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RIVIERA

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 387 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RIVIERA , the narrow See also:

belt of See also:coast which lies between the mountains and the See also:sea all See also:round the Gulf of See also:Genoa in the See also:north of See also:Italy, extending from See also:Nice on the W. to See also:Spezia on the E. It is usually spoken of as Riviera di Ponente (" the coast of the setting See also:sun "), the portion between Nice and the See also:city of Genoa; and as Riviera di Levante (" the coast of the rising sun "), the portion from Genoa to Spezia. All this See also:district, being open to the S. and sheltered from the N. and E. winds, enjoys a remarkably mild See also:climate (See also:winter mean, about 490 Fahr.); so much so that the vegetation in many places See also:par-takes of a subtropical See also:character (e.g. the See also:pomegranate, See also:agave, prickly See also:pear, date, See also:palm and See also:banana). Large See also:numbers of See also:flowers, especially See also:roses, violets, hyacinths, &c., are grown near Nice, See also:Mentone, See also:Bordighera and other towns, and sent to the See also:London and See also:Paris markets. Bordighera is particularly noted for its See also:noble groves of date-palms, one of the few places in See also:Europe where these trees grow. The uncommon mildness of the climate, conjoined with the natural beauty of the coast scenery,—the steep sea-crags, the ruined towers and the range of the Maritime See also:Alps,—attracts thousands of invalids and convalescents to spend the winter in the See also:chain of towns and villages which stretch from the one end of the Riviera to the other, while these resorts are frequented for sea-bathing in summer by the Italians. Proceeding from W. to E. the following are the places to which visitors principally resort: Nice, See also:Monaco (an See also:independent principality), See also:Monte Carlo, Mentone (the last See also:town on the See also:French Riviera), See also:Ventimiglia, Bordighera, Ospedaletti, See also:San Remo, See also:Porto Maurizio, Oneglia, Diano Marina, See also:Alassio, Arenzano, Pegli (in the Riviera di Ponente),, and Nervi, See also:Santa Margherita, See also:Rapallo, See also:Chiavari, Sestri Levante, Levanto, Spezia, and San Terenzo (See also:Lerici) in the Riviera di Levante. The Riviera labours, however, under the See also:grave See also:drawback of being liable to earthquakes. In the 19th See also:century there were four such visitations, in 1818, 1831, 1854 and 1887, which especially affected the western Riviera. A railway runs See also:close along the See also:shore all through the Riviera, the distance from Nice to Genoa being 116 m., and the distance from Genoa to Spezia 56 m. In the latter stretch the See also:line burrows through the many projecting headlands by means of more than eighty tunnels. The See also:pearl of the eastern Riviera is the stretch (6 to 7 m.) between Rapallo and Chiavari.

See also:

Lord See also:Byron and See also:Shelley both lived and wrote on the shores of the Gulf of Spezia, and See also:Dickens wrote The Chimes at Genoa.

End of Article: RIVIERA

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