in the Friuil, or Furlanei, a district bounded by the Adriatic, the
Carniolan Alps, and the plateau of the Karst, or Carso. The Friulians
were even looked upon as a distinct race, though their ancestors, like
those of most Italians of the north, were Latinised Celts. Frequent
intermarriages with their Slovenian neighbours {217} contributed in
some measure to produce a type distinct from that of Venice or Treviso.
The number of these Friulians still speaking their own dialect does not
now exceed 50,000 souls.
[Illustration: Fig. 71.—MONTE ROSA, AS SEEN FROM GALCORO.]
Amongst the numerous German colonies of which traces have been found
in the plains of Northern Italy and on the southern slopes of the
Alps, the “Thirteen Communes” to the north of Verona, and the “Seven
Communes” in the deep valleys to the north-west of Bassano, are the
most considerable. The _homines Teutonici_ of these two districts are
supposed to be the descendants of the Cimbrians defeated by Marius, and
blue eyes and fair hair still prevail amongst them, but in all other
respects they resemble the Italians of the plains, and only a few old
women amongst them still talk the language of their ancestors, which
is said to resemble the dialect spoken on the Tegern Lake, in Bavaria.
Nor were they the champions of German authority on Italian soil. On the
contrary, they were charged by the Republic of Venice with the defence
of the northern frontier, and {218} have always valiantly acquitted
themselves of this duty. In return, they were granted self-government
and exemption from military service. But neither the Republic of
Venice nor Austria was able to protect these German colonies against
an invasion of the “Welsh” or Italian element, and there do not now
exist any non-Italian communities to the east of the great lakes. To
the north of Piemont, however, in the valleys descending from Monte
Rosa and in the valley of Pommat, where the Toce forms one of the most
beautiful waterfalls, German colonies still maintain their ground.
They, too, would long ago have lost their language were it not for the
support they receive from the Germans occupying the Swiss valleys on
the northern slopes of the Alps. Alagna, or Olen, one of these German
villages, preserved its ancient customs until quite recently. For
centuries there had been no lawsuit there; contracts, testaments, and
other legal documents were unknown; and everything was regulated by
“custom;” that is, by the absolute authority of the heads of families.
The French element is far more numerous on the Italian slope of the
Alps than the German. The inhabitants of the valley of Aosta, between
the Grand Paradis and the Monte Rosa, of the upper valleys of the
Dora Riparia, Cluson, Pelice, and Varaita, speak French, and are of
the same origin as the Savoyards and Dauphinois on the western slope
of the Alps. The configuration of the ground has facilitated this
pacific invasion of the western Celts, numbering about 120,000 souls.
They descended from the passes, and occupied the whole of the forest
and pastoral region down to the foot of the hills, the last mountain
defile, in many instances, forming their boundary. But the French
language is steadily losing ground, for the official language is
Italian, and every village has already two names, of which the modern
Italian one is used by preference. The Vaudois, or Waldenses, in the
valleys of Pelice (Pellis) and Cluson, above Pinerolo (Pignerol),
alone resist this Italianisation with a certain amount of success, for
they have a literature and history, and are held together by strong
religious ties. Their sect was persecuted as early as the thirteenth
century, long before the Reformation, and ever since, until their final
emancipation in 1848, they have struggled against adversity. Many times
it was thought they had been exterminated, but they always rose again,
and in history they occupy a rank far out of proportion to their small
numbers.
The bulk of the population are engaged in agriculture, which need
not be wondered at if we bear in mind the fertility of the soil, the
abundant supply of water, and the improvements effected in bygone ages.
The labour invested in every kind of agricultural improvement, such
as canals, embankments, terraces, or _ronchi_, built up like steps on
the slope of every hill, has been immense, and defies computation. The
mode of cultivation, moreover, entails a vast amount of labour, for
the peasant knows not the iron plough, but tills his field with the
spade: he is a gardener rather than an agriculturist. The agricultural
produce is immense; its annual value is estimated at £80,000,000
sterling, and it furnishes large quantities for exportation. Cereals,
forage, mulberry leaves and cocoons, vegetables and fruit, and cheese,
including the famous Parmesan, are the principal products. {219}
Lombardy and Piemont occupy the first rank in the world for certain
kinds of agricultural produce, and they are almost the only countries
in Europe in which rice, introduced in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, is extensively grown. The vineyards, on the other hand, are
not as carefully tended as they might be, and the wines, with the
exception of those of Asti, Monferrato, San Colombano, and Udine (the
_picolito_), are of small repute.
