors, being now included in the See also:Austrian See also:empire.

While the Alps thus constitute the northern boundary of Italy, its configuration and See also:

internal See also:geography are determined almost entirely by the great chain of the See also:Apennines, which branches off from the Maritime Alps between Nice and See also:Genoa, and, after stretching in an unbroken line from the Gulf of Genoa to the Adriatic, turns more to the south, and is continued throughout IT Central and Southern Italy, of which it forms as it were the back- farther has its outlet into the See also:lake between See also:Baveno and Pallanza. See also:bone, until it ends in the southernmost extremity of Calabria at Cape Spartivento. The great See also:spur or promontory projecting towards the east to See also:Brindisi and Otranto has no direct connexion with the central chain. One See also:chief result of the manner in which the Apennines See also:traverse Italy from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic is the marked See also:division between Northern Italy, including the region north of the Apennines and extending thence to the See also:foot of the Alps, and the central and more southerly portions of the peninsula. No such line of separation exists farther south, and the terms Central and. Southern Italy, though in See also:general use among geographers and convenient for descriptive purposes, do not correspond to any natural divisions. 1. Northern Italy.—By far the larger portion of Northern Italy is occupied by the See also:basin of the Po, which comprises the whole of the broad See also:plain extending from the foot of the Apennines to that of the Alps, together with the valleys and slopes on both sides of it. From its source in Monte Viso to its outflow into the Adriatic—a distance of more than 220 M. in a direct line—the Po receives all the See also:waters that flow from the Apennines northwards, and all those that descend from the Alps towards the south, Mincio (the outlet of the Lake of See also:Garda) inclusive. The next river to the E. is the Adige, which, after pursuing a parallel course with the Po for a considerable distance, enters the Adriatic by a See also:separate mouth. Farther to the N. and N.E. the various See also:rivers of Venetia fall directly into the Gulf of Venice. There is no other instance in Europe of a basin of similar extent equally clearly characterized—the perfectly level See also:character of the plain being as striking as the boldness with which the See also:lower slopes of the mountain ranges begin to rise on each See also:side of it. This is most clearly marked on the side of the Apennines, where the great Aemilian Way, which has been the high road.from the time of the See also:Romans to our own, preserves an unbroken straight line from See also:Rimini to See also:Piacenza, a distance of more than 15o m., during which the underfalls of the mountains continually approach it on the See also:left, without once See also:crossing the line of road.

The geography of Northern Italy will be best described by following the course of the Po. That river has its origi,ii as a mountain torrent descending from two little dark lakes on the north flank of Monte Viso, at a height of more than 6000 ft. above the sea; and after a course of less than 20 M. it enters the plain at See also:

Saluzzo, between which and "See also:Turin, a distance of only 30 m., it receives three considerable tributaries—the Chisone on its left See also:bank, bringing down the waters from the valley of Fenestrelle, and the Varaita and Maira on the south, contributing those of two valleys of the Alps immediately south of that of the Po itself. A few miles below Valenza it is joined by the Tanaro, a large stream, which brings with it the united waters of the Stura, the Bormida and several See also:minor rivers. More important are the rivers that descend from the main chain of the Graian and Pennine Alps and join the Po on its left bank. Of these the Dora (called for distinction's See also:sake Dora Riparia), which unites with the greater river just below Turin, has its source in the Mont Genevre, and flows past Susa at the foot of the Mont Cenis. Next comes the Stura, which rises in the glaciers of the See also:Roche See also:Melon; then the Orca, flowing through the Val di Locana; and then the Dora Baltea, one of the greatest of all the Alpine tributaries of the Po, which has its source in the glaciers of Mont See also:Blanc, above Courmayeur, and thence descends through the Val d'See also:Aosta for about 7o m. till it enters the plain at See also:Ivrea, and, after flowing about 20 m. more, joins the Po a few miles below See also:Chivasso. This great valley—one of the most considerable on the southern side of the Alps—has attracted See also:special See also:attention, in ancient as well as modern times, from its leading to two of the most frequented passes across the great mountain chain —the Great and the Little St See also:Bernard—the former diverging at Aosta, and crossing the main ridges to the north into the valley of the See also:Rhone, the other following a more See also:westerly direction into See also:Savoy. Below Aosta also the Dora Baltea receives several considerable tributaries, which descend from the glaciers between Mont Blanc and Monte See also:Rosa. About 25 M. below its confluence with the Dora, the Po receives the Sesia, also a large river, which has its source above Alagna at the southern foot of Monte Rosa, and after flowing by Varallo and See also:Vercelli falls into the Po about 14 M. below the latter city. About 30 M. east of this confluence—in the course of which the Po makes a great See also:bend south to Valenza, and then returns again to the northward—it is joined by the See also:Ticino, a large and rapid river, which brings with it the outflow of Lago See also:Maggiore and all the waters that flow into it. Of these the Ticino itself has its source about 10 m. above Airolo at the foot of the St Gotthard, and after flowing above 36 m. through the Val Leventina to See also:Bellinzona (where it is joined by the Moesa bringing down the waters of the Val Misocco) enters the lake through a marshy plain at Magadino, about to m. distant. On the west side of the lake the Toccia or Tosa descends from the pass of the Gries nearly due south to Domodossola, where it receives the waters of the Doveria from the Simplon, and a few miles lower down those of the Val d'Anzasca from the foot of Monte Rosa, and 12 M.

The Lago Maggiore is also the receptacle of the waters of the Lago di See also:

Lugano on the east and the Lago d'See also:Orta on the west. The next great affluent of the Po, the See also:Adda, forms the outflow of the Lake of See also:Como, and has also its sources in the Alps, above See also:Bormio, whence it flows through the broad and fertile valley of the See also:Valtellina for more than 65 m. till it enters the lake near Colico. The Adda in this part of its course has a direction almost due east to west; but at the point where it reaches the lake, the Liro descends the valley of S. Giacomo, which runs nearly north and south from the pass of the Spliigen, thus affording one of the most direct lines of communication across the Alps. The Adda flows out of the lake at its south-eastern extremity at See also:Lecco, and has thence a course through the plain of above 70 m. till it enters the Po between Piacenza and See also:Cremona. It flows by See also:Lodi and Pizzighettone, and receives the waters of the Brembo, descending from the Val Brembana, and the Serio from the Val Seriana above See also:Bergamo. The Olio, a more considerable stream than either of the last two, rises in the Monte Tonale above Edolo, and descends through the Val Camonica to See also:Lovere, where it expands into a large lake, called See also:Iseo from the See also:town of that name on its southern See also:shore. Issuing thence at its south-west extremity, the Oglio has a See also:long and winding course through the plain before it finally reaches the Po a few miles above Borgoforte. In this lower part it receives the smaller streams of the Melia, which flows by See also:Brescia, and the Chiese, which proceeds from the small Lago d'Idro, between the Lago d'Iseo and that of Garda. The last of the great tributaries of the Po is the Mincio, which flows from the Lago di Garda, and has a course of about 40 M. from Peschiera, where it issues from the lake at its south-eastern See also:angle, till it joins the Po. About 12 M. above the confluence it passes under the walls of See also:Mantua, and expands into a broad lake-like reach so as entirely to encircle that city. Notwithstanding its extent, the Lago di Garda is not fed by the snows of the high Alps, nor is the stream which enters it at its northern extremity (at See also:Riva) commonly known as the Mincio, though forming the main source of that river, but is termed the Sarca; it rises at the foot of Monte Tonale.

The Adige, formed by the junction of two streams—the Etsch or Adige proper and the Eisak, both of which belong to Tirol rather than to Italy—descends as far as See also:

Verona, where it enters the great plain, with a course from north to south nearly parallel to the rivers last described, and would seem likely to See also:discharge its waters into those of the Po, but below See also:Legnago it turns eastward and runs parallel to the Po for about 40 m., entering the Adriatic by an See also:independent mouth about 8 m. from the northern outlet of the greater stream. The waters of the two rivers have, however, been made to communicate by artificial cuts and canals in more than one See also:place. The Po itself, which is here a very large stream, with an See also:average width of 400 to 60o yds., continues to flow with an undivided mass of waters as far as Sta Maria di Ariano, where it parts into two arms, known as the Po di Maestra and Po di Goro, and these again are subdivided into several other branches, forming a See also:delta above 20 m. in width from north to south. The point of bifurcation, at present about 25 M. from the sea, was formerly much farther inland, more than to m. west of See also:Ferrara, where a small See also:arm of the river, still called the Po di Ferrara, branches from the main stream. Previous to the See also:year 1154 this channel was the main stream, and the two small branches into which it subdivides, called the Po di Volano and Po di Primaro, were in See also:early times the two main outlets of the river. The southernmost of these, the Po di Primaro, enters the Adriatic about 12 M. north of See also:Ravenna, so that if these two arms be included, the delta of the Po extends about 36 m. from south to north. The whole course of the river, including its windings, is estimated at about 450 M. Besides the delta of the Po and the large marshy tracts which it forms, there exist on both sides of it extensive lagoons of See also:salt See also:water, generally separated from the Adriatic by narrow strips of See also:sand or embankments, partly natural and partly artificial, but having openings which admit the influx and efflux of the sea-water, and serve as ports for communication with the mainland. The best known and the most extensive of these lagoons is that in which Venice is situated, which extends from See also:Torcello in the north to See also:Chioggia and Brondolo in the south, a distance of above 40 M.; but they were formerly much more extensive, and afforded a continuous means of internal See also:navigation, by what were called " the Seven Seas" (Septem Maria), from Ravenna to See also:Altinum, a few miles north of Torcello. That city, like Ravenna, originally stood in the midst of a See also:lagoon; and the coast east of it to near Monfalcone, where it meets the mountains, is occupied by similar expanses of water, which are, however, becoming gradually converted into dry land. The See also:tract adjoining this long line of lagoons is, like the basin of the Po, a broad expanse of perfectly level alluvial plain, extending from the Adige eastwards to the Carnic Alps, where they approach close to the Adriatic between See also:Aquileia and Trieste, and northwards to the foot of the great chain, which here sweeps round in a semicircle from the neighbourhood of See also:Vicenza to that of Aquileia. The space thus included was known in ancient times as Venetia, a name applied in the middle ages to the well-known city; the eastern portion of it became known in the middle ages as the Frioul or See also:Friuli.

Returning to the south of the Po, the tributaries of that river on its right bank below the Tanaro are very inferior in See also:

volume and importance to those from the north. Flowing from the Ligurian Apennines, which never attain the limit of perpetual See also:snow, they The line of the highest summits and of the watershed ranges is generally dwindle in summer into insignificant streams. Beginning about 30 to 40 M. from the Adriatic, while about See also:double that distance from the Tanaro, the See also:principal of them are—(I) the Scrivia,a small separates it from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west. In this part of but rapid stream flowing from the Apennines at the back of Genoa ; the range almost all the highest points of the Apennines are found. (2) the Trebbia, a much larger river, though of the same torrent-like Beginning from the See also:group called the Alpi della See also:Luna near the sources character, which rises near Torriglia within 20 m. of Genoa, flows of the See also:Tiber, which attain 4435 ft., they are continued by the Monte by See also:Bobbio, and joins the Po a few miles above Piacenza; (3) the Nerone (5010 ft.), Monte Catria (5590), and Monte Maggio to the Nure, a few miles east of the preceding; (4) the Taro, a more See also:con- Monte Pennino near Nocera (5169 ft.), and thence to the Monte siderable stream; (5) the See also:Parma, flowing by the city of the same delta Sibilla, at the source of the Nar or Nera, which attains 7663 ft. name; (6) the Enza; (7) the Secchia, which flows by See also:Modena; Proceeding thence southwards, we find in See also:succession the Monte (8) the Panaro, a few miles to the east of that city; (9) the See also:Reno, Vettore (8128 ft.), the See also:Pizzo di Sevo (7945 ft.), and the two great which flows by See also:Bologna, but instead of holding its course till it dis- mountain masses of the Monte Corno, commonly called the Gran charges its waters into the Po, as it did in See also:Roman times, is turned Sasso d'Italia, the most lofty of all the Apennines, attaining to a aside by an artificial channel into the Po di Primaro. The other height of 9560 ft., and the Monte della Maiella, its highest See also:summit small streams east of this—of which the most considerable are the measuring 9170 ft. Farther south no very lofty summits are found Solaro, the Santerno, flowing by See also:Imola, the Lamone by See also:Faenza, the till we come to the group of Monti del Matese, in Samnium (666o ft.), Montone by Forli, all in Roman times tributaries of the Po—have which according to the division here adopted belongs to Southern their outlet in like manner into the Po di Primaro, or by artificial Italy. Besides the lofty central masses enumerated there are two mouths into the Adriatic between Ravenna and Rimini. The river other lofty peaks, outliers from the main range, and separated from Marecchia, which enters the sea immediately north of Rimini, may it by valleys of considerable extent. These are the Monte Terminillo, be considered as the natural limit of Northern Italy. It was adopted near Leonessa (7278 ft.), and the Monte Velino near the Lake See also:Fucino, by Augustus as the boundary of Gallia Cispadana ; the far-famed rising to 8192 ft., both of which are covered with snow from See also:November See also:Rubicon was a trifling stream a few miles farther north, now called till May. But the Apennines of Central Italy, instead of presenting, Fiumicino.

The Savio is the only other stream of any importance like the Alps and the northern Apennines, a definite central See also:

ridge, which has always flowed directly into the Adriatic from this side of with transverse valleys leading down from it on both sides, in reality the Tuscan Apennines. constitute a mountain mass of very considerable breadth, composed The narrow See also:strip of coast-land between the Maritime Alps, the of a number of minor ranges and See also:groups of mountains, which pre-Apennines and the sea—called in ancient times See also:Liguria, and now serve a generally parallel direction, and are separated by upland known as the See also:Riviera of Genoa—is throughout its extent, from Nice valleys, some of them of considerable extent as well as considerable to Genoa on the one side, and from Genoa to See also:Spezia on the other, See also:elevation above the sea. Such is the basin of Lake Fucino, situated almost wholly mountainous. It is occupied by the branches and in the centre of the mass, almost exactly midway between the two offshoots of the mountain ranges which separate it from the great seas, at an elevation of 2180 ft. above them; while the upper valley plain to the north, and send down their lateral ridges close to the of the Aterno, in which See also:Aquila is situated, is 23,80 ft. above the sea. water's edge, leaving only in places a few square miles of level plains Still more elevated is the valley of the Gizio (a tributary of the at the mouths of the rivers and openings of the valleys. The See also:district Aterno), of which See also:Sulmona is the chief town. This communicates is by no means devoid of fertility, the steep slopes facing the south with the upper valley of the Sangro by a level plain called the Piano enjoying so See also:fine a See also:climate as to render them very favourable for the di Cinque Miglia, at an elevation of 4298 ft., regarded as the most growth of See also:fruit trees, especially the See also:olive, which is cultivated in wintry spot in Italy. Nor do the highest summits form a continuous terraces to a considerable height up the See also:face of the mountains, while ridge of great See also:altitude for any considerable distance; they are rather the openings of the valleys are generally occupied by towns or villages, a See also:series of groups separated by tracts of very inferior elevation some of which have become favourite See also:winter resorts. forming natural passes across the range, and broken in some places From the proximity of the mountains to the sea none of the rivers (as is the See also:case in almost all See also:limestone countries) by the waters from in this part of Italy has a long course, and they are generally See also:mere the upland valleys turning suddenly at right angles, and breaking mountain torrents, rapid and swollen in winter and See also:spring, and almost through the mountain ranges which bound them. Thus the Gran dry in summer. The largest and most important are those which Sasso and the Maiella are separated by the deep valley of the Aterno, descend from the Maritime Alps between Nice and See also:Albenga. The while the Tronto breaks through the range between Monte Vettore most considerable of them are—the Roja, which rises in the See also:Col di and the Pizzo di Sevo. This constitution of the great mass of the Tenda and descends to Ventimiglia; the Taggia, between See also:San central Apennines has in all ages exercised an important See also:influence Remo and Oneglia; and the Centa, which enters the sea at Albenga. upon the character of this portion of Italy, which may be considered The See also:Lavagna, which enters the sea at See also:Chiavari, is the only stream as divided by nature into two great regions, a See also:cold and barren upland of any importance between Genoa and the Gulf of Spezia. But country, bordered on both sides by See also:rich and fertile tracts, enjoying immediately east of that inlet (a remarkable instance of a deep land- a warm but temperate climate. locked gulf with no river flowing into it) the Magra, which descends The district west of the Apennines, a region of great beauty and from See also:Pontremoli down the valley known as the Lunigiana, is a large fertility, though inferior in productiveness to Northern Italy, coincides stream, and brings with it the waters of another considerable stream, in a general way with the countries See also:familiar to all students of ancient the Vara.

The Magra (Macra), in ancient times the boundary history as See also:

Etruria and See also:Latium. Until the See also:union of Italy they were between Liguria and Etruria, may be considered as constituting on comprised in See also:Tuscany and the southern Papal States. The northern this side the limit of Northern Italy. part of Tuscany is indeed occupied to a considerable extent by the The Apennines (q.v.), as has been already mentioned, here traverse underfalls and offshoots of the Apennines, which, besides the slopes the whole breadth of Italy, cutting off the peninsula properly so and spurs of the main range that constitutes its northern frontier termed from the broader mass of Northern Italy by a continuous towards the plain of the Po, throw off several outlying ranges or barrier of considerable breadth, though of far inferior elevation to groups. Of these the most remarkable is the group between the that of the Alps. The Ligurian Apennines may be considered as valleys of the Serchio and the Magra, commonly known as the taking their rise in the neighbourhood of See also:Savona, where a pass of mountains of See also:Carrara, from the celebrated See also:marble quarries in the very moderate elevation connects them with the Maritime Alps, vicinity of that city. Two of the summits of this group, the Pizzo of which they are in fact only a continuation. From the See also:neighbour- d'Uccello and the Pania della Croce, attain 6155 and 6ioo ft. Another See also:hood of Savona to that of Genoa they do not rise to more than 3000 lateral range, the See also:Prato Magno, which branches off from the central to 4000 ft., and are traversed by passes of less than 2000 ft. As they chain at the Monte Falterona, and separates the upper valley of extend towards the east they increase in elevation; the Monte Bue the See also:Arno from its second basin, rises to 5188 ft.; while a similar rises to 5915 ft., while the Monte Cimone, a little farther east, attains See also:branch, called the Alpe di Catenaja, of inferior elevation, divides 7103 ft. This is the highest point in the northern Apennines, and the upper course of the Arno from that of the Tiber. belongs to a group of summits of nearly equal altitude; the range The See also:rest of this tract is for the most part a hilly, broken country, which is continued thence between Tuscany and what are now of moderate elevation, but Monte Amiata, near Radicofani, an isolated known as the Emilian provinces presents a continuous ridge from mass of volcanic origin, attains a height of 565o ft. South of this the the mountains at the head of the Val di Mugello (due north of country between the frontier of Tuscany and the Tiber is in great part See also:Florence) to the point where they are traversed by the celebrated of volcanic origin, forming hills with distinct See also:crater-shaped basins, Furlo Pass.

