Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE ITALY: "The secret societies, such as the Carbonari, the
Adelfi and the Bersaglieri d'America, which flourished in Romagna,
replied to these persecutions by assassinating the more brutal
officials and spies." 'and' amended from 'ans'.
ARTICLE ITALY: "... and on the 30th attempted to capture Rome by
surprise, but was completely defeated by Garibaldi, who might have
driven the French into the sea, had Mazzini allowed him to leave
the city." 'surprise' amended from 'suprise'.
ARTICLE IVORY, SIR JAMES: "... he abandoned all idea of the church,
and in 1786 he became an assistant-teacher of mathematics and
natural philosophy in a newly established academy at Dundee."
'philosophy' amended from 'philosoghy'.
ARTICLE IVORY: "Crucifixes were turned out in enormous numbers,
some of not inconsiderable merit, but, for the most part, they
represent anatomical exercises varying but slightly from a pattern
of which a celebrated one attributed to Faistenberger may be taken
as a type." 'attributed' amended from 'atributed'.
ARTICLE JACKSON, FREDERICK GEORGE: "On his return, he was given the
command of the Jackson-Harmsworth Arctic expedition (1894-1897),
which had for its objective the general exploration of Franz Josef
Land." 'expedition' amended from 'expediton'.
ARTICLE JACKSON, HELEN MARIA: "American poet and novelist, who
wrote under the initials of 'H. H.' (Helen Hunt), was born in
Amherst, Massachusetts, on the 18th of October 1831 ..." 'initials'
amended from 'intials'.
ARTICLE JACOBINS, THE: "The constituency to which the club was
henceforth responsible, and from which it derived its power, was in
fact the peuple bête of Paris; the sans-culottes--decayed lackeys,
cosmopolitan ne'er-do-wells, and starving workpeople--who crowded
its tribunes. " 'wells' amended from 'weels'.
ARTICLE JACOBITE CHURCH: "... and lived there fifteen years.
Justinian during those years imprisoned, deprived or exiled most of
the recalcitrant clergy of Syria, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Cappadocia,
and the adjacent regions." 'lived' amended from 'livid'.
THE
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
ELEVENTH EDITION
FIRST edition, published in three volumes, 1768-1771.
SECOND " " ten " 1777-1784.
THIRD " " eighteen " 1788-1797.
FOURTH " " twenty " 1801-1810.
FIFTH " " twenty " 1815-1817.
SIXTH " " twenty " 1823-1824.
SEVENTH " " twenty-one " 1830-1842.
EIGHTH " " twenty-two " 1853-1860.
NINTH " " twenty-five " 1875-1889.
TENTH " ninth edition and eleven
supplementary volumes, 1902-1903.
ELEVENTH " published in twenty-nine volumes, 1910-1911.
COPYRIGHT
in all countries subscribing to the Bern Convention
by
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS
of the
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
_All rights reserved_
THE
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XV
ITALY to KYSHTYM
New York
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
342 Madison Avenue
Copyright, in the United States of America, 1910,
by
The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
VOLUME XV, SLICE I
Italy to Jacobite Church
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
ITALY JABLONSKI, DANIEL ERNST
ITEM JABORANDI
ITHACA (Greece) JACA
ITHACA (New York, U.S.A.) JACAMAR
ITINERARIUM JAÇANÁ
ITIUS PORTUS JACINI, STEFANO
ITO, HIROBUMI JACK
ITRI JACKAL
ITURBIDE, AUGUSTIN DE JACKDAW
ITZA JACKSON, ANDREW
ITZEHOE JACKSON, CYRIL
IUKA JACKSON, FREDERICK GEORGE
IULUS JACKSON, HELEN MARIA
IVAN JACKSON, MASON
IVANGOROD JACKSON, THOMAS
IVANOVO-VOZNESENSK JACKSON, THOMAS JONATHAN
IVARR, BEINLAUSI JACKSON, WILLIAM
IVIZA JACKSON (Michigan, U.S.A.)
IVORY, SIR JAMES JACKSON (Mississippi, U.S.A.)
IVORY JACKSON (Tennessee, U.S.A.)
IVORY COAST JACKSONVILLE (Florida, U.S.A.)
IVREA JACKSONVILLE (Illinois, U.S.A.)
IVRY-SUR-SEINE JACOB
IVY JACOB, JOHN
IWAKURA, TOMOMI JACOB BEN ASHER
IXION JACOB OF EDESSA
IXTACCIHUATL JACOB OF JÜTERBOGK
IYRCAE JACOB OF SERUGH
IZBARTA JACOBA
IZHEVSK JACOBABAD
IZMAIL JACOBEAN STYLE
IZU-NO-SHICHI-TO JACOBI, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH
J JACOBI, JOHANN GEORG
JA'ALIN JACOBI, KARL GUSTAV JACOB
JABIRU JACOBINS, THE
JABLOCHKOV, PAUL JACOBITE CHURCH
INITIALS USED IN VOLUME XI. TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS,[1] WITH
THE HEADINGS OF THE ARTICLES IN THIS VOLUME SO SIGNED.