The valley of the Po divides itself into several well-marked
agricultural provinces. In the Alpine valleys, between Col di Tenda and
Monte Tricorno, the greater portion of the forests and pastures is held
in common, but nearly every mountaineer is likewise the free proprietor
of a bit of meadow or land, which his labour has converted into a
garden. The social condition of these mountaineers thus resembles that
of the French peasantry; for they, likewise, enjoy the advantages of
a minute division of the land amongst freehold proprietors. The hilly
tracts along the foot of the mountains are divided into farms of
moderate size. The peasant no longer owns the land, but, in accordance
with old feudal customs, he shares in its produce. In the plain, where
it is necessary to keep up a complicated system of canals, nearly all
the land belongs to rich capitalists, who cut it up into numerous small
farms, and for the most part reside in the towns. These small farmers
have no resources of their own, and are hardly above the rank of
agricultural labourers. Though they cultivate the most fertile region
of Northern Italy, they are miserably fed, frequently decimated by
disease, and least alive to the advantages of education. The contrast
between these miserable peasants and the mountaineers of Vaudois and
the Val Tellina is great indeed.
Periodically many of the mountaineers migrate to the towns and
neighbouring countries in search of work, and a proverb tells us that
there is no country in the world “without sparrows or Bergamosks.”
But though the natives of the hills of Bergamo furnish a numerous
contingent of these migrants, they are outnumbered by Friulians,
inhabitants of the shores of the Lago Maggiore, and Piemontese. The
latter cross the passes of the Western Alps in large numbers in search
of work at Marseilles and other towns of Southern France, and, small
wages sufficing for their frugal wants, they are not particularly liked
by their French fellow-workmen.
The metallic wealth of Northern Italy is but small. The only mines of
note are those which formerly supplied the famous armourers of Brescia
with iron, and the gold diggings of Anzasca, at the foot of Monte Rosa,
where 5,000 slaves were kept at work by the Romans, and which are
not yet quite exhausted. Marble, gneiss, granite, potters’ clay, and
kaolin are, however, found abundantly. In former times silks, velvets,
carpets, glass, porcelain, metal-work, and other art productions of the
workmen of Venice and Lombardy enjoyed a very high reputation. These
ancient industries decayed with the downfall of the old republics, but
there are signs now of their revival. The want of coal or other fuel
for setting in motion the machinery of modern factories is compensated
for, to some extent, by an abundant water power, and this explains why
nearly all the important manufactories are met with at the debouchures
of the Alpine valleys. {220}
[Illustration: Fig. 72.—THE LAGOONS OF COMACCHIO.
Scale 1 : 290,000.]
Amongst the ancient industries of the country not yet extinct, the
fisheries of the lagoons of Comacchio occupy a foremost place. The
Canal of Magnavacca, now hardly navigable, admits the waters of the sea
into the Canal Palotta, which may be described as the great artery of
these lagoons. It was constructed in 1631–34, and, by an ingeniously
designed system of ramifying canals, carries the vivifying floods to
the most remote parts of the lagoons. The various basins, or _valli_,
of the lagoons are thus filled with sea-water, and constitute as many
breeding beds, where the fish come from the sea multiply abundantly. A
labyrinth of canals provided with flood-gates cuts off their retreat to
the sea, and they are caught in immense numbers when the fishing season
arrives. Spallanzani has seen 60,000 pounds of fish taken in a single
bed, or _valle_, within an hour; but sometimes the draught is even more
considerable, and the fish are actually used as manure. The fishing
population of Comacchio numbers about 5,000 individuals, most of them
distinguished by tall stature, great strength, and suppleness. Coste,
the fish-breeder, mentions it as a curious fact that this secluded
colony of fishermen {221} should have retained these characteristic
features for centuries, though sustained exclusively by fishing, and
living upon mullets, eels, and _acquadelle_. Unfortunately these
fishermen are not the proprietors of the ponds, for they belong to
the State or to rich private individuals. The workmen live in large
barracks away from the town, to which they return only at stated
intervals, and even their wives and relatives are not permitted to
visit them in their places of exile.