The highest point in this part of the range is the Monte in several instances occupied by small lakes (the Lake of See also:

Bolsena, Falterona, above the sources of the Arno, which attains 5410 ft. Lake of See also:Vico and Lake of See also:Bracciano). This volcanic tract extends Throughout this tract the Apennines are generally covered with across the Campagna of See also:Rome, till it rises again in the lofty group extensive forests of See also:chestnut, See also:oak and See also:beech; while their upper slopes of the See also:Alban hills, the highest summit of which, the Monte Cavo, afford admirable pasturage. Few towns of any importance are found is 3160 ft. above the sea. In this part the Apennines are separated either on their northern or southern declivity, and the former from the sea, distant about 30 M. by the undulating volcanic plain of region especially, though occupying a tract of from 3o to 40 m. in the Roman Campagna, from which the mountains rise in a See also:wall-like width, between the See also:crest of the Apennines and the plain of the Po, is barrier, of which the highest point, the Monte Gennaro, attains one of the least known and at the same time least interesting portions 4165 ft. South of See also:Palestrina again, the main mass of the Apennines of Italy. throws off another lateral mass, known in ancient times as the Volscian 2. Central Italy.—The geography of Central Italy is almost wholly mountains (now called the Monti Lepini), separated from the central determined by the Apennines, which traverse it in a direction ranges by the broad valley of the Sacco, a tributary of the See also:Liri (Liris) from about north-north-east to south-south-west, almost precisely or Garigliano, and forming a large and rugged mountain mass, nearly parallel to that of the coast of the Adriatic from Rimini to See also:Pescara. 5000 ft. in height, which descends to the sea at See also:Terracina, and between that point and the mouth of the Liri throws out several rugged mountain headlands, which may be considered as constituting the natural boundary between Latium and See also:Campania, and consequently the natural limit of Central Italy. Besides these offshoots of the Apennines there are in this part of Central Italy several detached mountains, rising almost like islands on the seashore, of which the two most remarkable are the Monte Argentaro on the coast of Tuscany near See also:Orbetello (2087 ft.) and the Monte Circello (1771 ft.) at the angle of the Pontine Marshes, by the whole breadth of which it is separated from the Volscian Apennines. The two valleys of the Arno and the Tiber (Ital. Tevere) may be considered as furnishing the See also:key to the geography of all this portion of Italy west of the Apennines. The Arno, which has its source in the Monte:Falterona, one of the most elevated summits of the main chain of the Tuscan Apennines, flows nearly south till in the neighbourhood of See also:Arezzo it turns abruptly north-west, and pursues that course as far as Pontassieve, where it again makes a sudden bend to the west, and pursues a westerly course thence to the sea, passing through Florence 'and See also:Pisa.

Its principal tributary is the See also:

Sieve, which joins it at Pontassieve, bringing down the waters of the Val di Mugello. The Elsa and the Era, which join it on its left bank, descending from the hills near See also:Siena and See also:Volterra, are inconsiderable streams; and the Serchio, which flows from the territory of See also:Lucca and the Alpi Apuani, and formerly joined the Arno a few miles from its mouth, now enters the sea by a separate channel. The most considerable rivers of Tuscany south of the Arno are the Cecina, which flows through the plain below Volterra, and the Ombrone, which rises in the hills near Siena, and enters the 'sea about 12 M. below See also:Grosseto. The Tiber, a much more important river than the Arno, and the largest in Italy with the exception of the Po, rises in the Apennines, about 20 in. east of the source of the Arno, and flows nearly south by Borgo S. Sepolcro and Citta di See also:Castello, then between See also:Perugia and See also:Todi to Orte, just below which it receives the Nera. The Nera, which rises in the lofty group of the Monte delta Sibilla, is a consider-able stream, and brings with it the waters of the Velino (with its tributaries the Turano and the See also:Salto), which joins it a few miles below its celebrated See also:waterfall at See also:Terni. The Teverone or Anio, which enters the Tiber a few miles above Rome, is an inferior stream to the Nera, but brings down a considerable See also:body of water from the mountains above See also:Subiaco. It is a singular fact in the geography of Central Italy that the valleys of the Tiber and Arno are in some measure connected by that of the See also:Chiana, a level and marshy tract, the waters from which flow partly into the Arno and partly into the Tiber. The eastern declivity of the central Apennines towards the Adriatic is far less interesting and varied than the western. The central range here approaches much nearer to the sea, and hence, with few exceptions, the rivers that flow from it have See also:short courses and are of comparatively little importance. They may be enumerated, proceeding from Rimini southwards: (I) the Foglia; (2) the Metauro, of See also:historical celebrity, and affording See also:access to one of the most frequented passes of the Apennines; (3) the Esino; (4) Abruzzi, and may therefore be taken as the limit of Central Italy. The whole of this portion of Central Italy is a hilly country, much broken and cut up by the torrents from the mountains, but fertile, especially in fruit-trees, See also:olives and vines; and it has been, both in ancient and modern times, a populous district, containing many small towns though no great cities.

Its chief disadvantage is the See also:

absence of ports, the coast preserving an almost unbroken straight line, with the single exception of See also:Ancona, the only See also:port worthy of the name on the eastern coast of Central Italy. 3. Southern Italy.—The great central mass of the Apennines, which has held its course throughout Central Italy, with a general direction from north-west to south-east, may be considered as continued in the same direction for about too m. farther, from the basin-shaped group of the Monti del Matese (which rises to 6660 ft.) to the neighbourhood of See also:Potenza, in the See also:heart of the province of Basilicata, corresponding nearly to the ancient Lucania. The whole of the district known in ancient times as Samnium (a part of which retains the name of Sannio, though officially designated the province of See also:Campobasso) is occupied by an irregular mass of mountains, of much inferior height to those of Central Italy, and broken up into a number of groups, intersected by rivers, which have for the most part a very tortuous course. This mountainous tract, which has an average breadth of from 50 to 6o m., is bounded west by the plain of Campania, now called the Terra di Lavoro, and east by the much broader and more extensive tract of See also:Apulia or Puglia, composed partly of level plains, but for the most part of undulating See also:downs, contrasting strongly with the mountain ranges of the Apennines, which rise abruptly above them. The central mass of the mountains, however, throws out two outlying ranges, the one to the west, which separates the See also:Bay of See also:Naples from that of See also:Salerno, and culminates in the Monte S. Angelo above Castellammare (4720 ft.), while the detached volcanic See also:cone of See also:Vesuvius (nearly 4000 ft.) is isolated from the neighbouring mountains by an intervening strip of plain. On the east side in like manner the Monte See also:Gargano (3465 ft.), a detached limestone masswhich projects in a bold spur-like promontory into the Adriatic, forming the only break in the otherwise See also:uniform coast-line cif Italy on that sea, though separated from the great body of the Apennines by a considerable See also:interval of See also:low country, may be considered as merely an outlier from the central mass. From the neighbourhood of Potenza, the main ridge of the Apennines is continued by the Monti della Maddalena in a direction nearly due south, so that it approaches within a short distance of the Gulf of Policastro, whence it is carried on as far as the Monte Pollino, the last of the lofty summits of the Apennine chain, which exceeds 7000 ft. in height. The range is, however, continued through the province now called Calabria, to the southern extremity or " toe " of Italy, but presents in this part a very much altered character, the broken limestone range which is the true continuation of the chain as far as the neighbourhood of See also:Nicastro and See also:Catanzaro, and keeps close to the west coast, being flanked on the east by a great mass of granitic mountains, rising to about 6000 ft., and covered with vast forests, from which it derives the name of La See also:Sila. A similar mass, separated from the preceding by a low See also:neck of See also:Tertiary hills, fills up the whole of the See also:peninsular extremity of Italy from Squillace to Reggio. Its highest point is called See also:Aspromonte (6420 ft.).

While the rugged and mountainous district of Calabria, extending nearly due south for a distance of more than 15o m., thus derives its character and configuration almost wholly from the range of the Apennines, the long spur-like promontory which projects towards the east to Brindisi and Otranto is merely a continuation of the low tract of Apulia, with a dry calcareous See also:

soil of Tertiary origin. The Monte Volture, which rises in the neighbourhood of See also:Melfi and See also:Venosa to 4357 ft., is of volcanic origin, and in great measure detached from the adjoining mass of the Apennines. Eastward from this the ranges of low See also:bare hills called the Murgie of See also:Gravina and See also:Altamura gradually sink into the still more moderate level of those which constitute the peninsular tract between Brindisi and See also:Taranto as far as the Cape of Sta Maria di Leuca, the south-east extremity of Italy. This projecting tract, which may be termed the " See also:heel " or " spur " of Southern Italy, in See also:conjunction with the great promontory of Calabria, forms the deep Gulf of Taranto, about 70 m. in width, and somewhat greater See also:depth, which receives a number of streams from the central mass of the Apennines. None of the rivers of Southern Italy is of any great importance. The Liri (Liris) or Garigliano, which has its source in the central Apennines above See also:Sora, not far from Lake Fucino, and enters the Gulf of See also:Gaeta about to m. east of the city of that name, brings down a considerable body of water; as does also the See also:Volturno, which rises in the mountains between See also:Castel di Sangro and Agnone, flows past Isernia, Venafro and See also:Capua, and enters the sea about 15 M. from the mouth of the Garigliano. About 16 m. above Capua it receives the Calore, which flows by See also:Benevento. The Silarus or Sele enters the Gulf of Salerno a few miles below the ruins of See also:Paestum. Below this the watershed of the Apennines is too near to the sea on that side to allow the formation of any large streams. Hence the rivers that flow in the opposite direction into the Adriatic and the Gulf of Taranto have much longer courses, though all partake of the character of mountain torrents, rushing down with great violence in winter and after storms, but dwindling in the summer into scanty streams, which hold a winding and sluggish course through the great plains of Apulia. Proceeding south from the Trigno, already mentioned as constituting the limit of Central Italy, there are (I) the Biferno and (2) the Fortore, both rising in the mountains of Samnium, and flowing into the Adriatic west of Monte Gargano; (3) the Cervaro, south of the great promontory; and (4) the Ofanto, the Aufidus of See also:Horace, whose description of it is characteristic of almost all the rivers of Southern Italy, of which it may be taken as the typical representative. It rises about 15 M. west of Conza, and only about 25 M. from the Gulf of Salerno, so that it is frequently (though erroneously) described as traversing the whole range of the Apennines.

In its lower course it flows near See also:

Canosa and traverses the celebrated battlefield of See also:Cannae. (5) The Bradano, which rises near Venosa, almost at the foot of Monte Volture, flows towards the south-east into the Gulf of Taranto, as do the Basento, the Agri and the Sinni, all of which descend from the central chain of the Apennines south of Potenza. The Crati, which flows from See also:Cosenza northwards, and then turns abruptly eastward to enter the same gulf, is the only stream worthy of See also:notice in the rugged peninsula of Calabria; while the arid limestone hills projecting eastwards to See also:Capo di Leuca do not give rise to anything more than a mere streamlet, from the mouth of the Ofanto to the south-eastern extremity of Italy. The only important lakes are those on or near the north frontier, formed by the expansion of the tributaries of the Po. They have been already noticed in connexion with the rivers by which Lakes they are formed, but may be again enumerated in See also:order of succession. They are, proceeding from west to east, (I) the Lago d'Orta, (2) the Lago Maggiore. (3) the Lago di Lugano, (4) the Lago di Como, (5) the Lago d'Iseo, (6) the Lago d'Idro, and (7) the Lago di Garda. Of these the last named is considerably the largest, covering an area of 143 sq. m. It is 324 M. long by to broad; while the Lago Maggiore, notwithstanding its name, though considerably exceeding it in length (37 m.), falls materially below it in superficial extent. They are all of great depths-the Lago Maggiore having an extreme the Potenza; (5) the Chienti; (6) the Aso; (7) the Tronto; (8) the Vomano; (9) the Aterno; (to) the Sangro; (II) the Trigno, which forms the boundary of the southernmost province of the hood of Civita Vecchia, and attain at their culminating point an elevation of 3454 ft.; and the mountains of Radicofani and Monte Amiata, the latter of which is 5688 ft. high. The lakes of Bolsena (Vulsiniensis), of Bracciano (Sabatinus), of Vico (Ciminus), of Albano (Albanus), of Nemi (Nemorensis), and other smaller lakes belong to this district; while between its south-west extremity and Monte Circello the Pontine Marshes form a broad strip of alluvial soil infested by See also:malaria. 3.

The volcanic region of the Terra di Lavoro is separated by the Volscianmountains from the Roman district. It maybe also divided into three groups. Of Roccamonfina, at the N.N.W. end of the Campanian Plain, the highest cone, called Montagna di See also:

Santa Croce, is 3291 ft. The Phlegraean See also:Fields embrace all the country round Baiae and See also:Pozzuoli and the adjoining islands. Monte See also:Barbaro (Gaurus), north-east of the site of See also:Cumae, Monte San Nicola (Epomeus), 2589 ft. in See also:Ischia, and Camaldoli, 1488 ft., west of Naples, are the highest cones. The lakes Averno (See also:Avernus), Lucrino (Lucrinus), See also:Fusaro (Palus Acherusia), and See also:Agnano are within this group, which has shown activity in historical times. A stream of See also:lava issued in 1198 from the crater of the See also:Solfatara, which still continues to exhale See also:steam and noxious gases; the Lava dell' Arso came out of the N.E. flank of Monte Epomeo in 1302; and Monte Nuovo, north-west of Pozzuoli (455 ft.), was thrown up in three days in See also:September 1538. Since its first historical eruption in A.D. 79, Vesuvius or Somina, which forms the third group, has been in See also:constant activity. The Punta del Nasone, the highest point of Somma, is 3714 ft. high, while the Punta del Palo, the highest point of the brim of the crater of Vesuvius, varies materially with successive eruptions from 3856 to 4275 ft. 4. The Apulian volcanic formation consists of the great mass of Monte Volture, which rises at the west end of the plains of Apulia, on the frontier of Basilicata, and is surrounded by the Apennines on its south-west and north-west sides.

Its highest peak, the Pizzuto di Melfi, attains an elevation of 4365 ft. Within the widest crater there are the two small lakes of Monticchio and San. Michele. In connexion with the volcanic districts we may mention Le Mofete, the pools of See also:

Ampsanctus, in a wooded valley S.E. of Frigento, in the province of See also:Avellino, Campania (See also:Virgil, Aeneid, vii. 563-571). The largest is not more than 16o ft. in circumference, and 7 ft. deep. The whole of the great plain of See also:Lombardy is covered by See also:Pleistocene and See also:recent deposits. It is a great depression—the continuation of the Adriatic Sea—filled up by deposits brought down by the rivers from the mountains. The depression was probably formed during the later stages of the growth of the Alps. Climate and Vegetation.—The geographical position of Italy, extending from about 46° to 38° N., renders it one of the hottest countries in Europe. But the effect of its southern See also:latitude is tempered by its peninsular character, bounded as it is on both sides by seas of considerable extent, as well as by the great range of the Alps with its snows and glaciers to the north. There are thus irregular See also:variations of climate.

Great See also:

differences also exist with regard to climate between northern and southern Italy, due in great part to other circumstances as well as to differences of latitude. Thus the great plain of northern Italy is chilled by the cold winds from the Alps, while the See also:damp warm winds from the Mediterranean are to a great extent intercepted by the Ligurian Apennines. Hence this part of the country has a cold winter climate, so that while the mean summer temperature of See also:Milan is higher than that of See also:Sassari, and equal to that of Naples, and the extremes reached at Milan and Bologna are a See also:good See also:deal higher than those of Naples, the mean winter temperature of Turin is actually lower than that of See also:Copenhagen. The lowest recorded winter temperature at Turin is 5° Fahr. Throughout the region north of the Apennines no See also:plants will thrive which cannot stand occasional severe frosts in winter, so that not only oranges and lemons but even the olive See also:tree cannot be grown, except in specially favoured situations. But the strip of coast between the Apennines and the sea, known as the Riviera of Genoa, is not only extremely favourable to the growth of olives, but produces oranges and lemons in abundance, while even the See also:aloe, the See also:cactus and the See also:palm flourish in many places. Central Italy also presents striking differences of climate and temperature according to the greater or less proximity to the moun- tains. Thus the greater part of Tuscany, and the provinces thence to Rome, enjoy a mild winter climate, and are well adapted to the growth of mulberries and olives as well as vines, but it is not till after passing Terracina, in proceeding along the western coast towards the south, that the vegetation of southern Italy develops in its full luxuriance. Even in the central parts of Tuscany, however, the climate is very much affected by the neighbouring mountains, and the increasing elevation of the Apennines as they proceed south produces a corresponding effect upon the temperature. But it is when we reach the central range of the Apennines that we find the coldest districts of Italy. In all the upland valleys of the Abruzzi snow begins to fall early in November, and heavy storms occur often as See also:late as May; whole communities are shut out for months from any intercourse with their neighbours, and some villages are so long buried in snow that See also:regular passages are made between the different houses for the sake of communication among 1 The actually highest point is the Maschio delle Faete (3137 ft.). the inhabitants. The district from the south-east of Lake Fucino to the Piano di Cinque Miglia, enclosing the upper basin of the Sangro depth of 1 198 ft., while that of Como attains to 1365 ft.

Of a wholly different character is the Lago di See also:

Varese, between the Lago Maggiore and that of Lugano, which is a mere shallow expanse of water, surrounded by hills of very moderate elevation. Two other small lakes in the same neighbourhood, as well as those of Erba and Pusiano, between Como and Lecco, are of a similar character. The lakes of Central Italy, which are comparatively of trifling dimensions, belong to a wholly different class. The most important of these, the Lacus Fucinus of the ancients, now called the Lago di See also:Celano, situated almost exactly in the centre of the peninsula, occupies a basin of considerable extent, surrounded by mountains and without any natural outlet, at an elevation of more than 2000 ft. Its waters have been in great part carried off by an artificial channel, and more than See also:half its See also:surface laid bare. Next in See also:size is the Lago Trasimeno, a broad expanse of shallow waters, about 30 M. in circumference, surrounded by low hills. The neighbouring lake of See also:Chiusi is of similar character, but much smaller dimensions. All the other lakes of Central Italy, which are scattered through the volcanic districts west of the Apennines, are of an entirely different formation, and occupy deep See also:cup-shaped hollows, which have undoubtedly at one time formed the craters of See also:extinct volcanoes. Such is the Lago di Bolsena, near the city of the same name, which is an extensive See also:sheet of water, as well as the much smaller Lago di Vico (the Ciminian lake of ancient writers) and the Lago di Bracciano, nearer Rome, while to the south of Rome the well known lakes of Albano axed Nemi have a similar origin. The only lake properly so called in southern Italy is the Lago del Matese, in the heart of the mountain group of the same name, of small extent. The so-called lakes on the coast of the Adriatic north and south of the promontory of Gargano are brackish lagoons communicating with the sea. The three great islands of Sicily, See also:Sardinia and See also:Corsica are closely connected with Italy, both by geographical position and community 1s1ands. of See also:language, but they are considered at length in separate articles.

Of the smaller islands that See also:

lie near the coasts of Italy, the most considerable is that of See also:Elba, off the west coast of central Italy, about 5o m. S. of See also:Leghorn, and separated from the mainland at See also:Piombino by a strait of only about 6 m. in width. North of this, and about midway between Corsica and Tuscany, is the small island of See also:Capraia, steep and rocky, and only 41 M. long, but with a secure port; Gorgona, about 25 m. farther north, is still smaller, and is a mere See also:rock, inhabited by a few fishermen. South of Elba are the equally insignificant islets of See also:Pianosa and See also:Montecristo, while the more considerable island of See also:Giglio lies much nearer the mainland, immediately opposite the mountain promontory of Monte Argentaro, itself almost an island. The islands farther south in the Tyrrhenian Sea are of an entirely different character. Of these Ischia and See also:Procida, close to the northern headland of the Bay of Naples,. are of volcanic origin, as is the case also with the more distant group of the See also:Ponza Islands. These are three in number—Ponza, Palmarola and Zannone; while Ventotene (also of volcanic formation) is about midway between Ponza and Ischia. The island of See also:Capri, on the other See also:hand, opposite the southern promontory of the Bay of Naples, is a precipitous limestone rock. The Aeolian or Lipari Islands, a remarkable volcanic group, belong rather to Sicily than to Italy, though Stromboli, the most easterly of them, is about equidistant from Sicily and from the mainland. The Italian coast of the Adriatic presents a great contrast to its opposite shores, for while the coast of See also:Dalmatia is bordered by a succession of islands, great and small, the long and uniform coast-line of Italy from Otranto to Rimini presents not a single adjacent island ; and the small outlying group of the Tremiti Islands (north of the Monte Gargano and about 15 m. from the mainland) alone breaks the monotony of this part of the Adriatic. See also:Geology.—The geology of Italy is mainly dependent upon that of the Apennines (q.v.). On each side of that great chain are found extensive Tertiary deposits, sometimes, as in Tuscany, the district of Monferrat, &c., forming a broken, hilly country, at others spreading into broad plains or undulating downs, such as the Tavoliere of Puglia, and the tract that forms the spur of Italy from See also:Bari to Otranto.