A. A. M.
Arthur Anthony Macdonell, M.A., Ph.D.
Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford. Keeper of
the Indian Institute. Fellow of Balliol College; Fellow of the
British Academy. Author of _A Vedic Grammar_; _A History of
Sanskrit Literature_; _Vedic Mythology_; &c.
Kalidasa.
A. B. D.
Rev. Andrew B. Davidson, D.D.
See the biographical article: DAVIDSON, A. B.
Job (_in part_).
A. C. S.
Algernon Charles Swinburne.
See the biographical article: SWINBURNE, A. C.
Keats (_in part_).
A. D.
Henry Austin Dobson, LL.D.
See the biographical article: DOBSON, H. AUSTIN.
Kauffmann, Angelica.
A. E. S.
Arthur Everett Shipley, M.A., F.R.S., D.Sc.
Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. Reader in Zoology,
Cambridge University. Joint-editor of the _Cambridge Natural
History_.
Kinorhyncha.
A. F. P.
Albert Frederick Polìard, M.A., F.R.Hist.Soc.
Professor of English History in the University of London. Fellow
of All Souls' College, Oxford. Assistant Editor of the _Dictionary
of National Biography_, 1893-1901. Lothian Prizeman (Oxford),
1892; Arnold prizeman, 1898. Author of _England under the
Protector Somerset_; _Henry VIII._; _Life of Thomas Cranmer_; &c.
Jewel, John.
A. G.
Major Arthur George Frederick Griffiths (d. 1908).
H.M. Inspector of Prisons, 1878-1896. Author of _The Chronicles of
Newgate_; _Secrets of the Prison House_; &c.
Juvenile Offenders (_in part_).
A. Go.*
Rev. Alexander Gordon, M.A.
Lecturer on Church History in the University of Manchester.
Joris;
Knipperdollinck.
A. G. D.
Arthur George Doughty, C.M.G., M.A., Litt.D., F.R.S.(Canada),
F.R.Hist.S.
Dominion Archivist of Canada. Member of the Geographical Board of
Canada. Author of _The Cradle of New France_; &c. Joint-editor of
_Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada_.
Joly de Lotbinière.
A. H. S.
Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce, Litt.D., LL.D.
See the biographical article: SAYCE, A. H.
Kassites.
A. H.-S.
Sir A. Houtum-Schindler. C.I.E.
General in the Persian Army. Author of _Eastern Persian Irak_.
Karun;
Kerman;
Khorasan;
Kishm.
A. H. Sm.
Arthur Hamilton Smith, M.A., F.S.A.
Keeper of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the
British Museum. Member of the Imperial German Archaeological
Institute. Author of _Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British
Museum_; &c.
Jewelry.
A. M. C.
Agnes Mary Clerke.
See the biographical article: CLERKE, A. M.
Kepler.
A. Ml.
Alfred Ogle Maskell, F.S.A.
Superintendent of the Picture Galleries, Indian and Colonial
Exhibition, 1887. Cantor Lecturer, 1906. Founder and first editor
of the _Downside Review_. Author of _Ivories_; &c.
Ivory.
A. N.
Alfred Newton, F.R.S.
See the biographical article: NEWTON, ALFRED.
Jabiru;
Jacamar;
Jaçana;
Jackdaw;
Jay;
Kakapo;
Kestrel;
Killdeer;
King-Bird;
Kingfisher;
Kinglet;
Kite;
Kiwi;
Knot.
A. T. I.
Alexander Taylor Innés, M.A., LL.D.
Scotch advocate. Author of _John Knox_; _Law of Creeds in
Scotland_; _Studies in Scottish History_; &c.
Knox, John.
A. W. H.*
Arthur William Holland.
Formerly Scholar of St John's College, Oxford. Bacon Scholar of
Gray's Inn, 1900.
Jacobites.
A. W. W.
Adolphus William Ward, LL.D., D.Litt.
See the biographical article: WARD, A. W.
Jonson, Ben.
B. F. S. B.-P.
Major Baden F. S. Baden-Powell, F.R.A.S., F.R.Met.S.
Inventor of man-lifting kites. Formerly President of Aeronautical
Society. Author of _Ballooning as a Sport_; _War in Practice_; &c.
Kite-flying (_in part_).
B. W. B.
Rev. Benjamin Wisner Bacon, A.M., D.D., Litt.D., LL.D.
Professor of New Testament Criticism and Exegesis in Yale
University. Formerly Director of American School of Archaeology,
Jerusalem. Author of _The Fourth Gospel in Research and Debate_;
_The Founding of the Church_; &c.
James, Epistle of;
Jude, The General Epistle of.
C. D. G.
Rev. Christian David Ginsburg, LL.D.
See the biographical article: GINSBURG, C. D.
Kabbalah (_in part_).
C. El.
Sir Charles Norton Edgcumbe Eliot, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.A., LL.D.,
D.C.L.
Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University. Formerly Fellow of
Trinity College, Oxford. H.M.'s Commissioner and
Commander-in-Chief for the British East Africa Protectorate; Agent
and Consul-General at Zanzibar; Consul-General for German East
Africa, 1900-1904.