[Illustration: Fig. 73.—THE FISHERIES OF COMACCHIO.
Scale 1 : 78,000.]
The enormous population of the valley of the Po, which almost equals
that of the remainder of continental Italy, is very unequally
distributed; but, except in the high and cold Alpine valleys, the
inhabitants live in towns, dozens of which may be seen peeping out
amidst the verdure if we ascend a high tower. There are scarcely any
villages or hamlets. The farmers alone live in the country, completely
isolated from each other, whilst the numerous landed proprietors throng
the towns, and impart to them an aspect of wealth which similar places
in other {222} parts of Europe cannot boast of. No other country in
the world is as densely populated, and in Lombardy the number of towns
is relatively larger than anywhere else.[70]
Large towns, too, are numerous, and many of them enjoy a deserved
reputation amongst the cities of the world on account of their
monuments, art treasures, and historical associations. Their number
is partly accounted for by the density of the population, and by the
facility with which the inhabitants were able to shift their abodes,
according to the hazards of war or the vicissitudes of events. And this
accounts, too, for the large number of towns which became famous as the
capitals of republics, or as royal and ducal residences.
Several of the towns at the base of the Alps occupy sites marked out
for them by nature. Such are the towns at the mouth of the valleys or
defiles, which were places of defence as well as staples of commerce.
Ariminum, the modern Rimini, at the southern extremity of the great
plain of the Po, was one of these, for during the reign of the Roman
it defended the narrow littoral passage between the Adriatic and the
Apennines. The Flaminian Road there reached the sea, the Emilian Road
thence departed for the north-west, as did also the littoral road of
Ravenna. When Rome had ceased to be the capital of the world, and
Italy was divided into small hostile states, the towns in the southern
part of the plain, or near the passes over the Po, such as Ferrara and
Bologna, retained their strategical importance. Piacenza, which defends
the passage of the Po between Piemont and Emilia, remains a first-rate
fortress to the present day; Alessandria, near the confluence of Tanaro
and Bormida, and in a plain famous for many a bloody battle, was
likewise destined to become a formidable fortress, though derisively
called a “city of straw.” Every valley debouching from France or
Austria was locked at its mouth by a strong fort; but most of these
places, such as Vinadio, Pinerolo, Fenestrella, and Susa, have become
untenable, owing to the range of modern artillery.
The defences of the road over the Brenner, ever since the downfall of
the Roman empire, had to be looked to most carefully, for the plain
between the Mincio and the Adige, to the south of the Lake of Garda,
is the least-protected part of Italy from a military point of view.
History has proved this. Well might the peaceable inhabitants of the
plain consecrate this Alpine road to the gods, and intrust its defence
to the neighbouring tribes. But the northern barbarians were not to
be stopped by altars; and many a time they swept down it like an
avalanche, pillaging the towns and massacring the inhabitants. No spot
on the earth’s surface has been so frequently saturated with human
blood. Most of the battles for the possession of Italy, down to our
own days, were fought near the mouth of the upper valley of the Adige.
Hardly a town or a village of this small district but {223} has gained
a mournful notoriety in the dark pages of human history. It is there
we must seek for the battle-fields of Castiglione, Lonato, Rivoli,
Solferino, and Custozza. When the Austrians held Lombardy and Venice,
they took care to protect this district by the four fortresses known as
the Quadrilateral (Verona, Peschiera, Mantua, and Legnago) and other
works. These constituted the “key of the house,” of which Italy has now
repossessed herself.
[Illustration: Fig. 74.—MOUTH OF THE ADIGE VALLEY.
From the Austrian Staff Map. Scale 1 : 397,000.]