Besides these, and leaving out of See also:

account the islands, the Italian peninsula presents four distinct volcanic districts. In three of them the volcanoes are entirely extinct, while the See also:fourth is still in great activity. 1. The Euganean hills form a small group extending for about lo m. from the neighbourhood of See also:Padua to See also:Este, and separated from the lower offshoots of the Alps by a portion of the wide plain of Padua. Monte Venda, their highest peak, is 1890 ft. high. 2. The Roman district, the largest of the four, extends from the hills of Albano to the frontier of Tuscany, and from the lower slopes of the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It may be divided into three groups: the Monti See also:Albani, the second highest' of which, Monte Cavo (3115 ft.), is the ancient See also:Mons Albanus, on the summit of which stood the See also:temple of See also:Jupiter Latialis, where the assemblies of the cities forming the Latin See also:confederation were held; the Monti Cimini, which extend from the valley of the Tiber to the neighbour- (See ALBANUS MONS.) and the small lake of Scanno, is the coldest and most See also:bleak part of Italy south of the Alps. Heavy falls of snow in See also:June are not uncommon, and only for a short time towards the end of See also:July are the nights totally exempt from See also:light frosts. Yet less than 40 M. E. of this district, and even more to the north, the olive, the fig-tree and the See also:orange thrive luxuriantly on the shores of the Adriatic from Ortona to See also:Vasto. In the same way, whilst in the plains and hills round Naples snow is rarely seen, and never remains long, and the thermometer seldom descends to the freezing-point, 20 M.

E. from it in the fertile valley of Avellino, of no great elevation, but encircled by high mountains, light frosts are not uncommon as late as June; and 18 m. farther east, in the elevated region of San Angelo dei Lombardi and Bisaccia, the inhabitants are always warmly clad, and vines grow with difficulty and only in sheltered places. Still farther south-east, Potenza has almost the coldest climate in Italy, and certainly the lowest summer temperatures. But nowhere are these contrasts so striking as in Calabria. The shores, especially on the Tyrrhenian Sea, present almost a continued See also:

grove of olive, orange, See also:lemon and citron trees, which attain a size unknown in the north of Italy. The See also:sugar-See also:cane flourishes, the See also:cotton-plant ripens to perfection, date-trees are seen in the gardens, the rocks are clothed with the prickly-See also:pear or See also:Indian fig, the enclosures of the fields are formed by aloes and sometimes pomegranates, the See also:liquorice-See also:root grows See also:wild, and the See also:mastic, the See also:myrtle and many varieties of oleander and cistus form the underwood of the natural forests of arbutus and See also:evergreen oak. If we turn inland but 5 or 6 m. from the shore, and often even less, the See also:scene changes. High districts covered with oaks and chestnuts succeed to this almost tropical vegetation; a little higher up and we reach the elevated regions of the Pollino and the Sila, covered with firs and pines, and affording rich pastures even in the midst of summer, when heavy dews and light frosts succeed each other in July and See also:August, and snow begins to appear at the end of September or early in See also:October. Along the shores of the Adriatic, which are ex-posed to the north-east winds, blowing coldly from over the Albanian mountains, delicate plants do not thrive so well in general as under the same latitude along the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Southern Italy indeed has in general a very different climate from the northern portion of the kingdom; and, though large tracts are still occupied by rugged mountains of sufficient elevation to retain the snow for a considerable part of the year, the districts adjoining the sea enjoy a climate similar to that of See also:Greece and the southern provinces of See also:Spain. Unfortunately several of these fertile tracts suffer severely from malaria (q.v.), and especially the great plain adjoining the Gulf of See also:Tarentum, which in the early ages of history was surrounded by a See also:girdle of See also:Greek cities-some of which attained to almost unexampled prosperity-has for centuries past been given up to almost complete desolation? It is remarkable that, of the See also:vegetable productions of Italy, many which are at the present day among the first to attract the attention of the visitor are of comparatively late introduction, and were unknown in ancient times. The olive indeed in all ages clothed the hills of a large part of the country; but the orange and lemon, are a late importation from the East, while the cactus or Indian fig and the aloe, both of them so conspicuous on the shores of southern Italy, as well as of the Riviera of Genoa, are of Mexican origin, and consequently could not have been introduced earlier than the 16th See also:century.

The same remark applies to the See also:

maize or Indian See also:corn. Many botanists are even of See also:opinion that the sweet chestnut, which now constitutes so large a part of the forests that clothe the sides both of the Alps and the Apennines, and in some districts supplies the chief See also:food of the inhabitants, is not originally of Italian growth; it is certain that it had not attained in ancient times to anything like the See also:extension and importance which it now possesses. The See also:eucalyptus is of quite modern introduction; it has been extensively planted in malarious districts. The characteristic See also:cypress, ilex and See also:stone-See also:pine, however, are native trees, the last-named flourishing especially near the coast. The proportion of evergreens is large, and has a marked effect on the landscape in winter. See also:Fauna.-The See also:chamois, bouquetin and See also:marmot are found only in the Alps, not at all in the Apennines. In the latter the See also:bear was found in Roman times, and there are said to be still a few remaining. Wolves are more numerous, though only in the mountainous districts; the flocks are protected against them by large See also:white See also:sheep-See also:dogs, who have some See also:wolf See also:blood in them. Wild boars are also found in mountainous and See also:forest districts. Foxes are See also:common in the neighbourhood of Rome. The sea mammals include the common See also:dolphin (See also:Delphinus delphis). The birds are similar to those of central Europe; in the mountains vultures, eagles, buzzards, kites, falcons and See also:hawks are found.

Partridges, See also:

woodcock, See also:snipe, &c., are among the See also:game -birds; but all kinds of small birds are also shot for food, and their number is thus kept down, while many members of the migratory See also:species are caught by traps in the foothills on the south side of the Alps, especially near the Lake of Como, on their passage. Large See also:numbers of quails are shot in the spring. Among See also:reptiles, the various kinds of See also:lizard are noticeable. There are several varieties of See also:snakes, of which three species (all vipers) are poisonous. Of sea- 1 On the influence of malaria on the See also:population of Early Italy see W. H. S. See also:Jones in See also:Annals of See also:Archaeology and See also:Anthropology, ii. 97 sqq. (See also:Liverpool, 1909).See also:fish there are many varieties, the See also:tunny,-the sardine and the See also:anchovy being commercially the most important. Some of the other edible fish, such as the palombo, are not found in northern waters. Small cuttlefish are in common use as an See also:article of See also:diet.

See also:

Tortoiseshell, an important article of See also:commerce, is derived from the Thalassochelys caretta, a sea turtle. Of See also:freshwater fish the See also:trout of the mountain streams and the eels of the coast lagoons may be mentioned. The See also:tarantula spider and the See also:scorpion are found in the south of Italy. The See also:aquarium of the zoological station at Naples contains the finest collection in the See also:world of marine animals, showing the wonderful variety of the different species of fish, molluscs, See also:crustacea, &c., found in the Mediterranean. (E. H. B.; T. As.) Po,pulation.-The following table indicates the areas of the several provinces (sixty-nine in number), and the population of each according to the censuses of the 31st of See also:December 1881 and the 9th of See also:February 190I. (The larger divisions or compartments in which the provinces are grouped are not officially recognized.; Provinces and Compartments. Area Population. See also:Ain sq. 1881.

1901. See also:

Alessandria 1950 729,710 825,745 See also:Cuneo 2882 635,400 670,504 See also:Novara 2553 675,926 763,830 Turin 3955 1,029,214 1,147,414 See also:Piedmont . . . II,340 3,070,250 3,407,493 Genoa . . . . 1582 760,122 931,156 See also:Porto Maurizio 455 132,251 144,604 Liguria 2037 892,373 1,075,760r Bergamo 1098 390,775 467,549 Brescia 1845 471,568 541 ,765 Cremona 1695 302,097 3 594,304 Mantua 912 295,728 315,448 Milan 1223 1,114,991 1,450,214 See also:Pavia 1290 469,831 .504,382 See also:Sondrio 1232 120,534 130,966 Lombardy , 9386 3,680,574 4,334,099 See also:Belluno 1293 174,140 214,803 Padua 823 397,762 444,360 See also:Rovigo 685 217,700 222,057 Treviso 96o 375,704 416,945 See also:Udine 2541 501,745 614,720 Venice 934 356,708 399,823 Verona 1188 394,065 427,018 Vicenza 1052 396,349 453,621 Venetia 9476 2,814,173 3,193,347 Bologna 1448 464,879 529,619 Ferrara 1012 230,807 270,558 Forli 725 251,110 283,996 Modena 987 279,254 323,598 Parma 1250 267,306 303,694 Piacenza 954 226,758 250,491 Ravenna 715 218,359 234,656 Reggio (See also:Emilia) 876 244,959 281,085 Emilia 7967 2,183,432 2,477,697 Arezzo 1273 238,744 275,588 Florence 2265 790,776 945,324 Grosseto 1738 114,295 137 ,795 Leghorn 133 121,612 121,137 Lucca 558 284,484 329,986 See also:Massa and Carrara 687 169,469 202,749 Pisa 1179 283,563 319,854 Siena 1471 205,926 233,874 Tuscany 9304 2,208,869 2,566,307 Ancona 762 267,338 308,346 See also:Ascoli Piceno 796 209,185 251,829 See also:Macerata 1087 239,713 269,505 See also:Pesaro and See also:Urbino I118 223,043 259,083 See also:Marches 3763 939,279 1,688,763 Perugia-See also:Umbria 3748 572,060 675,352 Rome-Lazio . 4663 903,472 1,142,526 t Area in Population. Provinces and Compartments. sq. m. 1881. 190I. Aquila degli Abruzzi (Abruzzo 2484 353,E 436,367 Ulteriore II.) .

. . . Campobasso (Molise) . 1691 365,434 389,976 See also:

Chieti (Abruzzo Citeriore) 1138 343,948 387,604 See also:Teramo (Abruzzo Ulteriore I.) Io67 254,806 312,188 Abruzzi and Molise . 6380 1,317,215 1,526,135 Avellino (Principato Ulteriore) 1172 392,619 421,766 Benevento 818 238,425 265,460 See also:Caserta (Terra di Lavoro) 2033 714,131 805,345 Naples 350 1,001,245 1,141,788 Salerno (Principato Citeriore) 1916 550,157 585,132 Campania . . . 6289 2,896,577 3,219,491 Bari delle Puglie(Terra di Bari) 2065 679,499 837,683 See also:Foggia (Capitanata) . . . 2688 356,267 42I,115 See also:Lecce (Terra di Otranto) . . 2623 553,298 705,382 Apulia . . . . 7376 1,589,064 1,964,180 Potenza (Basilicata) . . .

3845 524,504 491,558 Catanzaro (Calabria Ulteriore 2030 433,975 498,791 II.) . . . Cosenza (Calabria Citeriore) . 2568 451,185 503,329 Reggio di Calabria (Calabria 1221 372,723 437,209 Ulteriore I.) Calabria 5819 1,257,883 1,439,329 See also:

Caltanisetta 1263 266,379 329,449 See also:Catania 1917 563,457 703,598 See also:Girgenti 1172 312,487 380,666 See also:Messina 1246 460,924 550,895 See also:Palermo 1948 699,151 796,151 See also:Syracuse 1442 341,5z6 433,796 See also:Trapani 948 283,977 373,569 Sicily 9936 2,927,901 3,568,124 Cagliari 5204 420,635 486,767 Sassari 4090 261,367 309,026 Sardinia 9294 682,002 795,793 Kingdom of Italy 11o,623 28,459,628 32,965,504 The number of foreigners in Italy in 1901 was 61,606, of whom 37,762 were domiciled within the kingdom. The population given in the foregoing table is the See also:resident or " legal " population, which is also given for the individual towns. This is 490,251 higher than the actual population, 32,475,253, ascertained by the See also:census of the loth of February 1901; the difference is due to temporary absences from their residences of certain individuals on military service, &c., who probably were counted twice, and also to the fact that 469,020 individuals were returned as absent from Italy, while only 61,606 foreigners were in Italy at the date of the census. The kingdom is divided into 69 provinces, 284 regions, of which 197 are classed as circondarii and 87 as districts (the latter belonging to the province of Mantua and the 8 provinces of Venetia), 1806 administrative divisions (mandamenti) and 8262 communes. These were the figures at the date of the census. In 1906 there were 1805 mandamenti and 8290 communes, and 4 boroughs in Sardinia not connected with communes. The mandamenti or administrative divisions no longer correspond to the judicial divisions (mandamenti giudiziarii) which in November 1891 were reduced from 1806 to 1535 by a See also:law which provided that judicial reform should not modify existing administrative and electoral divisions. The principal elective See also:local administrative bodies are the provincial and the communal See also:councils. The See also:franchise is somewhat wider than the See also:parliamentary.

Both bodies are elected for six years, one-half being renewed every three years. The provincial See also:

council elects a provincial See also:commission and the communal council a municipal council from among its own members; these smaller bodies carry on the business of the larger while they are not sitting. The See also:syndic of each See also:commune is elected by See also:ballot by the communal council from among its own members. The actual (not the resident or " legal ") population of Italy since 1970 is approximately given in the following table (the first census of the kingdom as a whole was taken in 1871) :- 1770 . . 14,689,317 1861 . . 25,016, 801 1800 . . 17,237,421 1871 . . 26,801,154 1825 . 19,726,977 1881 . . 28,459,628 1848 . 23,617,153 1901 . . 32,475,253 The average See also:density increased from 257.21 per sq. m. in 1881 to 293.28 in 1901.

In Venetia, Emilia, the Marches, Umbria and Tuscany the proportion of concentrated population is only from 40 to 55%; in Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy the proportion rises to from 70 to 76%; in southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia it attains a maximum of from 76 to 93%. The population of towns over too,000 is given in the following table according to the estimates for 1906. The population of the town itself is distinguished from that of its commune, which often includes a considerable portion of the surrounding country. Town. Commune. Bologna . . 105,153 160,423 Catania . . 135,548 159,210 Florence . . 201,183 226,559 Genoa . 255,294 267,248 Messina . 108,514 165,007 Milan . 560,613 Naples .

491,614 585,289 Palermo . 264,036 323,747 Rome . 403,282 516,580 Turin . 277,121 361,720 Venice 146,940 169,563 The population of the different parts of Italy differs in character and See also:

dialect; and there is little community of sentiment between them. The modes of See also:life and See also:standards of comfort and morality in north Italy and in Calabria are widely different; the former being far in front of the latter. Much, however, is effected towards unification, by compulsory military service, it being the principle that no See also:man shall serve within the military district to which he belongs. In almost all parts the See also:idea of See also:personal See also:loyalty (e.g. between See also:master and servant) retains an almost feudal strength. The inhabitants of the north-the Piedmontese, See also:Lombards and Genoese especially-have suffered less than those of ithe rest of the peninsula from See also:foreign domination and from the admixture of inferior racial elements, and the cold winter climate prevents the See also:heat of summer from being enervating. They, and also the inhabitants of central Italy, are more industrious than the inhabitants of the southern provinces, who have by no means recovered from centuries of misgovernment and oppression, and are naturally more hot-blooded and excitable, but less See also:stable, capable of organization or See also:trust-worthy. The southerners are apathetic except when roused, and socialist doctrines find their chief adherents in the north. The Sicilians and Sardinians have something of See also:Spanish dignity, but the former are one of the most mixed and the latter probably one of the purest races of the Italian kingdom. See also:Physical characteristics differ widely; but as a whole the Italian is somewhat short of stature, with dark or See also:black See also:hair and eyes, often good looking.

Both sexes reach maturity early. Mortality is decreasing, but if we may See also:

judge from the physical conditions of the recruits the physique of the nation shows little or no improvement. Much of this lack of progress is attributed to the heavy See also:manual (especially agricultural) See also:work undertaken by See also:women and See also:children. The women especially See also:age rapidly, largely owing to this cause (E. Nathan, Vent' anni di vita italiana attraverso all' annuario, 169 sqq.). Births, Marriages, Deaths.-See also:Birth and See also:marriage rates vary considerably, being highest in the centre and south (Umbria, the Marches, Apulia, Abruzzi and Molise, and Calabria) and lowest in the north (Piedmont, Liguria and Venetia), and in Sardinia. The See also:death-See also:rate is highest in Apulia, in the Abruzzi and Molise, and in Sardinia, and lowest in the north, especially in Venetia and Piedmont. Taking the See also:statistics for the whole kingdom, the See also:annual marriage-rate for the years 1876-1880 was 7.53 per loon; in 1881-1885 it See also:rose to 8.06; in 1886-1890 it was 7.77; in 1891-1895 it was 7.41, and in 1896-1900 it had gone down to 7.14 (a figure largely produced by the abnormally low rate of 6.88 in 1898), and in 1902 was 7.23. See also:Divorce is forbidden by the Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church, and only 839 judicial separations were obtained from the courts in 1902, more than half of the demands made having been abandoned. Of the whole population in 1901, 57.5% were unmarried, 36.o% married, and 6.5% widowers or widows. The illegitimate births show a decrease, having been 6.95 per too births in 1872 and 5.72 in 1902, with a rise, however, in the intermediate See also:period as high as 7.76 in 1883. The birth-rate shows a corresponding decrease from 38.10 per 'ono in 1881 to 33.29 in 1902.

The male births have since 1872 been about 3% (3.14 in 1872-1875 and 2.72 in 1896-1900) in excess of the See also:

female births, which is rather more than compensated for by the greater male mortality, the excess being 2.64 in 1872-1875 and having increased to 4.08 in 1896-1900. (The calculations are made Occupations.-In the census of 1901 the population over nine years of age (both male and female) was divided as follows as regards the main professions:- See also:Total. See also:Males. See also:Females. Agricultural (including See also:hunt- 9,666,467 6,466,165 3,200,302 See also:ing and fishing) . . See also:Industrial . . . . 4,505,736 3,017,393 1,488,343 Commerce and transport 1,003,888 885,070 118,818 (public and private services) Domestic service, &c. 574,855 171,875 402,980 Professional classes, admini- 1,304,347 855,217 449,13o stration, &c See also:Defence 204,012 204,012 .. See also:Religion . . . . 129,893 89,329 40,5641 See also:Emigration.-The See also:movement of emigration may be divided into two currents, temporary and permanent-the former going chiefly towards neighbouring See also:European countries and to North See also:Africa, and consisting of manual labourers, the latter towards trans-oceanic countries, principally See also:Brazil, See also:Argentina and the United States.

