Italy

a kingdom occupying the southern peninsula of central Europe. In general outline it bears a striking resemblance to an old-fashioned cavalry boot, such as was worn in England at the time of the Cavaliers and Roundheads,--a boot with a tall leg rolled in a fold above the knee. The heel of the boot is towards Greece, the toe points towards Sicily and Spain. Under the instep lies the Gulf of Taranto. Sicily, Sardinia, and many small islands are reckoned as part of Italy. Corsica belongs to France.

TOPOGRAPHY. We regard Italy as a mountainous country, but it is not wholly so. The Alps spring like an arch from sea to sea. The western end rests on the Mediterranean at Nice; the eastern end rests on the head of the Adriatic. Within this arch lies one of the great river valleys of Europe,--the plains of Lombardy. They are so extensive and level that a military road leaving the Adriatic at Rimini stretches northwestward for hundreds of miles without a change of direction, and with but slight changes in level. The Apennines, beginning in the vicinity of Nice, run eastward nearly to the Adriatic Sea, then southeastward throughout the entire length of Italy. Innumerable spurs extend from the main range eastward and westward, affording slopes for the vine and olive and inclosing pocket-like valleys of great fertility. The low river lands are wider at the western foot of the Apennines than at the eastern. Counting the valley of the Po, fully three-fourths of Italy is drained into the Adriatic Sea. The largest river on the western slope is the Tiber.

The main mountain chain is about 800 miles long and from twenty-five to eighty-five miles wide. The peaks run from 5,000 to 7,000, and even 9,000 feet in height. The highest is Monte Corno, 9,585 feet high. There are frequent passes permitting the building of highways and railroads. The Alps are penetrated by four lines of railway running from Turin to Paris, Milan to Basel, Verona to Munich, and Venice to Vienna, respectively. Eight railway systems cross the Apennines.

MINERALS. Italy is at base granitic, but the mountains are covered usually with disintegrating limestone and basaltic rocks, forming soil of great fertility. There are deposits of coal, petroleum, asphalt, salt, borax, graphite, arsenic, gold, silver, manganese, mercury, antimony, iron, zinc, lead, copper, and sulphur. Sicily is noted for sulphur mines. Iron ore comes from Elba.

CLIMATE. The climate varies greatly. The foot of Italy has an arid, hot climate, like that of northern Africa. Vegetation is scorched by hot winds. Central Italy is noted for springs and cool streams. It is the country of the fig, the olive, and the vine. With the aid of irrigation, the valley of the Po is one of the most fertile and productive regions in the world.

ANIMALS. The mountains still shelter the common wild animals of Europe. The wild sheep is found in Sardinia. The porcupine, the red fox, the blind mole, the wolf, brown bear, chamois, and lynx still cling to the spurs of the Apennines. The song birds are those found elsewhere in Europe. The European vulture, as well as the asp, are found in the south. The scorpion and the tarantula are dreaded by the natives.

AGRICULTURE. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the Italians. The chief field crops are wheat, maize, oats, rye, barley, hops, rice, potatoes, hemp, flax, cotton, madder, and tobacco. Less than fifteen per cent of the country is unproductive. Two-fifths of the country is under cultivation, one-fifth in meadows and pastures, one-fourth in orchards and forests. Chestnut forests are to be seen everywhere. The peasants roast the chestnuts and grind them for flour from which they make an inferior sort of bread. Italy is one of the olive oil and wine-producing countries of the world. The annual production of olive oil is about 75,000,000 gallons. The production of wine is about 670,000,000 gallons. Oranges and lemons are produced chiefly from Naples southward. The ordinary domestic animals are reared, including a few thousand eastern buffalo used for draft oxen. A few herds of camels are kept near Pisa.

FISHERIES. The fisheries of Italy are of importance. Anchovies and sardines are canned for export in enormous quantities. Tunnies are shipped to the principal cities of Europe. The red corals of the Mediterranean are gathered and manufactured into trinkets that yield a large revenue. There are also important sponge fisheries.

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE. Italy is well supplied with railroads. They are owned chiefly by the state, but are leased to private companies. The chief ports are Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Miseno, Palermo, and Venice. Commerce is carried on chiefly with Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. The chief exports are silk and silk goods, eggs, wine, olive oil, fruit, macaroni, dyestuffs, marble, hemp, wine, toys, gloves, paper, jewelry, violins, earthenware, cutlery, silverware, articles of alabaster, pottery, glass beads, straw braid, silk hats, chemicals, soap, pickles, and sausage. Coal, wheat, cotton, wool, sugar, coffee, machinery, and railroad material are imported.

INDUSTRIES. The Italians are noted for their skill in cutting cameos and intaglios, for working in gold and silver, the making of superior silks, brocades, straw hats, alabaster work, tableware, terra cottas, and many other kinds of hand work requiring skill and artistic taste. It is not as yet a country of large manufacturing establishments.