The configuration of the country which rendered these defiles of the
Alps of importance strategically, likewise insured their commercial
importance. The fortresses were placed there to defend the passes, the
commercial entrepôts to intercept the trade. The rank of these places
of commerce depends essentially upon the number and the importance of
the roads which converge upon them. Turin, upon which converge all the
Alpine roads from Mont Blanc to the Apennines, naturally became one of
the vital points of European commerce. Milan, to which lead the seven
great Alpine routes of the Simplon, the Gotthard, the Bernardino, the
Splügen, the Julier, the Maloya, and the Stelvio, was marked out by
nature as a commercial emporium. Bologna, too, which was separated by
the swamps of the Po from the Alpine passes, has risen into importance
since railways have joined it to Vienna, Paris, Marseilles, and Naples.
{224}
The valley of the Po would never have attained its importance in the
history of Europe unless roads had been constructed for traversing the
obstructive mountains which surround it on all sides except towards
the east, where it opens out upon the Adriatic. No other district of
Europe is so completely hemmed in by natural obstacles as is this, but
the construction of carriage roads and railways has converted Northern
Italy into one of the great centres of European commerce. Venice
gives it the command of the Adriatic, the Apennine railways connect
it with Genoa, Savona, the Gulf of Spezia, and the Tyrrhenian, and
it thus commands the two seas which wash the shores of Italy. Other
railways cross the Alps, and put it into communication with France and
Germany. This central position, joined to the natural fertility of the
country, has converted Northern Italy into one of the most flourishing
portions of Europe. Human hands have conquered original geographical
disadvantages, and the true centre of Italy is in the ancient Cisalpine
Gaul, and not at Rome. Had the Italians been guided in the choice of
their capital by actual importance, and not by historical tradition,
they would have chosen one of the great cities of their northern plain.
[Illustration: Fig. 75.—THE PASSAGES OVER THE ALPS.
Scale 1 : 6,000,000.]
Turin, though an old town, seeing that it was burnt by Hannibal, is
nevertheless a modern city, if we compare it with other towns of Italy.
Its straight and broad streets almost give it the appearance of a town
of the New World. Until made a ducal residence, Turin was but a small
provincial town. During the time of the Romans, and even during the
Middle Ages, the great high-road between Italy and Gaul led along the
coast of the Gulf of Genoa. The passage of the Alps was looked upon
with dread by travellers. Still some traffic went on even in these
{225} early days, and small towns sprang into existence at the foot of
each Alpine pass. Amongst these were Mondovi, the triple town built on
three hills; Cuneo, favourably placed upon a terrace between Stura and
Gesso, in which rise the hot sulphur springs of Valdiera; Saluzzo, on
the gentle slope of the foot-hills of Monte Viso; Pinerolo, with its
ancient castle, so often converted into a prison of state; Susa, the
Italian key of Mont Cenis; Aosta, still abounding in Roman antiquities;
Ivrea, built on a site formerly occupied by a glacier descending from
Monte Rosa; and Riella, with its flourishing woollen industry. The
towns lower down in the plain, upon which several of these Alpine roads
converged, likewise attained some local importance. In Upper Piemont
there are Fossano, on a heap of shingle at the junction of the roads
of Mondovi and Cuneo; Savigliano, lower down, where the roads of the
Po and Maira valleys join; and Carmagnola, which commands one of the
principal roads over the Apennines. Novara, the commercial outlet of
the Lago Maggiore, and in the midst of one of the most productive
agricultural districts, is the most populous town of Eastern Piemont.
Vercelli, on the Sesia, and below the confluence of the rivulets
descending from Monte Rosa, enjoys natural advantages similar to those
of Novara. Casale, the ancient capital of Monferrato, defends one of
the principal passages of the Po.