These emigrants remain abroad for several years, even when they do not definitively establish themselves there. They are composed principally of peasants, unskilled workmen and other manual labourers. There was a tendency towards increased emigration during the last See also:

quarter of the 19th century. The principal causes are the growth of population, and the over-See also:supply of and low rates of remuneration for manual labour in various Italian provinces. Emigration has, however, recently assumed such proportions as to See also:lead to scarcity of labour and rise of See also:wages in Italy itself. Italians form about half of the total emigrants to See also:America. Temporary Emigration. Permanent Emigration. Year. Total No. of Per every Total No. of Per every Emigrants. See also:Ioo,000 of Emigrants. ioo,000 of Population. Population.

1881 94,225 333 41,607 147 I 1891 118, I I 1 389 175,520 578 L19oI 281,668 865 251,577 772 The increased figures may, to a minor extent, be due to better See also:

registration, in consequence of the law of 1901. From the next table will be seen the direction of emigration in the years specified:- these about three-fourths would be adults; in the meantime, how-ever, the population increases so fast that even in 1905 there was a See also:net increase in Sicily of 20,000 souls; sO that in three years 220,000 workers were replaced by 320,000 infants. The phenomenon of emigration in Sicily cannot altogether be explained by low wages, which have risen, though prices have done the same. It has been defined as apparently " a See also:kind of collective madness." See also:Agriculture.-Accurate statistics with regard to the area occupied in different forms of cultivation are difficult to obtain, both on account of their varied and piecemeal character and from the lack of a complete cadastral survey. A complete survey was ordered by the law of the 1st of See also:March 1886, but many years must elapse before its completion. The law, however, enabled provinces most heavily burdened by land tax to accelerate their portion of the survey, and to profit by the reassessment of the tax on the new basis. An idea of the effects of the survey may be gathereo from the fact that the assessments in the four provinces of Mantua, Ancona, Cremona and Milan, which formerly amounted to a total of £1,454,090, are now £2,788,080, an increase of 91 %. Of the total area of Italy, 70,793,000 acres, 71% are classed as " productive." The unproductive area comprises 16% of the total area (this includes 4% occupied by lagoons or marshes, and 1.75% of the total area susceptible of bonificazione or improvement by drainage. Between 188a and 1902 over £4,000,000-was spent on this by the See also:government). The uncultivated area is 13%. This includes 3.50% of the total susceptible of cultivation. 1904.

I o 9 5 209,942 266 82 +9 73,537 3 7 74+ 09 ,943 2,168 2,966 2,715 477,191 7 The cultivated area may be divided into five agrarian regions or zones, named after the variety of tree culture which flourishes in them. (i) Proceeding from south to north, the first See also:

zone is that of the agrumi (oranges, lemons and similar fruits). It comprises a great part of Sicily. In Sardinia it extends along the southern and western coasts. It predominates along the Ligurian Riviera from See also:Bordighera to Spezia, and on the Adriatic, near San Benedetto del Tronto and Gargano, and, crossing the Italian shore of the Ionian Sea, prevails in some regions of Calabria, and terminates around the gulfs of Salerno, See also:Sorrento and Naples. (2) The region of olives comprises the internal Sicilian valleys and part of the mountain slopes; in Sardinia, the valleys near the coast on the S.E., S.W. and N.W.; on the mainland it extends from Liguria and from the southern extremities of the Romagna to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca in Apulia, and to Cape Spartivento in Calabria. Some districts of the olive region ara near the lakes of upper Italy and in Venetia, and the territories of Verona, Vicenza, Treviso and Friuli. (3) The See also:vine region begins on the sunny slopes of the Alpine spurs and in those Alpine valleys open towards the south, extending over the plains of Lombardy and Emilia. In Sardinia it covers the mountain slopes to a considerable height, and in Sicily covers the sides of the Madonie range, reaching a level above 3000 ft. on the southern slope of See also:Etna. The Calabrian Alps, the less rocky sides of the Apulian Murgie and the whole length of the Apennines are covered at different heights, according to their situation. The hills of Tuscany, and of Monferrato in Piedmont, produce the most celebrated Italian vintages. (4) The region of chestnuts extends from the valleys to the high plateaus of the Alps, along the northern slopes of the Apennines in Liguria, Modena, Tuscany, Romagna, Umbria, the Marches and along the southern Apennines to the Calabrian and Sicilian ranges, as well as to the mountains of Sardinia.

(5) The wooded region covers the Alps and Apennines above the chestnut level. The See also:

woods consist chiefly of pine and See also:hazel upon the Apennines, and upon the Calabrian, Sicilian and Sardinian mountains of oak, ilex, See also:hornbeam and similar trees. Between these regions of tree culture lie zones of different her- baceous culture, cereals, vegetables and textile plants. The See also:style of cultivation varies according to the nature of the ground, terraces sup-452 14,709 11,910 ported by stone walls being much I zz 62 used in mountainous districts. Cereal 31 I 1,828 2,044 cultivation occupies the foremost 2 III place in area and quantity though it has been on the decline since 1903, still representing, however, an 18 221 advance on previous years. See also:Wheat is the most important See also:crop and The figures for 1905 show that the total of 718,221 emigrants was is widely distributed. In 1905 12,734,491 acres, or about 18 % made up, as regards numbers, mainly by individuals from Venetia, of the total area, produced 151,696,571 bushels of wheat, a yield Sicily, Campania, Piedmont, Calabria and the Abruzzi; while the of only 12 bushels per See also:acre. The. importation has, however, percentage was highest in Calabria (4.44)+ the Abruzzi, Venetia, enormously increased since 1882-from 164,600 to 1,126,368 tons;. Basilicata, the Marches, Sicily (2.86), Campania, Piedmont (2.02)_ while the extent of land devoted to corn cultivation has slightly Tuscany gives 1.20, Latium 1.14 %, Apulia only 1.02, while Sardinia decreased. Next in importance to wheat comes maize, occupying with 0.34 % occupies an exceptional position. The figure o Jfor Sicily, about 7 % of the total area of the country, and cultivated almost which was io6,000 in 1905, reached 127,000 in 1906 (3.5 !o), and of everywhere as an alternative crop. The See also:production of maize in 1905 1900.

1901. 1902. 1903• Europe 181,047 244,298 236,066 215,943 N. Africa . . . 5,417 9,499 11,771 9, U.S. and See also:

Canada 89,400 124,636 196,723 200,383 See also:Mexico (Central America) 2,069 997 766 1, South America . . 74,168 152,543 85,097 78,699 See also:Asia and See also:Oceania 691 1,272 I,o86 Total - - - 352,792 533,245 .531,509 507,956 8 ITALY [AGRICULTURE reached about 96,250,000 bushels, a slight increase on the average. production of See also:wine in the vintage of 1907, which was extraordinarily The production of maize is, however, insufficient, and 208,719 tons were imported in 1902—about double the amount imported in 1882. See also:Rice is cultivated in low-lying, moist lands, where spring and summer temperatures are high. The Po valley and the valleys of Emilia and the Romagna are best adapted for rice, but the area is diminishing on account of the competition of foreign rice and of the impoverishment of the soil by too intense cultivation. The area is about 0.5 % of the total of Italy. The area under See also:rye is about 0.5 % of the total, of which about two-thirds lie in the Alpine and about one-third in the Apennine zone. The See also:barley zone is geographically extensive but embraces not more than 1 % of the total area, of which ialf is situated in Sardinia and Sicily.

Oats, cultivated in the Roman and Tuscan See also:

maremma and in Apulia, are used almost exclusively for horses and See also:cattle. The area of oats cultivation is 1.5 % of the total area. The other cereals, See also:millet and panico sorgo (Panicum italicum), have lost much of their importance in consequence of the introduction of maize and rice. Millet, however, is still cultivated in the north of Italy, and is used as See also:bread for agricultural labourers, and as See also:forage when mixed with See also:buckwheat (See also:Sorghum saccaratum). The manufacture of See also:macaroni and similar foodstuff is a characteristic Italian See also:industry. It is extensively distributed, but especially flourishes in the Neapolitan provinces. The exportation of " corn-See also:flour pastes " sank, however, from 7100 tons to 350 between 1882 and 1902. The cultivation of See also:green forage is extensive and is divided into the categories of temporary and perennial. The temporary includes vetches, See also:pulse, See also:lupine, See also:clover and trifolium; and the perennial, meadow-See also:trefoil, lupinella, See also:sulla (Hedysarum coronarium), See also:lucerne and darnel. The natural grass meadows are extensive, and See also:hay is grown all over the country, but especially in the Po valley. Pasture occupies about 3o% of the total area of the country, of which Alpine pastures occupy 1.25%. See also:Seed-bearing vegetables are comparatively scarce.

The principal are: white beans, largely consumed by the working classes; lentils, much less cultivated than beans; and green peas, largely consumed in Italy, and exported as a spring vegetable. Chick-See also:

pease are extensively cultivated in the southern provinces. See also:Horse beans are grown, especially in the south and in the larger islands; lupines are also grown for See also:fodder. Among tuberous vegetables the See also:potato comes first. The area occupied is about 0.7% of the whole of the country. Turnips are grown principally in the central provinces as an alternative crop to wheat. They yield as much as 12 tons per acre. Beetroot (Beta vulgaris) is used as fodder, and yields about to tons per acre. Sugar See also:beet is extensively grown to supply the sugar factories. In 1898–1899 there were only four sugar factories, with an output of 5972 tons; in 1905 there were See also:thirty-three, with an output of 93,916 tons. See also:Market gardening is carried on both near towns and villages, where products find ready See also:sale, and along the great See also:railways, on account of transport facilities. Rome is an exception to the former See also:rule and imports See also:garden produce largely from the neighbourhood of Naples and from Sardinia.

Among the chief industrial plants is See also:

tobacco, which grows wherever suitable soil exists. Since tobacco is a government See also:monopoly, its cultivation is subject to See also:official concessions and prescriptions. Experiments hitherto made show that the cultivation of See also:Oriental tobacco may, profitably be extended in Italy. The yield for 1901 was 5528 tons, but a large increase took place subsequently, eleven million new plants having been added in southern Italy in 1905. The chief textile plants are See also:hemp, See also:flax and cotton. Hemp is largely cultivated in the provinces of Turin, Ferrara, Bologna, Forli, Ascoli Piceno and Caserta. Bologna hemp is specially valued. Flax covers about 160,000 acres, with a product, in fibre, amounting to about 20,000 tons. Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum), which at the beginning of the 19th century, at the time of the Continental See also:blockade, and again during the See also:American See also:War of See also:Secession, was largely cultivated, is now grown only in parts of Sicily and in a few southern provinces. See also:Sumach, liquorice and See also:madder are also grown in the south. The vine is cultivated throughout the length and breadth of Italy, but while in some of the districts of the south and centre it occupies from to to 20% of the cultivated area, in some of the northern provinces, such as Sondrio, Belluno, Grosseto, &c., the average is only about I or 2%. The methods of cultivation are varied; but the planting of the vines by themselves in long rows of insignificant bushes is the exception.

In Lombardy, Emilia, Romagna, Tuscany, the Marches, Umbria and the southern provinces, they are trained to trees which are either left in their natural See also:

state or subjected to pruning and pollarding. In Campania the vines are allowed to climb freely to the tops of the poplars. In the rest of Italy the See also:elm and the See also:maple are the trees mainly employed as supports. Artificial props of several kinds—wires, cane work, trellis work, &c.—are also in use in many districts (in the neighbourhood of Rome canes are almost exclusively employed), and in some the plant is permitted to trail along the ground. The vintage takes place, according to locality and climate, from thebeginiiing of September to the beginning of November. The vine has been attacked by the Oidium Tuckeri, the See also:Phylloxera vastatrix and the Peronospora viticola, which in rapid succession wrought great havoc in Italian vineyards. American vines, are, however, immune and have been largely adopted. The abundant all over the country, was estimated at 1232 million gallons (56 million hectolitres), the average for 1901–1903 being some 352 million gallons less; of this the probable See also:home See also:consumption was estimated at rather over half, while a considerable amount remained over from 1906. The exportation in 1902 only reached about 45 million gallons (and even that is double the average), while an equally abundant vintage in France and Spain rendered the exportation of the See also:balance of 1907 impossible, and fiscal regulations rendered the See also:distillation of the superfluous amount difficult. The quality, too, owing to See also:bad See also:weather at the time of vintage, was not good; Italian wine, indeed, never is sufficiently good to compete with the best wines of other countries, especially France (though there is more opening for Italian wines of the See also:Bordeaux and See also:Burgundy type); nor will many kinds of it stand keeping, partly owing to their natural qualities and partly to the insufficient care devoted to their preparation. There has been some improvement, however, while some of the heavier white wines, noticeably the See also:Marsala of Sicily, have excellent keeping qualities. The area cultivated as vineyards has increased enormously, from about 4,940,000 acres to 9,880,000 acres, or about 14% of the total area of the country.

Over-production seems thus to be a considerable danger, and improvement of quality is rather to be sought after. This has been encouraged by government prizes since 1904. Next to cereals and the vine the most important See also:

object of cultivation is the olive. In Sicily and the provinces of Reggio, Catanzaro, Cosenza and Lecce this tree flourishes without shelter; as far north as Rome, Aquila and Teramo it requires only the slightest See also:protection; in the rest of the peninsula it, runs the See also:risk of damage by See also:frost every ten years or so. The proportion of ground under olives is from 20 to 36% at Porto Maurizio, and in Reggio, Lecce, Bari, Chieti and Leghorn it averages from 10 to 19%. Throughout Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia and the greater part of Emilia, the tree is of little importance. In the olive there is great variety of kinds, and the methods of cultivation differ greatly in different districts; in Bari, Chieti and Lecce, for instance, there are regular woods of nothing but olive-trees, while in middle Italy there are olive-orchards with the interspaces occupied by crops of various kinds. The Tuscan See also:oils from Lucca, Calci and Buti are considered the best in the world; those of Bari, Umbria and western Liguria See also:rank next. The See also:wood of the olive is also used for the manufacture of small articles. The olive-growing area occupies about 3.5% of the total area of the country, and the crop in 1905 produced about 75,000,000 gallons of oil. The falling off of the crop, especially in 1899, was due to bad seasons and to See also:insects, notably the Cycloconium oleoginum, and the Dacus oleae, or oil-See also:fly, which have ravaged the olive-yards, and it is noticeable that lately good and bad seasons seem to alternate; between 1900 and 1905 the crops were alternately one half of, and equal to, that of the latter year. With the development of agricultural knowledge, notable improvements have been effected in the manufacture of oil.

The steam See also:

mills give the best results. The export See also:trade, however, is decreasing considerably, while the home consumption is increasing. In 1901, 1985 imperial tuns of oil were shipped from See also:Gallipoli for abroad--two-thirds to the United Kingdom, one-third to See also:Russia—and 666 to Italian ports; while in 1904 the figures were reversed, 1633 tuns going to Italian ports, and only 945 tuns to foreign ports. The other principal port of See also:shipping is Gioia Tauro, 30 M. N.N.E. of Reggio Calabria. A certain amount of See also:linseed-oil is made in Lombardy, Sicily, Apulia and Calabria; colza in Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia and Emilia; and See also:castor-oil in Venetia and Sicily. The product is principally used for industrial purposes, and partly in the preparation of food, but the amount is decreasing. The cultivation of oranges, lemons and their congeners (collectively designated in Italian by the See also:term agrumi) is of comparatively modern date, the introduction of the Citrus Bigaradia being probably due to the See also:Arabs. Sicily is the chief centre of cultivation—the area occupied by lemon and orange orchards in the province of Palermo alone having increased from 11,525 acres in 1854 to 54,340 in 1874. Reggio Calabria, Catanzaro, Cosenza, Lecce, Salerno, Naples and Caserta are the continental provinces which come next after Sicily. In Sardinia the cultivation is extensive, but receives little attention. Both crude and concentrated See also:lime-juice is exported, and essential oils are extracted from the rind of the agrumi, more particularly from that of the lemon and the See also:bergamot.

In northern and central Italy, except in the province of Brescia, the agrumi are almost non-existent. The trees are planted on irrigated soil and the fruit gathered between November and August. Considerable trade is done in agro di limone or lemon See also:

extract, which forms the basis of citric See also:acid. Extraction is extensively carried on in the provinces of Messina and Palermo. Among other fruit trees, See also:apple-trees have special importance. Almonds are widely cultivated in Sicily, Sardinia and the southern provinces; See also:walnut trees throughout the peninsula, their wood being more important than their fruit; hazel nuts, See also:figs, prickly See also:pears (used in the south and the islands for hedges, their fruit being a minor See also:consideration), peaches, pears, See also:locust beans and pistachio nuts are among the other fruits. The mulberry-tree (Morus See also:alba), whose leaves serve as food for silkworms, is cultivated in every region,, considerable progress having been made in its cultivation and in the rearing of silkworms since 185o. Silkworm-rearing establishments of importance now exist in the Marches, Umbria, in the Abruzzi, . Tuscany, Piedmont and Venetia. The chief See also:silk-producing provinces are Lombardy, Venetia and Piedmont. During the period 1900–1904 the average annual production of silk cocoons was 53,500 tons, and of silk 5200 tons. The great variety in physical and social conditions throughout the peninsula gives corresponding variety to the methods of agriculture.

In the rotation of crops there is an amazing diversity—shifts of two years, three years, four years, six years, and in many cases whatever order strikes the See also:

fancy of the See also:farmer. The fields of Tuscany for the most part bear wheat one year and maize the next, in perpetual interchanges, relieved to some extent by green crops. A similar method prevails in the Abruzzi, and in the provinces of Salerno, Benevento and Avellino. In Lombardy a six-year shift is common: either wheat, clover, maize, rice, rice, rice (the last year manured with lupines) or maize, wheat followed by clover, clover, clover ploughed in, and rice, rice and rice manured with lupines. The Emilian region is one where regular rotations are best observed—a common shift being See also:grain, maize, clover, beans and vetches, &c., grain, which has the disadvantage of the grain crops succeeding. each other. In the province of Naples, Caserta, &c., the method of fallows is widely adopted, the ground often being left in this state for fifteen or twenty years; and in some parts of Sicily there is a regular interchange of See also:fallow and crop year by year. The following See also:scheme indicates a common Sicilian method of a type which has many varieties: fallow, grain, grain, pasture, pasture—other two divisions of the area following the same order, but beginning respectively with the two years of grain and the two of pasture. Woods and forests See also:play an important part, especially in regard to the consistency of the soil and to the character of the water- woods courses. The chestnut is of great value for its wood and and its fruit, an article of popular consumption. Good See also:timber forests. is furnished by the oak and beech, and pine and See also:fir forests of the Alps and Apennines. Notwithstanding the efforts of the government to unify and co-See also:ordinate the forest See also:laws previously existing in the various states, deforestation has continued in many regions. This has been due to See also:speculation, to the unrestricted pasturage of goats, to the rights which many communes have over the forests, and to some extent to excessive See also:taxation, which led the proprietors to cut and sell the trees and then abandon the ground to the See also:Treasury.

The results are—a lack of water-supply and of water-See also:

power, the streams becoming mere torrents for a short period and perfectly dry for the rest of the year; lack of a sufficient supply of timber; the denudation of the soil on the hills, and, where the valleys below have insufficient drainage, the formation of swamps. If the available water-power of Italy, already very considerable, be harnessed, converted into electric power (which is already being done in some districts), and further increased by reafforestation, the effect upon the See also:industries of Italy will be incalculable, and the importation of See also:coal will be very materially diminished. The area of forest is about 14.3% of the total, and of the chestnut-woods 1.5 more; and its products in 1886 were valued at £3,520,000 (not including chestnuts). A quantity of it is really brushwood, used for the manufacture of See also:charcoal and for See also:fuel, coal being little used except for manufacturing purposes. Forest nurseries have also been founded. According to an approximate calculation the number of head of the live stock in Italy in 1890 was 16,620,000, thus divided: stock. horses, 720,000; asses, 1,000,000; mules, 300,000; cattle, 5,000,000; sheep, 6,000,000; goats, 1,800,000; See also:swine, 1,800,000. The breed of cattle most widely distributed is that known as the Podolian, usually with white or See also:grey coat and enormous horns. Of the numerous sub-varieties, the finest is said to be that of the Val di Chiana, where the animals are See also:stall-fed all the year round; next is ranked the so-called See also:Valle Tiberina type. Wilder varieties roam in vast herds over the Tuscan and Roman maremmas, and the corresponding districts in Apulia and other regions. In the Alpine districts there is a stock distinct from the Podolian, generally called razza montanina. These animals are much smaller in stature and more regular in form than the Podolians; they are mainly kept for See also:dairy purposes.