HISTORICAL. The history of Italy is too extensive and complex to be told here. From the partition of Charlemagne's empire in 843 to the unification of Italy in 1870 the peninsula was the scene of an endless succession of feuds. Savage wars were carried on between duchies, petty monarchies, and struggling republics, or between sections of the country and foreign masters, particularly the house of Austria. For centuries the city of Rome and adjacent territory, at times including the greater part of Italy, was subject to the rule of the pope. The outbreak of the French Revolution found Italy completely broken up into petty states organized as little republics, or governed by the pope or by creatures of the Austrian empire. The French poured over the Alps and, with the exception of Venice, drove the Austrians out of Italy. When Napoleon became emperor he organized the greater portion of Italy into kingdoms for his relatives. At the downfall of Napoleon the Congress of Venice reestablished the Austrian influence. During the ensuing half century an intelligent desire for a free, united, and independent country arose. Cavour, Mazzini, Garibaldi, and other Italians gave their lives to the work. The organization known as the Carbonari, or Charcoal Burners, and Young Italy pushed on the work. Victor Emmanuel, king of Sardinia, and his prime minister, Count Cavour, a sort of Italian Bismarck, raised the kingdom of Savoy to much the same rank in Italy that Prussia and Brandenburg attained in Germany. When the Crimean War broke out Cavour joined the English and French against the Russians for the express purpose of attaining a seat in the council board of nations. One step led to another. The sympathies of the world were with the Italians. In 1859 Napoleon III joined Victor Emmanuel in a war against the Austrians. The brilliant victories of Magenta and Solferino belong to this campaign. Though influenced chiefly by hatred for the Austrians, the Frenchman did not fail to compensate himself by demanding and receiving the cession of Savoy, the hereditary home of the Sardinian monarch. Garibaldi, also a native of Savoy, was particularly incensed because Cavour ceded his birthplace to the French. In 1859 Victor Emmanuel established his court at Florence. Southern Italy, including Sicily, was incorporated in the new kingdom in 1861. In 1866 Italy took the side of Prussia in the war with Austria and received Venice as a reward. During the French and Prussian War of 1870-71, Victor Emmanuel took possession of the papal states and removed his capital to the city of Rome.

GOVERNMENT. The government of Italy is a constitutional monarchy, organized on a plan very similar to that of England. The Parliament consists of two chambers,--a Senate and a House of Deputies. Only those who are sufficiently intelligent, or who are owners of property, are permitted to vote. Local affairs are managed by officials chosen by the communes which correspond to our townships. Freedom of religious worship is permitted to all. The government has required the establishment of public schools. Attendance is compulsory. There are now between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 children in school. The attendance is increasing rapidly. Illiteracy is diminishing. One hundred fiftyone normal schools and twice as many industrial schools have been established. High schools and academies prepare the way for admission to twenty-one Italian universities. There are nearly 2,000 public libraries. While statistics do not show that criminals have decreased of late, this is probably due to the greater certainty of punishment of crime. Pauperism and beggary have diminished. The general government levies taxes on lands, house incomes, and manufactures, collects duties on imports, and has a monopoly of the sale of salt and tobacco. Taxes are heavy. The public debt is large. An army of 3,000,000 men is maintained. About one-tenth of the men are actually under arms in time of peace. Great expenditure has been incurred in the building of a navy and in constructing coast defenses.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The Italians are descendents of the ancient inhabitants of the peninsula, with an admixture of blood from northern Europe. They are a sociable people. In rural Italy separate farm houses or cottages are unknown. Even the herdsmen gather in hamlets. It is said that the peasantry in the sheltered portions of the Apennines have changed little since the days of Roman supremacy. They speak the language, wear the same kind of clothing, build the same kind of a house, and use the same lamps and cooking utensils that were to be seen in the day of Cicero and Caesar. Many different dialects are spoken in Italy. People living 100 miles apart cannot understand each other. Modern Italian, that is to say, the language of Italian literature, was developed in the valley of the Po. Florence bears much the same relation to the language of the people that London sustains to the English language. Students of Italian literature claim that both language and people developed in this locality little influenced by the hordes of northern barbarians who broke in upon Italy at the breaking up of the Roman Empire.

According to the Statesman's Year Book the total area of Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, is 110,659 square miles--half as large as Texas. The population in 1903 was 32,961,247. In 1902, the emigration rose above the half million mark; nearly 200,000 emigrated to the United States. It is to be regretted that so many cling to the large cities, making a living by scissors grinding, peddling, selling fruit, making casts, etc., instead of seeking employment on farms or going into new portions of the country to make homes for themselves.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Sicily; Corsica; Sardinia; Elba; Po; Tiber; Adige; Vesuvius; Etna; Pompeii; Herculaneum; Lombardy; Rome; Bologna; Pisa; Genoa; Naples; Venice; Florence; Carrara; Cremona; Galileo; Garibaldi; Cavour; Emmanuel; Ariosto; Dante; Raphael; Michelangelo; Petrarch; Boccaccio; Carbonari; Canova