But Turin, owing to its favourable position, has become the great
emporium of the valley of the Upper Po. Its commerce has grown
immensely, since the town no longer enjoys the perilous honour of being
the capital of a kingdom, and the places vacated by the court and
Government officials have been filled up quickly by immigrants carried
thither by the railways. Its libraries, a fine museum, and various
learned societies entitle it to rank as one of the intellectual centres
of the peninsula, whilst its manufactures of silks and woollens, of
paper and other articles, are of great importance. The environs of
Turin are delightful. From the hill of the Superga, a few miles to the
east of the city, and crowned by a sumptuous church, may be enjoyed one
of the finest panoramas of the Italian Alps. The numerous small towns
in its vicinity, such as Moncalieri, Chieri, and Carignano, abound in
villas and participate in the prosperity of the capital. As to the
towns in the valley of the Tanaro, in the south, they form a group
apart, and are the natural intermediaries between the valley of the
Po and the port of Genoa. Alessandria, a strong fortress of hideous
regularity, which has superseded the old fortresses of Tortona and
Novi, is the terminus of eight railways, and one of the busiest places
of Italy. The neighbouring cities of Asti, famous for its sparkling
wines, and Acqui, celebrated from the time of the Romans for its hot
springs, are likewise important for their commerce.[71]
Milan, the capital of Lombardy, is in every respect one of the leading
cities of Italy. In population it is inferior to Naples, in commerce
it is outstripped only {226} by Genoa, but in industry it is the equal
of both. Its scientific and literary life entitles it, probably, to
the first rank amongst the cities between the Alps and Sicily. In the
most remote times Milan was an important town of the Celts, and since
then the advantages of its position have given it the preponderance
amongst all other cities of Northern Italy. Its power during the Middle
Ages gained it the epithet of the “Second Rome.” At the close of the
thirteenth century it had 200,000 inhabitants, whilst London had not
then a sixth of that number. Milan stood in want of water, for it
was dependent upon the feeble stream of the Olona, and its citizens
created the Naviglio Grande and the Martesana, veritable rivers, which
furnish a quantity of water double that of the Seine at Paris during
summer. They likewise erected magnificent monuments, but most of these
have perished during innumerable wars, and the aspect of Milan is now
that of a modern town of Western Europe. Its most famous building, the
“Duomo,” with its prodigious crowd of statues, its finely chiselled
marbles and granites, must be looked upon as a marvel of architecture,
though from an artistic point of view it is hardly more than an
elaborately carved trinket out of all proportion. The stones for this
edifice were quarried on the Lago Maggiore, near the mouth of the Toce.
The capital of Lombardy, proud of the past and confident of the future,
boasts of never yielding servilely to impulses given from beyond. It
has its own opinions, manners, and fashions, and anything accepted
from abroad is moulded in accordance with local traditions. The other
towns of Lombardy likewise maintain their local character, are proud
of their traditions, and glory in the annals of the past. Como, on the
beautiful lake named after it, the ancient rival of Milan, gains wealth
by spinning silk and exporting the agricultural produce of the Brianza.
Monza, surrounded by parks and villas, is the coronation city. Pavia,
with its 525 towers, now in ruins, remembers the time when it was the
residence of the Lombard kings, and proudly points to the university,
one of the oldest in Europe, and to the Certosa (Chartreuse), one of
the most sumptuous monasteries of Italy. Vigevano, on the other side of
the Ticino, rejoices in a fine castle. Lodi, in the eleventh century,
was the most powerful city of Italy next to Milan, and carried on a war
of extermination with the latter; it is still a busy place. Cremona, an
old republic, boasts of its _torrazzo_, or tower, 393 feet in height,
the loftiest in Europe until Gothic cathedrals were built. Bergamo,
on a hill commanding the rich plains of Brembo and Serio, produced a
larger number of great men than any other town except Florence; and
Brescia, the armourers’ town, more haughty still, proclaims herself to
be the mother of heroes.
Mantua, on the Mincio, is one of the fortresses of the Quadrilateral,
and can hardly be said to belong to Lombardy, though included within
its political boundaries. It is essentially a military town. It has
lost much of its old commerce, though Jews are more plentiful there
than in any other inland city of Italy. Its swamps, woods, rice-fields,
ditches, and fortified canals are productive of a degree of humidity
exceptional even in Lombardy, and the inhabitants consequently eschew
this ancient birthplace of Virgil. Strikingly different is the
character of the towns situated in the heart of the mountains, such as
Sondrio, the capital of the {227} Val Tellina, or delightful Salo, on
the Lake of Garda, with its group of villas scattered amongst groves of
orange-trees.[72]
[Illustration: Fig. 76.—THE LAKES AND CANALS OF MANTUA.
From the Austrian Staff Map. Scale 1 : 198,000.]