Another stock, with no close See also:

allies nearer than the south of France, is found in the plain of See also:Racconigi and See also:Carmagnola; the See also:mouse-coloured Swiss breed occurs in the neighbourhood of Milan; the Tirolese breed stretches south to Padua and Modena; and a red-coated breed named of Reggio or Friuli is familiar both in what were the duchies of Parma and Modena, and in the provinces of Udine and Treviso. In Sicily the so-called See also:Modica See also:race is of See also:note; and in Sardinia there is a distinct stock which seldom exceeds the See also:weight of 700 lb. Buffaloes are kept in several districts, more particularly of southern Italy. Enormous flocks are possessed by professional sheep-farmers, who pasture them in the mountains in the summer, and bring them down to the plains in the winter. At Saluzzo in Piedmont there is a stock with See also:hanging ears, arched face and tall stature, kept for its dairy qualities; and in the Biellese the See also:merino breed is maintained by some of the larger proprietors. In the upper valleys of the Alps there are many local varieties, one of which at Ossola is like the Scottish blackface. Liguria is not much adapted for sheep-farming on a large See also:scale; but a number of small flocks come down to the plain of Tuscany in the winter. With the exception of a few sub-Alpine districts near Bergamo and Brescia, the great Lombard plain is decidedly unpastoral. The Bergamo sheep is the largest breed in the country; that of Cadore and Belluno approaches it in size. In the Venetian districts the farmers often have small stationary flocks. Throughout the Roman province, and Umbria, Apulia, the Abruzzi, Basilicata and Calabria, is found in its full development a remarkable See also:system of See also:pastoral See also:migration with the See also:change of seasons which has been in existence from the most ancient times, and has attracted attention as much by its picturesqueness as by its industrial importance (see APuLIA). Merino sheep have been acclimatized in the Abruzzi, Capitanata and Basilicata.

The number of sheep, however, is on the decrease. Similarly, the number of goats, which are reared only in hilly regions, is decreasing, especially on account of the existing forest laws, as they are the chief enemies of See also:

young plantations. Horse-breeding is on the increase. The state See also:helps to improve the breeds by placing choice stallions at the disposal of private breeders at a low See also:tariff. The exportation is, however, unimportant, while the importation is largely on the increase, 46,463 horses having been imported in 1902. Cattle-breeding varies with the different regions. In upper Italy cattle are principally reared in pens and stalls; in central Italy cattle are allowed to run half wild, the stall system being little practised; in the south and in the islands cattle are kept in the open See also:air, few shelters being provided. The erection of shelters, however, is encouraged by the state. Swine are extensively reared in many provinces. Fowls are kept on all farms and, though methods are still antiquated, trade in fowls and eggs is rapidly increasing. In 1905 Italy exported 32,786 and imported 17,766 head of cattle; exported 33,574 and imported 6551 sheep; exported 95,995 and imported 1604 swine. The former two show a very large decrease and the latter a large increase on the export figures for 1882.

The export of agricultural products shows a large increase. The north of Italy has long been known for its great dairy districts. Parmesan See also:

cheese, otherwise called Lodigiano (from Lodi) or gran, was presented to See also:King See also:Louis NIL as early as 1509. Parmesan is not confined to the province from which it derives its name; it is manufactured in all that part of Emilia in the neighbourhood of the Po, and in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, Novara and Alessandria. See also:Gorgonzola, which takes its name from a town in the province, has become general throughout the whole of Lombardy, in the eastern parts of the "ancient provinces," and in the province of Cuneo. The cheese known as the cacio-See also:cavallo is produced in regions extending from 37° to 43° N. lat. See also:Gruyere, extensively manufactured in See also:Switzerland and France, is also produced in Italy in the Alpine regions and in Sicily. With the exception of Parmesan, Gorgonzola, La Fontina and Gruyere, most of the Italian cheese is consumed in the locality of its production. Co-operative dairy farms are numerous in north Italy, and though only about half as many as in 1889 (114 in 1902) are better organized. Modern methods have been introduced. The drainage of marshes and marshy lands has considerably extended. A law passed on the 22nd of March 1900 gave a ral°t~ge, special impulse to this form of enterprise by fixing the ratio D of See also:expenditure See also:incumbent respectively upon the State, "c'' the provinces, the communes, and the owners or other private ind:viduals directly interested.

The Italian Federation of Agrarian Unions has greatly contributed to agricultural progress. Government travelling teachers of agriculture, and fixed See also:

schools of viticulture, also do good BOO work. Some unions annually See also:purchase large quantities of merchandise for their members, especially chemical III . See also:manures. The importation of machinery amounted to over 5000 tons in 1901. Income from land has diminished on the whole. The chief diminution has taken place in the south in regard to oranges and lemons, cereals and (for some provinces) vines. Since 1895, however, the heavy import corn See also:duty has caused a slight rise in the income from corn lands. The principal reasons for the general decrease are the fall in prices through foreign competition and the closing of certain markets, the diseases of plants and the increased outlay required to combat them, and the growth of State and local taxation. One of the great evils of Italian agricultural taxation is its lack of See also:elasticity and of See also:adaptation to local conditions. Taxes are not sufficiently proportioned to what the land may reasonably be expected to produce, nor sufficient See also:allowance made for the exceptional conditions of a southern climate, in which a few See also:hours' bad weather may destroy a whole crop. The Italian agriculturist has come to look (and often in vain) for See also:action on a large scale from the state, for See also:irrigation, drainage of uncultivated low-lying land, which may be made fertile, river regulation, &c.; while to the small proprietor the state often appears only as a hard and inconsiderate tax-gatherer. The relations between owners and tillers of the soil are still regulated by the ancient forms of agrarian See also:contract, which have remained almost untouched by social and political changes.

The possibility of reforming these contracts in some parts of the kingdom has been studied, in the See also:

hope of bringing them into closer See also:harmony with the needs of rational cultivation and the exigencies of social See also:justice. See also:Peasant proprietorship is most common in Lombardy and Piedmont, but it is also found elsewhere. Large farms are found in certain of the more open districts; but in Italy generally, and especially in Sardinia, the land is very much subdivided. The following forms of contract are most usual in the several regions: In Piedmont the mezzadria (metayage), the terzieria, the colonia parziaria, the boaria, the schiavenza and the affitto, or See also:lease, are most usual. Under mezzadria the contract generally lasts three years. Products are usually divided in equal proportions between the owner and the tiller. The owner pays the taxes, defrays the cost of preparing the ground, and provides the necessary implements. Stock usually belongs to the owner, and, even if kept on the half-and-half system, is usually bought by him. The peasant, or mezzadro, provides labour. Under terzieria the owner furnishes stock, implements and seed, and the tiller retains only one-third of the principal products. In the colonia parziaria the peasant executes all the agricultural work, in return for which he is housed See also:rent-See also:free, and receives one-See also:sixth of the corn, one-third of the maize and has a small See also:money wage. This contract is usually renewed from year to year.

The boaria is widely diffused in its two forms of cascinafatta and paghe. In the former case a peasant See also:

family undertakes all the necessary work in return for See also:payment in money or kind, which varies according to the crop; in the latter the money wages and the payment in kind are fixed beforehand. Schiavenza, either See also:simple or with a See also:share in the crops, is a form of contract similar to the boaria, but applied principally to large holdings. The wages are lower than under the boaria. In the affitto, or lease, the proprietor furnishes seed and the implements. Rent varies according to the quality of the soil. In Lombardy, besides the mezzadria, the lease is common, but the terzieria is rare. The lessee, or farmer, tills the soil at his own risk; usually he provides live stock, implements and See also:capital, and has no right to See also:compensation for See also:ordinary improvements, nor for extra-ordinary improvements effected without the landlord's consent. He is obliged to give a See also:guarantee for the fulfilment of his engagements. In some places he pays an annual See also:tribute in grapes, corn and other produce. In some of the Lombard mezzadria contracts taxes are paid by the See also:cultivator. In Venetia it is more common than elsewhere in Italy for owners to till their own soil.

The prevalent forms of contract are the mezzadria and the lease. In Liguria, also, mezzadria and lease are the chief forms of contract. In Emilia both mezzadria and lease See also:

tenure are widely diffused in the provinces of Ferrara, Reggio and Parma; but other special forms of contract exist, known as the famiglio da spesa, boaria, braccianti obbligati and braccianti disobbligati. In the famiglio da spesa the tiller receives a small wage and a proportion of certain products. The boaria is of two kinds. If the tiller receives as much as 45 lire per See also:month, supplemented by other wages in kind, it is said to be boaria a salario; if the principal part of his remuneration is in kind, his contract is called boaria a spesa. In the Marches, Umbria and Tuscany, mezzadria prevails in its purest form. Profits and losses, both in regard to produce and stock, are equally divided. In some places, however, the landlord takes two-thirds of the olives and the whole of the grapes and the mulberry leaves. Leasehold exists in the province of Grosseto alone. In Latium leasehold and farming by landlords prevail, but cases of mezzadria and of " improvement farms " exist. In the agro Romano, or zone immediately around Rome, land is as a rule left for pasturage.

It needs, therefore, merely supervision by guardians and mounted overseers, or butteri, who are housed and receive wages. Large landlords are usually represented by ministri, or factors, who direct agricultural operations and See also:

manage the estates, but the See also:estate is often let to a middleman, or mercante di campagna. Wherever corn is cultivated, leasehold predominates. Much of the work is done by companies of peasants, who come down from the mountainous districts when required, permanent See also:residence not being possible owing to the malaria. Near See also:Velletri and See also:Frosinone " improvement farms " prevail. A piece of uncultivated land is made over to a peasant for from 20 to 29 years. Vines and olives are usually planted, the landlord paying the taxes and receiving one-third of the produce. At the end of the contract the landlord either cultivates his land himself or leases it, repaying to the improver part of the expenditure incurred by him. This repayment sometimes consists of half the estimated value of the See also:standing crops. In the Abruzzi and in Apulia leasehold is predominant. Usually leases last from three to six years. In the provinces of Foggia and Lecce long leases (up to twenty-nine years) are granted, but in them it is explicitly declared that they do not imply enfiteusi (perpetual leasehold), nor any other form of contract See also:equivalent to co-proprietorship.

Mezzadria is rarely resorted to. On some small holdings, however, it exists with contracts lasting from two to six years. Special contracts, known as colonie immovibili and colonie temporanee are applied to the latifondi or huge estates, the owners of which receive half the produce, except that of the vines, olive-trees and woods, which he leases separately. " Improvement contracts " also exist. They consist of long leases, under which the landlord shares the See also:

costs of improvements and builds See also:farm-houses; also leases of orange and lemon gardens, two-thirds of the produce of which go to the landlord, while the farmer contributes half the cost of farming besides the labour. Leasehold, varying from four to six years for arable land and from six to eighteen years for forest-land, prevails also in Campania, Basilicata and Calabria. The estaglio, or rent,is often paid in kind, and is equivalent to half the produce of good land and one-third of the produce of bad land. " Improvement contracts " are granted for uncultivated See also:bush districts, where one fourth of the produce goes to the landlord, and for plantations of fig-trees, olive-trees and vines, half of the produce of which belongs to the landlord, who at the end of ten years reimburses the See also:tenant for a part of the improvements effected. Other forms of contract are the piccola mezzadria, or sub-letting by tenants to under-tenants, on the half-and-half system; enfiteusi, or perpetual leases at low rents—a form which has almost died out; and mezzadria (in the provinces of Caserta and Benevento). In Sicily leasehold prevails under special conditions. In pure leasehold the landlord demands at least six months' rent as guarantee, and the See also:forfeiture of any fortuitous advantages. Under the gabella lease the contract lasts twenty-nine years, the lessee being obliged to make improvements, but being sometimes exempted from rent during the first years.

Inquilinaggio is a form of lease by which the landlord, and sometimes the tenant, makes over to tenant or sub-tenant the See also:

sowing of corn. There are various categories of inquilinaggio, according as rent is paid in money or in kind. Under mezzadria or metateria the landlord divides the produce with the farmer in various proportions. The farmer provides all labour. Latifondi farms are very numerous in Sicily. The landlord lets his land to two or more persons jointly, who undertake to restore it to him in good See also:condition with one-third of it " interrozzito," that is, fallow, so as to be cultivated the following year according to triennial rotation. These lessees are usually speculators, who See also:divide and sub-let the estate. The sub-tenants in their turn let a part of their land to peasants in mezzadria, thus creating a system disastrous both for agriculture and the peasants. At See also:harvest-time the produce is placed in the barns of the lessor, who first deducts 25% as See also:premium, then 16% for battiteria (the difference between corn before and after winnowing), then deducts a proportion for rent and subsidies, so that the portion retained by the actual tiller of the soil is extremely meagre. In bad years the tiller, moreover, gives up seed corn before beginning harvest. In Sardinia landlord-farming and leasehold prevail. In the fey cases of mezzadria the Tuscan system is followed.

Mines.—The number of mines increased from 589 in 1881 to 158o in 1902. The output in 1881 was See also:

worth about £2,800,000, but by 1895 had decreased to £1,800,000, chiefly on account of the fall in the See also:price of See also:sulphur. It afterwards rose, and was worth more than £3,640,000 in 1899, falling again to £3,118,600 in 1902 owing to severe American competition in sulphur (see SICILY). The chief minerals are sulphur, in the production of which Italy holds one of the first places, See also:iron, See also:zinc, lead; these, and, to a smaller extent, See also:copper of an inferior quality, See also:manganese and See also:antimony, are successfully See also:mined. The bulk of the sulphur mines are in Sicily, while the See also:majority of the lead and zinc mines are in Sardinia; much of the lead smelting is done at Pertusola, near Genoa, the See also:company formed for this purpose having acquired many of the Sardinian mines. Iron is mainly mined in Elba. Quicksilver and See also:tin are found (the latter in small quantities) in Tuscany. Boracic acid is chiefly found near Volterra, where there is also a little rock salt, but the main supply is obtained by evaporation. The output of stone from quarries is greatly diminished (from 12,500,000 tons, worth £1,920,000, in 1890, to 8,000,000 tons, worth £1,400,000, in 1899), a circumstance probably attributable to the slackening of See also:building enterprise in many cities, and to the decrease in the demand for stone for railway, maritime and river See also:embankment See also:works. The value of the output had, however, by 1902 risen to £1,600,000, representing a See also:tonnage of about 10,000,000. There is good travertine below See also:Tivoli and elsewhere in Italy; the finest See also:granite is found at Baveno. Lava is much used for paving-stones in the neighbourhood of volcanic districts, where pozzolana (for See also:cement) and See also:pumice stone are also important.

Much of Italy contains See also:

Pliocene See also:clay, which is good for pottery and brickmaking. See also:Mineral springs are very numerous, and of great variety. See also:Fisheries.—The number of boats and smacks engaged in the fisheries has considerably increased. In 1881 the total number was 15,914, with a tonnage of 49,103. In 1902 there were 23,098 boats, manned by 101,720 men, and the total catch was valued at just over half a million See also:sterling—according to the government figures, which are certainly below the truth. The value has, however. undoubtedly diminished, though the number of boats and crews increases. Most of the fishing boats, properly so called, start from the Adriatic coast, the See also:coral boats from the western Mediterranean coast, and the sponge boats from the western Mediterranean and Sicilian coasts. Fishing and See also:trawling are carried on chiefly off the Italian (especially Ligurian, Austrian and Tunisian coasts; coral is found principally near Sardinia and Sicily, and See also:sponges almost exclusively off Sicily and See also:Tunisia in See also:tile neighbourhood of See also:Sfax. For sponge fishing no accurate statistics are available before 1896; in that year 75 tons of sponges were secured, but there has been considerable diminution since, only 31 tons being obtained in 1902. A considerable proportion was obtained by foreign boats. The island of See also:Lampedusa may be considered its centre. Coral fishing, which See also:fell off between 1889 and 1892 on account of the temporary closing of the See also:Sciacca coral reefs has greatly decreased since 1884, when the fisheries produced 643 tons,-whereas in 1902 they only produced 225 tons.

The value of the product has, however, proportionately increased, so that the sum realized was little less, while less than half the number of men was employed. Sardinian coral commands from £3 to £4 per kilo- as distinguished from those above mentioned, have kept See also:

pace with gramme (2.204 lb), and is much more valuable than the Sicilian coral. The Sciacca reefs were again closed for three winters by a See also:decree of 1904. The fishing is largely carried on by boats from See also:Tone del See also:Greco, in the Gulf of Naples, where the best coral beds are now exhausted. In 1879 4000 men were employed; in 1902 only just over See also:i000. In 1902 there were 48 tunny fisheries, employing 3006 men, and 5116 tons of fish worth £80,000 were caught. The main fisheries are in Sardinia, Sicily and Elba. Anchovy and sardine fishing (the products of which are reckoned among the general total) are also of considerable importance, especially along the Ligurian and Tuscan coasts. The lagoon fisheries are also of great importance, more especially those of See also:Comacchio, the lagoon of Orbetello and the See also:Mare See also:Piccolo at Taranto &c The deep-sea fishing boats in 1902 numbered 1368, with a total tonnage of 16,149; too of these were coral-fishing boats and iii sponge-fishing boats. Industrial Progress.—The industrial progress of Italy has been great since 1880. Many articles formerly imported are now made at home, and some Italian manufactures have begun to compete in foreign markets. Italy has only unimportant See also:lignite and See also:anthracite mines, but water power is abundant and has been largely applied to industry, especially in generating See also:electricity.

The electric power required fcir the tramways and the See also:

illumination of Rome is entirely supplied by turbines situated at Tivoli, and this is the case elsewhere, and the harnessing of this water-power is capable of very considerable extension. A sign of industrial development is to be found in the growing number of manufacturing companies, both Italian and foreign. The chief development has taken place in See also:mechanical industries, though it has also been marked in metallurgy. Sulphur See also:mining Mechant- supplies large industries of sulphur-refining and grinding, cal See also:Indus- in spite of American competition. Very little See also:pig iron is trees, made, most of the iron ore being exported, and iron manufactured consists of old iron resmelted. For See also:steel-making foreign pig iron is chiefly used. The manufacture of steel rails, carried on first at Terni and afterwards at Savona, began in Italy in 1886. Tin has been manufactured since 1892. Lead, antimony, See also:mercury and copper are also produced. The total salt production in 1902 was 458,497 tons, of which 248,215 were produced in the government salt factories and the rest in the free salt-works of Sicily. Great progress has been made in the manufacture of machinery; locomotives, railway carriages, electric tram-cars, &c., and machinery of all kinds, are now largely made in Italy itself, especially in the north and in the neighbourhood of Naples. At Turin the manufacture of motor-cars has attained great importance and the F.I.A.T.

(Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) factory em-ploys 2000 workmen, while eight others employ 2780 amongst them. The textile industries, some of which are of ancient date, are among those that have most rapidly See also:

developed. Handlooms and small spin-Textiles. ning establishments have, in the silk industry, given place to large establishments with steam looms. The production of raw silk at least tripled itself between 1875 and 1900, and the value of the silks See also:woven in Italy, estimated in 1890 to be 2,200,000, is now, on account of the development of the export trade, calculated to be almost £4,000,000. Lombardy (especially Como, Milan and Bergamo), Piedmont and Venetia are the chief silk-producing regions. There are several public assay offices in Italy for silk; the first in the world was established in Turin in 1750. The cotton industry has also rapidly developed. Home products not only supply the Italian market in increasing degree, but find their way into foreign markets. While importation of raw cotton increases importations of cotton See also:thread and of cotton stuffs have rapidly decreased. The value of the annual produce of the various branches of the cotton industry, which in 1885 was calculated to be f7,200,000, was in 1900, not-withstanding the fall in prices, about £12,000,000. The industry is chiefly developed in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria; to some extent also in Campania, Venetia and Tuscany, and to a less extent in Lazio (Rome), Apulia, Emilia, the Marches, Umbria, the Abruzzi and Sicily. A government See also:weaving school was established in Naples in 1906.

As in the case of cotton, Italian woollen fabrics are conquering the home market in increasing degree. The industry centres chiefly in Piedmont (province of Novara), Venetia (province of Vicenza), Tuscany (Florence), Lombardy (Brescia), Campania (Caserta), Genoa, Umbria, the Marches and Rome. To some extent the industry also exists in Emilia, Calabria, Basilicata, the Abruzzi, Sardinia and Sicily. It has, however, a comparatively small export trade. The other textile industries (flax, jute, &c.) have made notable progress. The jute industry is concentrated in a few large factories, which from 1887 onwards have more than supplied the home market, and have begun considerably to export. Chemical industries show an output worth £2,640,000 in 1902 as against £1,040,000 in 1893. The chief products are sulphuric acid; Chemicals. sulphate of copper, employed chiefly as a preventive of certain maladies of the vine; carbonate of lead, hyper- See also:

phosphates and chemical manures; See also:calcium See also:carbide; explosive See also:powder; See also:dynamite and other See also:explosives. Pharmaceutical industries, the general development of Italian activity. The principal product is See also:quinine, the manufacture of which has acquired great importance, owing to its use as a specific against malaria. Milan and Genoa are the principal centres, and also the government military pharmaceutical factory at Turin. Other industries of a semi-chemical character are See also:candle-, See also:soap-, See also:glue-, and perfume-making, and the preparation of See also:india-See also:rubber.

The last named has succeeded, by means of the large establishments at Milan in supplying not only the whole Italian market but an export trade. The match-making industry is subject to special fiscal conditions. In 1902–1903 there were 219 match factories scattered throughout Italy, but especially in Piedmont, Lombardy and Venetia. The number has been reduced to less than half since 1897 by the suppression of smaller factories, while the production has increased from 47,690 millions to 59,741 millions. The beetroot-sugar industry has attained considerable proportions in Umbria, the Marches, Lazio, Venetia and Piedmont since 1890. In 1898–1899, 5972 tons were produced, while in 1905 the figure. had risen to 93,916. The rise of the industry has been favoured by protective tariffs and by a system of See also:

excise which allows a considerable premium to manufacturers. See also:Alcohol has undergone various oscillations, according to the legislation governing distilleries. In 1871 only 20 hectolitres were produced, but in 1881 the output was 318,000 hectolitres, the maximum hitherto attained. Since then special laws have hampered development, some provinces, as for instance Sardinia, being allowed to manufacture for their own consumption but not for export. In other parts the industry is subjected to an almost prohibitive excise-duty. The average production is about 18o,000 hectolitres per annum.

The greatest quantity is produced in Lombardy, Piedmont, Venetia and Tuscany. The quantity of See also:

beer is about the same, the greater part of the beer drunk being imported from See also:Germany, while the production of artificial mineral waters has somewhat decreased. There is a considerable trade (not very large for export, however) in natural mineral waters, which are often excellent. See also:Paper-making is highly developed in the provinces of Novara, Caserta, Milan, Vicenza, Turin, Como, Lucca, Ancona, Genoa, Brescia, Cuneo, Macerata and Salerno. The hand-made paper of See also:Fabriano is especially good. See also:Furniture-making in different styles is carried on all over Italy, especially as a result of the See also:establishment of industrial schools. Each region produces a special type, Venetia turning out imitations of 16th- and 17th-century styles, Tuscany the 15th-century or cinquecento style, and the Neapolitan provinces the Pompeian style. Furniture and See also:cabinet-making in great factories are carried on particularly in Lombardy and Piedmont. See also:Bent-wood factories have been established in Venetia and Liguria. A characteristic Italian industry is that of See also:straw-plaiting for See also:hat-making, which is carried on principally in Tuscany, in the district of See also:Fermo, in the Alpine villages of the province of Vicenza, and in some communes of the province of Messina. The plaiting is done by country women, while the hats are made up in factories. Both plaits and hats are largely exported.

Tobacco is entirely a government monopoly; the total amount manufactured in 1902–1903 was 16,599 tons—a fairly constant figure. The finest See also:

glass is made in Tuscany and Venetia; Venetian glass is often coloured and of See also:artistic form. In the various ceramic arts Italy was once unrivalled, but the ancient tradition for a long time lost its primeval impulse. The works at Vinovo, which had fame in the 18th century, . Artistic came to an untimely end in 1820; those of See also:Castelli (in -ndus- the Abruzzi), which have been revived, were supplanted tries. by See also:Charles III.'s establishment at Capodimonte, 171, which after producing articles of surprising See also:execution was closed before the end of the century. The first place now belongs to the Della Doccia works at Florence. Founded in 1735 by the See also:marquis Carlo Ginori, they maintained a reputation of the very highest kind down to about 1860; but since then they have not kept pace with their younger rivals in other lands. They still, however, are commercially successful. Other cities where the ceramic industries keep their ground are Pesaro, See also:Gubbio, Faenza (whose name long ago became the distinctive term for the finer kind of See also:potter's work in France, See also:faience), Savona and Albissola, Turin, See also:Mondovi, Cuneo, Castellamonte, Milan, Brescia, Sassuolo, Imola, Rimini, Perugia, Castelli, &c. In all these the older styles, by which these places became famous in the 16th–18th centuries, have been revived. It is estimated that the total production of the finer wares amounts on the average to £400,000 per annum. The ruder branches of the See also:art—the making of tiles and common wares—are See also:pretty generally diffused.

The jeweller's art received large encouragement in a country which had so many independent courts; but nowhere has it attained a See also:

fuller development than at Rome. A vast variety of trinkets—in coral, glass, lava, &c. is exported from Italy, or carried away by the annual See also:host of tourists. The copying of the paintings of the old masters is becoming an art industry of no small See also:mercantile importance in some of the larger cities. The production of mosaics is an industry still carried on with much success in Italy, which indeed ranks exceedingly high in the See also:department. The great works of the Vatican are especially famous (more than 17,000 distinct tints are employed in their productions), and there are many other establishments in Rome. The Florentine mosaics are perhaps better known abroad; they are composed of larger pieces than the Roman. Those of the Venetian artists are remarkable for the boldness of their colouring. There is a tendency towards the fostering of feminine home industries—See also:lace-making, See also:linen-weaving, &c. Condition of the Working Classes.—The condition of the numerous agricultural labourers (who constitute one-third of the population) is, except in some regions, hard, and in places absolutely miserable. Much light was thrown upon their position by the agricultural inquiry (inchiesta agraria) completed in 1884. The large numbers of emigrants, who are See also:drawn chiefly from the rural classes, furnish another See also:proof of poverty. The terms of agrarian contracts and leases (except in districts where mezzadria prevails in its essential form), are in many regions disadvantageous to the labourers, who suffer from the See also:obligation to provide guarantees for payment of rent, for repayment of seed corn and for the division of products.

It was only at the close of the 19th century that the true cause of malaria—the See also:

conveyance of the infection by the bite of the Malaria. Anopheles claviger—was discovered. This See also:mosquito does not as a rule enter the large towns; but low-lying coast districts and See also:ill-drained plains are especially subject to It. Much has been done in keeping out the insects by fine See also:wire netting placed on the windows and the doors of houses, especially in the railway-men's cottages. In 1902 the state took up the sale of quinine at a low price, manufacturing it at the central military pharmaceutical laboratory at Turin. Statistics show the difference produced by this measure. See also:Financial Year. Pounds of Deaths by quinine sold. Malaria. 1901-1902 .. 13,358 1902-1903 4,932 9,908 1903-1904 15,915 8,513 1904-1905 30,956 8,501 1905-1906 41,166 7,838 1906-1907 45,591 4,875 -J The profit made by the state, which is entirely devoted to a special fund for means against malaria, amounted in these five years to £41,759. It has been established that two 3-grain pastilles a day are a sufficient prophylactic; and the proprietors of malarious estates and contractors for public works in malarious districts are bound by law to provide sufficient quinine for their workmen, death for want of this precaution coming under the See also:pro-visions of the workmen's compensation See also:act.

Much has also been, though much remains to be, done in the way of bonificamento, i.e. proper drainage and improvement of the (generally fertile) low-lying and hitherto malarious plains. In Venetia the lives of the small proprietors and of the salaried peasants are often extremely miserable. There and in Lombardy the disease known as See also:

pellagra is most widely diffused. The disease is due to poisoning by micro-organisms produced by deteriorated maize, and can be combated by care in ripening, drying and storing the maize. The most recent statistics show the disease to be diminishing. Whereas in 1881 there were 104,067 (16.29 per loon) peasants afflicted by the disease, in 1899 there were only 72,603 (10.30 per t000) peasants, with a maximum of 39,882 (34.32 per 1000) peasants in Venetia. and 19,557 (12.90 per I000) peasants in Lombardy. The decrease of the disease is a direct result of the efforts made to combat it, in the form of special hospitals or pellagrosari, economic kitchens, rural bakeries and maize-drying establishments. A See also:bill for the better prevention of pellagra was introduced in the spring of 1902. The deaths from it dropped in that year to 2376, from 3054 in the previous year and 3788 in 1900. In Liguria, on account of the See also:comparative rarity of large estates, agricultural labourers are in a better condition. Men See also:earn between Is. 3d. and 2s.

Id. a day, and women from 5d. to 8d. In Emilia the day labourers, known as disobbligati, earn, on the contrary, low wages, out of which they have to provide for shelter and to See also:

lay by something against See also:unemployment. Their condition is miserable. In Tuscany, however, the prevalence of mezzadria, properly so called, has raised the labourers' position. Yet in some Tuscan provinces, as, for instance, that ofpGrosseto, where malaria rages, labourers are organized in gangs under " corporals," who undertake harvest work. They are poverty-stricken, and easily fall victims to See also:fever. In the Abruzzi and in Apulia both regular and irregular workmen are engaged by the year. The curatoli or curatoli (factors) receive £40 a year, with a slight See also:interest in the profits; the stock-men hardly earn in money and kind £13; the muleteers and under-workmen get between £5 to £8, plus firewood, bread and oil;irregular workmen have even lower wages, with a daily See also:distribution of bread, salt and oil. In Campania and Calabria the curatoli and massari earn, in money and kind, about £12 a year; cowmen, shepherds and muleteers about £1o; irregular workmen are paid from 81d. to Is. 8d. per day, but only find employment, on an average, 230 days in the year. The condition of Sicilian labourers is also miserable. The huge extent of the latifondi, or large estates, often results in their being left in the hands of speculators, who exploit both workmen and farmers with such See also:usury that the latter are often compelled, at the end of a scanty year, to hand over their crops to the usurers before harvest.

In Sardinia wage-earners are paid 1od. a day, with free shelter and an See also:

allotment for private cultivation. Irregular adult workmen earn between sod. and Is. 3d., and boys from 6d. to sod. a day. Woodcutters and vine-waterers, however, sometimes earn as much as 3s. a day. The peasants somewhat rarely use See also:animal food—this is most largely used in Sardinia and least in Sicily—bread and See also:polenta or macaroni and vegetables being the See also:staple diet. Wine is the prevailing drink, The condition of the workmen employed in manufactures has improved during recent years. Wages are higher, the cost of the See also:prime necessaries of life is, as a rule, lower, though taxation on some of them is still enormous; so that the remuneration of work has improved. Taking into account the variations in wages and in the price of wheat, it may be calculated that the number of hours of work requisite to earn a sum equal to the price of a cwt. of wheat fell from 183 in 1871 to 73 in 1894. In 1898 it was 105, on account of the rise In the price of wheat, and since then up till 1902 it oscillated between 105 and 95. Wages have risen from 22.6 centimes per See also:hour (on an average) to 26.3 centimes, but not in all industries. In the mining and woollen industries they have fallen, but have increased in mechanical, chemical, silk and cotton industries. Wages vary greatly in different parts of Italy, according to the cost of the necessaries of life, the degree of development of working-class needs and the state of working-class organization, which in some places has succeeded in increasing the rates of pay.

Women are, as a rule, paid less than men, and though their wages have also increased, the rise has been slighter than in the case of men. In some trades, for instance the silk trade, women earn little more than sod. a day, and, for some classes of work, as little as 7d. and 41d. The general improvement in sanitation has led to a corresponding improvement in the condition of the working classes, though much still remains to be done, especially in the south. On the other hand, it is generally the case that even in the most unpromising See also:

inn the bedding is clean. The number of industrial strikes has risen from year to year, although, on account of the large number of persons involved in some of them, the rise in the number of strikers has not strikes. always corresponded to the number of strikes. During the years 1900 and 1901 strikes were increasingly numerous, chiefly on account of the growth of Socialist and working-class organizations. The greatest proportion of strikes takes place in northern Italy, especially Lombardy and Piedmont, where manufacturing industries are most developed. Textile, building and mining industries show the highest percentage of strikes, since they give employment to large numbers of men concentrated in single localities. Agricultural strikes, though less frequent than those in manufacturing industries, have special importance in Italy. They are most common in the north and centre, a circumstance which shows them to be promoted less by the more backward and more ignorant peasants than by the better-educated labourers of Lombardy and Emilia, among whom Socialist organizations are widespread. Since 1901 there have been, more than once, general strikes at Milan and elsewhere, and one in the autumn of 1905 caused great inconvenience throughout the country, and led to no effective result. Although in some industrial centres the working-class movement has assumed an importance equal to that of other countries, there is no general working-class organization comparable to the See also:English trade unions.

Mutual benefit and co-operative See also:

societies serve the purpose of working-class defence or offence against the employers. In 1893, after many vicissitudes, the Italian Socialist Labour Party was founded, and has now become the Italian Socialist Party, in which the majority of Italian workmen enrol themselves. Printers and hat-makers, however, possess trade societies. In 1899 an agitation began for the organization of " See also:Chambers of Labour' intended to look after the technical See also:education of workmen and to form commissions of See also:arbitration in case of strikes. They act also as employment bureaux, and are often centres of political propaganda. At present such " chambers " exist in many Italian cities, while "leagues of improvement,", or of " resistance," are rapidly spreading in the country districts. In many cases the action of these organizations has proved, at least temporarily, advantageous to the working classes. Labour legislation is backward in Italy, on account of the late development of manufacturing industry and of working-class organization. On the 17th of See also:April 1898 a species of Employers' Liability Act compelled employers of more than five workmen in certain industries to insure their employees against accidents. On the 17th of July 1898 a See also:national fund for the See also:insurance of workmen against illness and old age was founded by law on the principle of optional registration. In addition to an initial endowment by the state, part of the annual income of the fund is furnished in various forms by the state (principally by making over a proportion of the profits of the See also:Post See also:Office Savings Bank), and part by the premiums of the workmen. The minimum annual premium is six lire for an See also:annuity of one See also:lira per clay at the age of sixty, and insurance against sickness.

The low level of wages in many trades and the jealousies of the " Chambers of Labour " and other working-class organizations impede rapid development. A law came into operation in February 1908, according to which a weekly day of rest (with few exceptions)was established on See also:

Sunday in every case in which it was possible, and otherwise upon some other day of the See also:week. The See also:French institution of Prudhommes was introduced into Italy in 1893, under the name of Collegi di Probiviri. The institution has not attained great See also:vogue. Most of the colleges deal with matters affecting textile and mechanical industries. Each " See also:college " is founded by royal decree, and consists of a See also:president, with not fewer than ten and not more than twenty members. A conciliation See also:bureau and a See also:jury are elected to deal with disputes concerning wages, hours of work, labour contracts, &c., and have power to See also:settle the disputes, without See also:appeal, whenever the amounts involved do not exceed £8. Provident institutions have considerably developed in Italy under the forms of savings See also:banks, assurance companies Provident and mutual benefit societies. Besides the Post Office lustitu- :ions. Savings Bank and the ordinary savings banks, many co-operative See also:credit societies and ordinary credit banks receive deposits of savings. The greatest number of savings banks exists in Lombardy; Piedmont and Venetia come next. Campania holds the first place in the south, most of the savings of that region being deposited in the provident institutions of Naples.

In Liguria and Sardinia the See also:

habit of See also:thrift is less developed. Assurance societies in Italy are subject to the general dispositions of the commercial See also:code regarding commercial companies. Mutual benefit societies have increased rapidly, both because their advantages have been appreciated, and because, until recently, the state had taken no steps directly to insure work-men against illness. The present Italian mutual benefit societies resemble the ancient beneficent corporations, of which in some respects they may be considered a continuation. The societies require government recognition if they wish to enjoy legal rights. The state (law of the 15th of April 1896) imposed this condition in order to determine exactly the aims of the societies, and, while allowing them to give help to their sick, old or feeble members, or aid the families of deceased members, to forbid them to pay old-age See also:pensions, lest they assumed burdens beyond their financial strength. Nevertheless, the majority of societies have not sought recognition, being suspicious of fiscal state intervention. Co-operation, for the various purposes of credit, distribution, production and labour, has attained great development in Italy. Credit co-operation is represented by a special type co-o t on.pera- of association known as See also:People's Banks (Banche Popolari). They are not, as a rule, supported by workmen or peasants, but rather by small tradespeople, manufacturers and farmers. They perform a useful See also:function in protecting their clients from the cruel usury which prevails, especially in the south. A recent form of co-operative credit banks are the Casse Rurali or rural banks, on the Raffeisen system, which lend money to peasants and small proprietors out of capital obtained on credit or by See also:gift.

These loans are made on personal See also:

security, but the members of the bank do not contribute any See also:quota of the capital, though their liability is unlimited in case of loss. They are especially widespread in Lombardy and Venetia. Distributive co-operation is confined almost entirely to Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia and Tuscany, and is practically unknown in Basilicata, the Abruzzi and Sardinia. Co-operative dairies are numerous. They have, however, much decreased in number since 1889. More numerous are the agricultural and viticultural co-operative societies, which have largely increased in number. They are to be found mainly in the fertile plains of. north Italy, where they enjoy considerable success, removing the cause of labour troubles and strikes, and providing for cultivation on a sufficiently large scale. The richest, however, of the co-operative societies, though few in number, are those for the production of electricity, for textile industries and for ceramic and glass manufactures. Co-operation in general is most widely diffused, in proportion to population, in central Italy; less so in northern Italy, and much less so in the south and the islands. It thus appears that co-operationflourishes most in the districts in which the mezzadria system has been prevalent. Railways.—The first railway in Italy, a line 16 m. long from Naples to Castellammare, was opened in 1840. By 1881 there were some 5500 M. open, in 1891 some 8000 m., while in 1901 the total length was 9317 M.

In July 1905 all the principal lines, which had been constructed by the state, but had been since 1885 let out to three companies (Mediterranean, Adriatic, Sicilian), were taken over by the state; their length amounted in 1901 to 6147 m., and in 1907 to 8422 M. The minor lines (many of them narrow See also:

gauge) remain in the hands of private companies. The total length, including the Sardinian railways, was io,368 m. in 1907. The state, in taking over the 'railways, did not exercise sufficient care to see that the lines and the See also:rolling stock were kept up to a proper state of efficiency and adequacy for the work they had to perform; while the step itself was taken somewhat hastily. The result was that for the first two years of state See also:administration the service was distinctly bad, and the lack of goods trucks at the ports was especially See also:felt. A capital expenditure of £4,000,000 annually was decided on to bring the lines up to the necessary state of efficiency to be able to See also:cope with the rapidly increasing See also:traffic. It was estimated in 1906 that this would have to be maintained for a period of ten years, with a further total expenditure of £14,000,000 on new lines. Comparing the state of things in 1901 with that of 1881, for the whole country, we find the passenger and goods traffic almost doubled (except the cattle traffic), the capital expenditure almost doubled, the working expenses per mile almost imperceptibly increased, and the See also:gross receipts per mile slightly lower. The personnel had increased from 70,568 to 108,690. The construction of numerous unreinunerative lines, and the free granting of con-cessions to government and other employees (and also of cheap tickets on special occasions for congresses, &c., in various towns, without strict inquiry into the qualifications of the claimants) will account for the failure to realize a higher profit. The fares (in slow trains, with the addition of to % for expenses) are: 1st class, I.85d.; 2nd, I.3d.; 3rd, o•725d. per mile. There are, however, considerable reductions for distances over 93 m., on a scale increasing in proportion to the distance.

The taking over of the main lines by the state has of course produced a considerable change in the financial situation of the railways. The state incurred in this connexion a liability of some £20,000,000, of which about £16,000,000 represented the rolling stock. The state has considerably improved the engines and passenger carriages. The capital value of the whole of the lines, rolling stock, &c., for 1908–1909 was calculated approximately at £244,161,400, and the profits at £5,295,019, or 2'2 %. Milan is the most important railway centre in the country, and is followed by Turin, Genoa, Verona, Bologna, Rome, Naples. Lombardy and Piedmont are much better provided with railways in proportion to their area than any other parts of Italy; next come Venetia, Emilia and the immediate environs of Naples. The northern frontier is crossed by the railway from Turin to Ventimiglia by the Col di Tenda, the Mont Cenis line from Turin to Modane (the See also:

tunnel is 7 M. in length), the Simplon line (tunnel t 1 m. in length) from Domodossola to Brigue, the St Gotthard from Milan to Chiasso (the tunnel is entirely in Swiss territory), the See also:Brenner from Verona to Trent, the line from Udine to Tarvis and the line from Venice to Triest by the Adriatic coast. Besides these See also:international lines the most important are those from Milan to Turin (via Vercelli and via Alessandria), to Genoa via See also:Tortona, to Bologna via Parma and Modena, to Verona, and the shorter lines to the district of the lakes of Lombardy; from Turin to Genoa via Savona and via Alessandria; from Genoa to Savona and Ventimiglia along the Riviera, and along the south-west coast of Italy, via See also:Sarzana (whence a line runs to Parma) to Pisa (whence lines run to See also:Pistoia and Florence) and Rome; from Verona to Modena, and to Venice via Padua; from Bologna to Padua, to Rimini (and thence along the north-east coast via Ancona, Castellammare Adriatico and Foggia to Brindisi and Otranto), and to Florence and Rome; from Rome to Ancona, to Castellammare Adriatico and to Naples; from Naples to Foggia, via Metaponto (with a junction for Reggio di Calabria), to Brindisi and to Reggio di Calabria. (For the Sicilian and Sardinian lines, see SICILY and SARDINIA.) The See also:speed of the trains is not high, nor are the runs without stoppage long as a rule. One of the fastest runs is from Rome to Orte, 52.40 M. in 69 See also:min., or 45'4o M. per hour, but this is a double line with little traffic. The low speed reduces the potentiality of the lines. The insufficiency of rolling stock, and especially of goods wagons, is mainly caused by delays in " handling " traffic consequent on this or other causes, among which may be mentioned the great length of the single lines south of Rome.

It is thus a See also:

matter of difficulty to provide trucks for a sudden emergency, e.g. the vintage See also:season; and in 1905–1907 complaints were many,. while the seaports were continually short of trucks. This led to deficiencies in the supply of coal to the manufacturing centres, and to some diversion elsewhere of shipping. Steam and Electric Tramways.—Tramways with mechanical See also:traction have developed rapidly. Between 1875, when the first line was opened, and 1901, the length of the lines See also:grew to 1890 m. of steam and 270 m. of electric tramways. These lines exist principally in Lombardy (especially in the province of Milan), in Piedmont, especially in the province of Turin, and in other regions of northern and central Italy. In the south they are rare, on account partly of the mountainous character of the country, and partly of the scarcity of traffic. All the important towns of.Italy are provided with internal electric tramways, mostly with overhead wires. See also:Carriage-roads have been greatly extended in modern times, although their ratio to area varies in different localities. In north Italy there are 148o yds. of road per sq. m.; in central Italy 993; in southern Italy 405; in Sardinia 596, and in Sicily only 244. They are as a rule well kept up in north and central Italy, less so in the south, where, especially in Calabria, many villages are inaccessible by road and have only footpaths leading to them. By the act of 1903 the state contributes half and the province a quarter of the cost of roads connecting communes with the nearest railway stations or landing places. Inland Navigation.—Navigable canals had in 1886 a total length of about 655 m.; they are principally situated in Piedmont, Lombardy and Venetia, and are thus practically confined to the Po basin.

Canals lead from Milan to the Ticino, Adda and Po. The Po is itself navigable from Turin downwards, but through its delta it is so sandy that canals are preferred, the Po di Volano e.nd the Po di Primaro on the right, and the See also:

Canale Bianco on the left. The total length of navigable rivers is 967 M. Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones.—The number of post offices (including collettorie, or See also:collecting offices, which are rapidly being eliminated) increased from 2200 in 1862 to 4823 in 1881, 6700 in 1891 and 8817 in 1904. In spite of a large increase in the number of letters and post See also:cards (i.e. nearly to per inhabitant per annum in 1904, as against 5.65 in 1888) the average is considerably below that of most other European countries. The number of state See also:telegraph offices was 4603, of other offices (railway and See also:tramway stations, which accept private telegrams for transmission) 1930. The See also:telephone system is considerably developed; in 1904, 92 See also:urban and 66 inter - urban systems existed. They were installed by private companies, but have been taken over by the state. International communication between Rome and See also:Paris, and Italy and Switzerland also exists. The See also:parcel post and money order services have largely increased since 1887--1888, the number of parcels having almost doubled (those for abroad are more than trebled), while the number of money orders issued is trebled and their value doubled (about £40,000,000). The value of the foreign orders paid in Italy increased from £1,280,000 to £2,356,000—owing to the increase of emigration and of the savings sent home by emigrants. At the end of 1907 Italy was among the few countries that had not adopted the reduction of See also:postage sanctioned at the Postal Union See also:congress, held in Rome in 1906, by which the rates became lid. for the first oz., and lid. per oz. afterwards.

The internal rate is '5c. (lid.) per oz.; post-cards loc. (Id.), reply 15c. On the other hand, letters within the postal district are only 5c. (id.) per i oz. Printed matter is 2c. (id.) per 50 grammes (1I oz.). The regulations provide that if there is a greater weight of See also:

correspondence (including See also:book-packets) than i lb for any individual by any one delivery, notice shall be given him that it is lying at the post office, he being then obliged to arrange for fetching it. Letters insured for a fixed sum are not delivered under any circumstances. Money order cards are very convenient and cheap (up to to lire [8s.] for loc. [1d.]), as they need not be enclosed in a See also:letter, while a short private See also:message can be written on them. Owing to the comparatively small amount of letters, it is found possible to have a travelling post office on all principal trains (while almost every See also:train has a travelling sorter, for whom a compartment is reserved) without a late See also:fee being exacted in either case.

In the principal towns letters may be posted in special boxes at the head office just before the departure of any given See also:

mail train, and are conveyed direct to the travelling post office. Another convenient arrangement is the See also:provision of letter-boxes on electric tramcars in some cities. Mercantile Marine.—Between the years 1881 and 1905 the number of See also:ships entered and cleared at Italian ports decreased slightly (219,598 in 1881 and 208,737 in 1905), while their aggregate tonnage increased (32,070,704 in 1881 and 80,782,030 in 1905). In the movement of shipping, trade with foreign countries prevails (especially as regards arrivals) over trade between Italian ports. Most of the merchandise and passengers bound for and hailing from foreign ports See also:sail under foreign flags. Similarly, foreign vessels prevail over Italian vessels in regard to goods embarked. European countries absorb the greater part of Italian sea-See also:borne trade, whereas most of the passenger traffic goes to North and South America. The substitution of steamships for sailing vessels has brought about a diminution in the number of vessels belonging to the Italian mercantile marine, whether employed in the See also:coasting trade, the fisheries or in traffic on the high seas. Thus: Total Steamships. Sailing Vessels. Year. No. of Number.

Tonnage Number. Tonnage Ships. (Net). (Net). 1881 78'5 176 93,698 7,639 895,359 1905 5596 513 462,259 5,083 570,355 Among the steamers the increase has chiefly taken place in vessels of more than woo tons displacement, but the number of large sailing vessels has also increased. The most important Italian ports are (in order) : Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Leghorn, Messina, Venice, Catania. Foreign Trade.—Italian trade with foreign countries (imports and exports) during the quinquennium 1872–1876 averaged £94,000,000 a year; in the quinquennium 1893–1897 it fell to £88,960,000 a year. In 1898, however, the total rose to £104,680,000, but the increase was principally due to the extra importation of corn in that year. In 1899 it was nearly £120,000,000. Since 1899 there has been a steady increase both in imports and exports. Thus: Trade with Foreign Countries in i000 (exclusive of See also:

Precious Metals).' Year. I Excess of Totals.

Imports. Exports. Imports over Exports. 1871 81,966 38,548 43,418 -4,870 1881 96,208 49,587 46,621 2,966 1891 80,135 45,063 35,072 9,991 1900 121,538 68,009 53,529 14,480 1904 140,437 76,549 63,888 12,661 ' No account has here been taken of fluctuations of See also:

exchange. The great extension of Italian coast-line is thought by some to be not really a source of strength to the Italian mercantile marine, as few of the ports have a large enough See also:hinterland to provide them with traffic, and in this hinterland (except in the basin of the Po) there are no canals or navigable rivers. Another source of weakness is the fact that Italy is a country of transit and the Italian mercantile marine has to enter into competition with the ships of other countries, which See also:call there in passing. A third difficulty is the comparatively small tonnage and volume of Italian exports relatively to the imports, the former in 1907 being about one-fourth of the latter, and greatly out of proportion to the relative value; while a fourth is the lack of facilities for handling goods, especially in the smaller ports. The total imports for the first six months of 1907 amounted to £57,840,000, an increase of £7,520,000 as compared with the corresponding period of 1906. The exports for the corresponding period amounted to £35,840,000, a diminution of £1,520,000 as compared with the corresponding period of 1906. The diminution was due to a smaller exportation of raw silk and oil. The countries with which this trade is mainly carried on are: (imports) United Kingdom, Germany, United States, France, Russia and India; (exports) Switzerland, United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Argentina. The most important imports are minerals, including coal and metals (both in pig and wrought); silks, raw, spun and woven; stone, potter's earths, earthenware and glass; corn, flour and farinaceous products; cotton, raw, spun and woven; and live stock.

The principal exports are silk and cotton tissues, live stock, wines, See also:

spirits and oils; corn, flour, macaroni and similar products; and minerals, chiefly sulphur. Before the tariff reform of 1887 manufactured articles, alimentary products and raw materials for manufacture held the principal places in the imports. In the exports, alimentary products came first, while raw materials for manufacture and manufactured articles were of little account. The transformation of Italy from a purely agricultural into a largely industrial country is shown by the circumstance that trade in raw stuffs, semi-manufactured and manufactured materials, now preponderates over that in alimentary products and wholly-manufactured articles, both the importation of raw materials and the exportation of manufactured articles having increased. The balance of Italian trade has under-gone frequent fluctuations. The large predominance of imports over exports after 1884 was a result of the falling off of the export trade in live stock, olive oil and wine, on account of the closing of the French market, while the importation of corn from Russia and the See also:Balkan States increased considerably. In 1894 the excess of imports over exports fell to £2,720,000, but by 1898 it had grown to £8,391,000, in consequence chiefly of the increased importation of coal, raw cotton and cotton thread, pig and See also:cast iron, old iron, grease and oil-seeds for use in Italian industries. In 1899 the excess of imports over exports fell to £3,006,000; but since then it has never been less than £12,000,000. Education.—Public instruction in Italy is regulated by the state, which maintains public schools of every grade, and requires that other public schools shall conform to the rules of the state schools. No private See also:person may open a school without state authorization. Schools may be classed thus: I. Elementary, of two grades, of the lower of which there must legally be at least one for boys and one for girls in each commune; while the upper grade elementary school is required in communes having normal and secondary schools or over 4000 inhabitants.

In both the instruction is free They are maintained by the communes, sometimes with state help. The age limit is six to nine years for the lower grade, and up to twelve for the higher grade, attendance being obligatory at the latter also where it exists. 2. Secondary instruction (i.) classical in the ginnasi and licei, the latter leading to the See also:

universities; (ii.) technical. 3. Higher education-universities, higher institutes and special schools. Of the secondary and higher educatory methods, in the normal schools and licei the state provides for the payment of the See also:staff and for scientific material, and often largely supports the ginnasi and technical schools, which should by law be supported by the communes. The universities are maintained by the state and by their own ancient resources; while the higher special schools are maintained conjointly by the state, the province, the commune and (sometimes) the local chamber of commerce. The number of persons unable to read and write has gradually decreased, both absolutely and in proportion to the number of inhabitants. The census of 1871 gave 73% of illiterates, that of 1881, 67%, and that of 1901, 56%, i.e. 51.8 for males and 6o.8 for females. In Piedmont there were 17.7% of illiterates above six years (the lowest) and in Calabria 78'7% (the highest), the figures for the whole country being 48.5.

As might be expected, progress has been most rapid wherever education, at the moment of national unification, was most widely diffused. For instance, the number of bridegrooms unable to write their names in 1872 was in the province of Turin 26%, and in the Calabrian province of Cosenza 90%; in 1899 the percentage in the province of Turin had fallen to 5%, while in that of Cosenza it was still 76%. See also:

Infant asylums (where the first rudiments of instruction are imparted to children between two and a half and six years of age) and elementary schools have increased in number. There has been a corresponding increase in the number of scholars. Thus:- Infant Asylums Daily Elementary Schools (Public and Private). (Public and Private). Year. Number of Number of Number of Number of Asylums. Scholars. Schoolrooms. Scholars. 1885-86 2083 240,365 53,628 2,252,898 1890-91 2296 278,204 57,077 2,418,692 1901-02 3314 355,594 61,777 2,733,349 The teachers in 1901-1902 numbered 65,739 (exclusive of 576 non-teaching See also:directors and 322 teachers of special subjects) or about 41.5 scholars per teacher.

The rate of increase in the public state-supported schools has been much greater than in the private schools. School buildings have been improved and the qualifications of teachers raised. Nevertheless, many schools are still defective, both from a hygienic and a teaching point of view; while the economic position of the elementary teachers, who in Italy depend upon the communal administrations and not upon the state, is still in many parts of the country extremely low. The law of 1877 rendering education compulsory for children between six and nine years of age has been the principal cause of the spread of elementary education. The law is, however, imperfectly enforced for financial reasons. In 1901-1902 only 65 % out of the whole number of children between six and nine years of age were registered in the lower standards of the elementary and private schools. The evening schools have to some extent helped to spread education. Their number and that of their scholars have, however, decreased since the withdrawal of state subsidies. In 1871-1872 there were 375,947 scholars at the evening schools and 154,585 at the See also:

holiday schools, while in 1900-1901 these numbers had fallen to 44,510 and 35,460 respectively. These are, however, the only institutions in which a decrease Is shown, and by the law of 1906 5000 of these institutions are to be provided in the communes where the proportion of illiterates is highest. In 1895 they numbered 4245, with 138,181 scholars. Regimental schools impart elementary education to illiterate soldiers.

Whereas the See also:

levy of 1894 showed 40% of the recruits to be completely illiterate, only 27% were illiterate when the levy was discharged in 1897. Private institutions and working-class associations have striven to improve the intellectual conditions of the working classes. Popular universities have lately attained considerable development. The number of institutes devoted to secondary education remained almost unchanged between 188o-1881 and 1895-1896. In some places the number has even been diminished by the suppression of private educational institutes. But the number of scholars has considerably increased, and shows a ratio See also:superior to the general increase of the population. Thegreatest increase has taken place in technical education, where it has been much more rapid than in classical education. There are three higher commercial schools, with See also:academic rank, at Venice, Genoa and Bari, and eleven secondary commercial schools; and technical and commercial schools for women at Florence and Milan. The number of agricultural schools has also grown, although the total is relatively small when compared with population. The attendance at the various classes of secondary schools in 1882 and 1902 is shown by the following table:- 1882. 1902. No. of Schools.

Ginnasi- Government . . . 13,875 24,081 192 On an equal footing with govern- ment schools . . . . 6,417 7,208 761 Not on such a footing . . . 22,609 24,8501 442 Total . . . 42,811 56,139 710 Technical schools- Government 7,510 30,411 188 On an equal footing 8,653 12,055 101 Not on such a footing . 8,67o 3,6231 106' Total . . . 24,833 46,089 395 Licei- Government 6,623 10,983 121 On an equal footing 1,167 1,955 33 Not on such a footing .

4,600 4,962' 187 Total . . . 12,390 17,900 341 Technical institutes- Government 5,555 9,654 54 On an equal footing 1,684 1,898 18 Not on such a footing. 619 3781 7 Total . . . 7,858 11,930 79 Naptical institutes- Government 758 1,878 18 On an equal footing 69 38 I Not on such a footing . 13 291 I Total . . . 816 1,945 20 1 1896. The schools which do not obtain equality with government schools are either some of those conducted by religious orders, or else those in which a sufficient See also:

standard is not reached. The total number of such schools was, in 1896, 742 with 33,813 pupils. The pupils of the secondary schools reach a maximum of 6.6o per 1000 in Liguria and 5.92 in Latium, and a minimum of 2.30 in the Abruzzi, 2.27 in Calabria and I.65 in Basilicata.

For the boarding schools, or convitti, there are only incomplete reports except for the institutions directly dependent on the See also:

ministry of public instruction, which are comparatively few. The rest are largely directed by religious institutions. In 1895-1896 there were 919 convitti for boys, with 59,066 pupils, of which 40, with 3814 pupils, were dependent on the ministry (in 1901-1902 there were 43 of these with 4036 pupils) ; and 1456 for girls, with 49,367 pupils, of which only 8, with about 600 pupils, were dependent on the ministry. The scuole normali or training schools (117 in number, of which 75 were government institutions) for teachers had 1329 male students in 1901-1902, showing hardly any increase, while the female students increased from 800i5 in 1882-1883 to 22,316 in 1895-1896, but decreased to 19,044 in 1901-1902, owing to the See also:admission of women to telegraph and telephone work. The female secondary schools in 1881-1882 numbered 77, of which 7 were government institutions, with 3569 pupils; in 1901-1902 there were 233 schools (9 govern-See also:mental) with 9347 pupils. The total attendance of students in the various faculties at the different universities and higher institutes is as follows:- 1882. 1902. Law 4,8oi 8,385 See also:Philosophy and letters 419 1,703 See also:Medicine and See also:surgery 4,428 9,055 Professional diploma, See also:pharmacy 798 3,290 See also:Mathematics and natural See also:science 1,364 . 3,500 See also:Engineering 982 1,z Agriculture 145 507 Commerce . 128 167 Total 13,065 27,900 Thus a large all-round increase in secondary and higher education is shown—satisfactory in many respects, but showing that more young men devote themselves to the learned professions (especially to the law) than the economic condition of the country will justify. There are 21 universities—Bologna, Cagliari, See also:Camerino, Catania, Ferrara,Genoa,Macerata, Messina, Modena, Naples, Padua, Palermo, Parma, Pavia, Perugia, Pisa, Rome, Sassari, Siena, Turin, Urbino, of which Camerino, Ferrara, Perugia and Urbino are not state institutions; university courses are also given at Aquila, Bari and Catanzaro. Of these the most frequented in 1904–1905 were: Naples (4745), Turin (3451), Rome (2630), Bologna (1711), Pavia (1559), Padua (1364), Genoa (1276), and the least frequented, Cagliari (254), Siena (235) and Sassari (200).

The professors are ordinary and extraordinary, and free professors (liberi docenti), corresponding to the German Privatdozenlen, are also allowed to be attached to the universities. The institutions which co-operate with the universities are the special schools for See also:

engineers at Turin, Naples, Rome and Bologna (and others attached to some of the universities), the higher technical See also:institute at Milan, the higher veterinary schools of Milan, Naples and Turin, the institute for higher studies at Florence (Istituto di studs superiori, pratici e di perfezionamento), the See also:literary and scientific See also:academy of Milan, the higher institutes for the training of female teachers at Florence and Rome, the Institute of Social Studies at Florence, the higher commercial schools at Venice, Bari and Genoa, the commercial university founded by L. Bocconi at Milan in 1902, the higher See also:naval school at Genoa, the higher schools of agriculture at Milan and See also:Portici, the experimental institute at Perugia, the school of forestry at Vallambrosa, the industrial museum at Turin. The special secondary institutions, distinct from those already reckoned under the universities and allied schools, include an Oriental institute at Naples with 243 pupils; 34 schools of agriculture with (1904–1905) 1925 students; 2 schools of mining (at Caltanisetta and See also:Iglesias) with (1904–1905) 83 students; 308 industrial and commercial schools with (1903–1904) 46,411 students; 174 schools of See also:design and moulding with (1898) 12,556 students; 13 government fine art institutes (1904–1905) with 2778 students and 13 non-government with 1662 students; 5 government institutes of See also:music with Io26 students, and 51 non-government with 4109 pupils (1904-1905). Almost all of these show a considerable increase. See also:Libraries are numerous in Italy, those even of small cities being often rich in See also:manuscripts and valuable works. Statistics collected in 1893–1894 and 1896 revealed the existence of 1831 libraries, either private (but open to the public) or completely public. The public libraries have been enormously increased since 1870 by the See also:incorporation of the treasures of suppressed monastic institutions. The richest in manuscripts is that of the Vatican, especially since the purchase of the See also:Barberini Library in 1902; it now contains over 34,000 See also:MSS. The Vatican archives are also of great importance. Most large towns contain important state or communal archives, in which a considerable amount of See also:research is being done by local investigators; the various societies for local history (Societd di Storia Patria) do very good work and issue valuable publications; the treasures which the archives contain are by no means exhausted. Libraries and archives are under the superintendence of the Ministry of Public Instruction.

A separate department of this ministry under a director-general has the See also:

charge of antiquities and fine arts, making archaeological excavations and supervising those undertaken by private persons (permission to foreigners, even to foreign schools, to excavate in Italy is rarely granted), and maintaining the numerous state museums and picture galleries. The exportation of works of art and antiquities from Italy without leave of the ministry is forbidden (though it has in the past been sometimes evaded). An See also:inventory of those subjects, the exportation of which can in no case be permitted, has been prepared; and the ministry has at its disposal a fund of £200,000 for the purchase of important works of art of al] kinds. Charities.—In Italy there is no legal right in the poor to be supported by the See also:parish or commune, nor any obligation on the commune to relieve the poor—except in the case of forsaken children and the sick poor. Public charity is exercised through the permanent charitable See also:foundations (opere See also:pie), which are, however, very unequally distributed in the different provinces. The districts of Italy which show between 1881 and 1903 the greatest increase of new institutions, or of gifts to old ones, are Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, while Sardinia, Calabria and Basilicata stand lowest, Latium standing comparatively low. The patrimony of Italian charitable institutions is considerable and is constantly increasing. In 188o the number of charitableinstitutions (exclusive of public pawnshops, or Monti di Pieta, and other institutions which combine operations of credit with charity) was approximately 22,000, with an aggregate patrimony of nearly £8o,000,000. The See also:revenue was about £3,600,000; after See also:deduction of taxes, interest on debts, expenses of management, &c., £2,080,000. Adding to this £1,240,000 of communal and provincial subsidies, the product of the labour of inmates, temporary subscriptions, &c., the net revenue available for charity was, during 188o, £3,860,000. Of this sum £260,000 was spent for religious purposes. Between 1881 and 1905 the bequests to existing institutions and sums left for the endowment of new institutions amounted to about £16,604,600.

Charitable institutions take, as a rule, the two forms of outdoor and indoor See also:

relief and attendance. The indoor institutions are the more important in regard to endowment, and consist of hospitals for the infirm (a number of these are situated at the seaside) ; of hospitals for chronic and incurable diseases; of See also:orphan asylums; of poorhouses and shelters for beggars; of infant asylums or institutes for the first education of children under six years of age; of lunatic asylums; of homes for the See also:deaf and dumb; and of institutes for the See also:blind. The outdoor charitable institutions include those which distribute help in money or food; those which supply medicine and medical help; those which aid mothers unable to See also:rear their own children; those which subsidize orphans and foundlings; those which subsidize educational institutes; and those which supply marriage portions. Between 1881 and 1898 the chief increases took place in the endowments of hospitals; orphan asylums; infant asylums; poorhouses; almshouses; voluntary workhouses; and institutes for the blind. The least creditably administered of these are the asylums for abandoned infants; in 1887, of a total of 23,913, 53.77 % died; while during the years 1893–1896 (no later statistics are available) of 117,970 51.72 % died. The average mortalit under one year for the whole of Italy in 1893–1896 was only 16.66 %. Italian charity legislation was reformed by the laws of 1862 and 189o, which attempted to provide efficacious protection for endowments, and to ensure the application of the income to the purposes for which it was intended. The law considers as " charitable institutions " (opere pie) all poorhouses, almshouses and institutes which partly or wholly give help to able-bodied or infirm paupers, or seek to improve their moral and economic condition; and also the Congregazioni di caritd (municipal charity boards existing in every commune, and composed of wembers elected by the municipal council), which administer funds destined for the poor in general. All charitable institutions were under the protection of provincial administrative See also:junta, existing in every province, and empowered to See also:control the management of charitable endowments. The supreme control was vested in the See also:minister of the Interior. The law of 1890 also empowers every See also:citizen to appeal to the tribunals on behalf of the poor, for whose benefit a given charitable institution may have been intended. A more recent law provides for the formation of a central body, with provincial commissions under it.

Its effect, however, has been comparatively small. Public pawnshops or Monti di pieta numbered 555 in 1896, with a net patrimony of £2,879,625. In that year their income, including revenue from capital, was £416,385, and their expenditure £300,232. The amount See also:

lent on security was £4,153,229. The Monti frumentarii or co-operative corn deposits, which lend seed corn to farmers, and are repaid after harvest with interest in kind, numbered 1615 in 1894, and possessed a patrimony of £240,000. In addition to the regular charitable institutions, the communal and provincial authorities exercise charity, the former (in 1899) to the extent of £1,827,166 and the latter to the extent of £919,832 per annum. Part of these sums is given to hospitals, and part spent directly by the communal and provincial authorities. Of the sum spent by the communes, about i goes for the sanitary service (doctors, midwives, See also:vaccination), s for the See also:maintenance of foundlings, ilu for the support of the sick in hospitals, and for sheltering the aged and needy. Of the sum spent by the provincial authorities, over half goes to lunatic asylums and over a quarter to the maintenance of foundling hospitals. Religion.—The great majority of Italians-97.12%—are Roman Catholics. Besides the ordinary Latin rite, several others are recognized. The Armenians of Venice maintain their traditional characteristics.

The Albanians of the southern provinces still employ the Greek rite and the Greek language in their public See also:

worship, and their priests, like those of the Greek Church, are allowed to marry. Certain peculiarities introduced by St See also:Ambrose distinguish the See also:ritual of Milan from that of the general church. Up to 1871 the island of Sicily was, according to the See also:bull of Urban II., ecclesiastically dependent on the king, and exempt from the canonical power of the See also:pope. Though the territorial authority of the papal see was practically abolished in 1870, the fact that Rome is the seat of the administrative centre of the vast organization of the church is not without significance to the nation. In the same city in which the administrative functions of the body politic are centralized Twelve archbishops and sixty-one bishops are independent of all See also:metropolitan supervision, and hold directly of the See also:Holy See. The archbishops are those of See also:Amalfi, Aquila, Camerino and Treia, Catania, Cosenza, Ferrara, Gaeta, Lucca, Perugia, See also:Rossano, See also:Spoleto, and Udine, and the bishops those of See also:Acireale, Acquapendente, Alatri, Amelia, Anagni, Ancona-Umana, See also:Aquino-Sora-See also:Pontecorvo, Arezzo, Ascoli, See also:Assisi, See also:Aversa, Bagnorea, Borgo San Donnino, Cava-See also:Sarno, Citta di Castello, Citta della Pieve, Civita Castellana-Orte-Gallese, Corneto-Civita Vecchia; See also:Cortona, Fabriano-Matelica, See also:Fano,See also:Ferentino Foggia, See also:Foligno, Gravina-Montepeloso, Gubbio, See also:Jesi, Luni-Sarzana and Bragnato, S. Marco-Bisignano, See also:Marsi (Pescina), Melfi-Rapolla Mileto, See also:Molfetta-See also:Terlizzi-Giovennazzo,See also:Monopoli,Montalcino,M ontefiascone, See also:Montepulciano, Nardo, See also:Narni, Nocera in Umbria, See also:Norcia, See also:Orvieto, See also:Osimo-See also:Cingoli, Parma, See also:Penne-See also:Atri, Piacenza, See also:Poggio Mirteto, See also:Recanati-See also:Loreto, See also:Rieti, Segni, See also:Sutri-See also:Nepi, Teramo, Terni, Terracina-See also:Piperno-Sezze, Tivoli, Todi, Trivento, See also:Troia, Valva-Sulmona, See also:Veroli, See also:Viterbo-See also:Toscanella. Excluding the See also:diocese of Rome and suburbicarian See also:sees, each see has an average area of 430 sq. m. and a population of 121,285 souls. The largest sees exist in Venetia and Lombardy, and the smallest in the provinces of Naples, Leghorn, Forli, Ancona, Pesaro, Urbino, Caserta, Avellino and Ascoli. The Italian sees (exclusive of Rome and of the suburbicarian sees) have a total annual revenue of £206,000 equal to an average of £80o per see. The richest is that of Girgenti, with £6304, and the poorest that of Porto Maurizio, with only £246. In each diocese is a See also:seminary or diocesan school.

In 1855 an act was passed in the Sardinian states for the disestablishment of all houses of the religious orders not engaged in See also:

preaching, teaching or the care of the sick, of all chapters Rellgioua of collegiate churches not having a cure of souls or existing intowns towns of less than 20,000 inhabitants, and of all private ttons. benefices for which no service was paid by the holders. The See also:property and money thus obtained were used to form an ecclesiastical fund (Cassa Ecclesiastica) distinct from the finances of the state. This act resulted in the suppression of 274 monasteries with 3733 friars, of 61 nunneries with 1756 nuns and of 2722 chapters and benefices. In 1860 and 1861 the royal commissioners (even before the constitution of the new kingdom of Italy had been formally _ declared) issued decrees by which there were abolished--(1) in Umbria, 197 monasteries and 102 convents with 18o9 male and 2393 female associates, and 836 chapters or benefices; (2) in the Marches, 292 monasteries and 127 convents with 2950 male and 2728 female associates; (3) in the Neapolitan provinces, 747 monasteries and 2i5 convents with 8787 male and 7493 female associates. There were thus disestablished in seven or eight years 20i5 houses of the regular See also:clergy occupied by 31,649 persons; and the confiscated property yielded a revenue of £398,298. And at the same time there had been suppressed 11,889 chapters and benefices of the See also:secular clergy, which yielded an annual income of £199,149. The value of the capital thus potentially freed was estimated at £12,000,000; though hitherto the ecclesiastical possessions in Lombardy, Emilia. Tuscany and Sicily had been untouched. As yet the Cassa Ecclesiastica had no right to dispose of the property thus entrusted to it; but in 1862 an act was passed by which it transferred all its real property to the national domain, and was credited with a corresponding amount by the See also:exchequer. The property could now be disposed of like the other property of the domain; and except in Sicily, where the system of emphyteusis was adopted, the church lands began to be sold by See also:auction. To encourage the poorer classes of the people to become landholders, it was decided that the lots offered for sale should be small, and that the purchaser should be allowed to pay by five or ten yearly instalments.

By a new act in 1866 the See also:

process of secularization was extended to the whole kingdom. All the members of the suppressed communities received full exercise of all the ordinary political and See also:civil rights of laymen; and annuities were granted to all those who had taken permanent religious vows See also:prior to the 18th of See also:January 1864. To priests and choristers, for example, of the proprietary or endowed orders were assigned £24 per annum if they were upwards of sixty years of age, £16 if upwards of 40, and £14, 8s. if younger. The Cassa Ecclesiastica was abolished, and in its See also:stead was instituted a Fonda pel Culto, or public worship fund. From the general See also:confiscation were exempted the buildings actually used for public worship, as episcopal residences or seminaries, &c., or which had been appropriated to the use of schools, poorhouses, hospitals, &c. ; as well as the buildings, See also:appurtenances, and movable property of the abbeys of Monte See also:Casino, Della Cava dei Tirreni, San Martino della Scala, See also:Monreale, Certosa near Pavia, and other establishments of the same kind of importance as architectural or historical monuments. An annuity equal to the ascertained revenue of the suppressed institutions was placed to the credit of the fund in the government 5 % See also:consols. A fourth of this sum was to be handed to the communes to be employed on works of beneficence or education as soon as a surplus was obtained from that part of the annuity assigned for the payment of monastic pensions; and in Sicily, 209 communes entered on their privileges as soon as the patrimony was liquidated. Another act in 1867 decreed the suppression of certain foundations which had escaped the action of previous measures, put an extraordinary tax of 30 % on the whole of the patrimony of the church, and granted the government the right of issuing 5% bonds sufficient to bring into the treasury £16,000,000, there still exists the See also:court of the spiritual potentate which in 1879 consisted of 1821 persons. Protestants number some 65,000, of whom half are Italian and half foreign. Of the former 22,500 are Waldensians. The number of See also:Jews was returned as 36,000, but is certainly higher.

There are, besides, in Italy some 2500 members of the Greek Orthodox Church. There were in 1901 20,707 parishes in Italy, 68,444 secular clergy and 48,043 regulars (monks, lay See also:

brothers and nuns). The size of parishes varies from province to province, Sicily having larger parishes in virtue of the old Sicilian church laws, and Naples, and some parts of central Italy, having the smallest. The Italian parishes had in 1901 a total gross revenue, including assignments from the public worship endowment fund, of £1,280,000 or an average of £63 per parish; 51% of this gross sum consists of revenue from See also:glebe lands. The kingdom is divided into 264 sees and ten abbeys, or prelatures nullius dioceseos. The dioceses are as follows: A. 6 suburbicarian sees—See also:Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Sta Rufina, Albano, See also:Frascati, Palestrina, Sabina—all held by See also:cardinal bishops. B. 74 sees immediately subject to the Holy See, of which 12 are archiepiscopal and 61 episcopal. C. 37 ecclesiastical provinces, each under a metropolitan, composed of 148 See also:suffragan dioceses. Their position is indicated in the following table: Metropolitans.

See also:

Acerenza-See also:Matera . Bari . . . . Benevento . S. Severino Siena .. . Suffragans. Anglona-Tursi, Tricarico, Venosa. See also:Conversano, See also:Ruvo-See also:Bitonto. S. Agata de' Goti, Alife, Ariano, Ascoli Satriano See also:Cerignola, Avellino, Bojano, Bovino, See also:Larino, See also:Lucera, S. Severo, Telese (Cerreto), Termoli.

Faenza, Imola. No suffragan. Galtelli-See also:

Nuoro, Iglesias, Ogliastra. Caiazzo, See also:Calvi-See also:Teano, Caserta, Isernia-Venafro, Sessa. No suffragan. S. Angelo de' Lombardi-Bisaccia, Lacedonia, Muro Lucano. Macerata-See also:Tolentino, Montalto, Ripatran- See also:sone, S. Severino. Borgo S. Sepolcro, Colle di Val d'Elsa, See also:Fiesole, S. Miniato, Modigliana, Pistoia-Prato.

. Albenga, Bobbio, Chiavari, Savona-Noli, Tortona, Ventimiglia. No suffragan. No suffragan. . Lipari, See also:

Nicosia, See also:Patti. . Bergamo, Brescia, Como, See also:Crema, Cremona, Lodi, Mantua, Pavia. • See also:Carpi, See also:Guastalla, Massa-Carrara, Reggio. . Caltanisetta, Girgenti. . See also:Acerra, Ischia, See also:Nola, Pozzuoli. . See also:Ales-Terralba. . Gallipoli, Lecce, Ugento. . See also:Cefalu, Mazzara, Trapani. . Leghorn, See also:Pescia, Pontremoli, Volterra.

. See also:

Bertinoro, Cervia, See also:Cesena, Comacchio, See also:Foil?, Rimini, Sarsina. • Bova, See also:Cassano, Catanzaro, Gerace, Nicastro, Oppido, Tropea, Squillace. . Acerno, Capaccio-Vallo, Diano, Marsico-Nuovo and Potenza, Nocera dei Pagani, Nusco, Policastro. • See also:Alghero, Ampurias and Tempio, Bisarhio, See also:Bosa. Cariati. C hiu si-See also:Pienza, Grosseto, MassaMarittima., Sovana-See also:Pitigliano. See also:Caltagirone, See also:Noto, Piazza-Armerina. Castellammare. Castellaneta, See also:Oria. See also:Andria. See also:Acqui, Alba, Aosta, See also:Asti, Cuneo, See also:Fossano, Ivrea, Mondovi,See also:Pinerolo, Saluzzo, Susa. S.

Angelo in Vado-Urbania, See also:

Cagli-See also:Pergola, See also:Fossombrone, Montefeltro, Pesaro, Sinigaglia. See also:Adria, Belluno-See also:Feltre, Ceneda (See also:Vittorio), Chioggia, See also:Concordia-Portogruaro, Padua, Treviso, Verona, Vicenza. Alessandria della Paglia, See also:Biella, Casale, Monferrato, Novara, See also:Vigevano. See also:Cotrone, See also:Nicotera- Bologna Brindisi and See also:Ostuni Cagliari . Capua . Chieti and Vasto . . Conza and Campagna Fermo Florence Genoa See also:Lanciano and Ortona See also:Manfredonia and Viesti Messina Milan . Modena Monreale . Naples . . See also:Oristano . Otranto . Palerrno Pisa .

Ravenna Reggio Calabria . Salerno Sassari . Syracuse . Sorrento . .. Taranto See also:

Trani-See also:Nazareth-See also:Barletta, Bisceglie . . . Turin . Vercelli Urbino .

End of Article: ITALY (Italia)

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