Kashgar (_in part_);
Khazars (_in part_);
Khiva (_in part_).
C. E. D. B.
C. E. D. Black.
Formerly Clerk for Geographical Records, India Office, London.
Kashgar (_in part_).
C. H. Ha.
Carlton Huntley Hayes, A.M., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History in Columbia University, New York
City. Member of the American Historical Association.
John XXI.;
Julius II.
C. H. T.*
Crawford Howell Toy.
See the biographical article: TOY, CRAWFORD HOWELL.
Job (_in part_).
C. J. J.
Charles Jasper Joly, F.R.S., F.R.A.S. (1864-1906).
Royal Astronomer of Ireland, and Andrews Professor of Astronomy in
the University of Dublin, 1897-1906. Fellow of Trinity College,
Dublin. Secretary of the Royal Irish Academy.
Kaleidoscope.
C. J. L.
Sir Charles James Lyall, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., LL.D. (Edin.).
Secretary, Judicial and Public Department, India Office. Fellow of
King's College, London. Secretary to Government of India in Home
Department, 1889-1894. Chief Commissioner, Central Provinces,
India, 1895-1898. Author of _Translations of Ancient Arabic
Poetry_; &c.
Kabir.
C. L. K.
Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, M.A., F.R.Hist.Soc., F.S.A.
Assistant Secretary to the Board of Education. Author of _Life of
Henry V._ Editor of _Chronicles of London_, and Stow's _Survev of
London_.
Kempe.
C. Mi.
Chedomille Mijatovich.
Senator of the Kingdom of Servia. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the King of Servia to the Court of St James's,
1895-1900, and 1902-1903.
Karageorge;
Karajich.
C. M. W.
Sir Charles Moore Watson, K.C.M.G., C.B.
Colonel, Royal Engineers. Deputy-Inspector-General of
Fortifications, 1896-1902. Served under General Gordon in the
Sudan, 1874-1875.
Jerusalem (_in part_).
C. R. B.
Charles Raymond Beazley, M.A., D.Litt., F.R.G.S., F.R.Hist.S.
Professor of Modern History in the University of Birmingham.
Formerly Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and University Lecturer
in the History of Geography. Lothian Prizeman, Oxford, 1889.
Lowell Lecturer, Boston, 1908. Author of _Henry the Navigator_;
_The Dawn of Modern Geography_, &c.
Jordanus.
C. S. C.
Caspar Stanley Clark.
Assistant in Indian Section, Victoria and Albert Museum, South
Kensington.
Kashi (_in part_).
C. We.
Cecil Weatherly.
Formerly Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. Barrister-at-Law,
Inner Temple.
Knighthood: _Orders of_.
C. W. W.
Sir Charles William Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S. (1836-1907).
Major-General, Royal Engineers. Secretary to the North American
Boundary Commission, 1858-1862. British Commissioner on the
Servian Boundary Commission. Director-General of the Ordnance
Survey, 1886-1894. Director-General of Military Education,
1895-1898. Author of _From Korti to Khartoum_; _Life of Lord
Clive_; &c.
Jerusalem (_in part_);
Jordan (_in part_);
Kurdistan (_in part_).
D. G. H.
David George Hogarth, M.A.
Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Fellow of Magdalen
College, Oxford. Fellow of the British Academy. Excavated at
Paphos, 1888; Naucratis, 1899 and 1903; Ephesus, 1904-1905;
Assiut, 1906-1907. Director, British School at Athens, 1897-1900.
Director, Cretan Exploration Fund, 1899.
Jebell;
Jordan (_in part_);
Karamania;
Kharput;
Konia.
D. H.
David Hannay.
Formerly British Vice-Consul at Barcelona. Author of _Short
History of the Royal Navy, 1217-1688_; _Life of Emilio Castelar_;
&c.
Junius;
Kanaris;
Keith, Viscount;
Keppel, Viscount.
E. B.
Edward Breck, M.A., Ph.D.
Formerly Foreign Correspondent of the _New York Herald_ and the
_New York Times_. Author of _Fencing_; _Wilderness Pets_;
_Sporting in Nova Scotia_; &c.
Kite-flying (_in part_).
E. Br.
Ernest Barker, M.A.
Fellow and Lecturer in Modern History, St John's College, Oxford.
Formerly Fellow and Tutor of Merton College. Craven Scholar, 1895.
Jordanes (_in part_).
E. F. S.
Edward Fairbrother Strange.
Assistant Keeper, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington.
Member of Council, Japan Society. Author of numerous works on art
subjects; Joint-editor of Bell's "Cathedral" Series.
Japan: _Art_ (_in part_);
Korin, Ogata;
Kyosai, Sho-Fu.
E. G.
Edmund Gosse, LL.D.
See the biographical article: GOSSE, EDMUND.
Jacobsen, Jens Peter;
Kalewala;
Kyd, Thomas.
E. Gr.
Ernest Arthur Gardner, M.A.
See the biographical article: _Gardner, Percy_.
Ithaca.
E. He.
Edward Heawood, M.A.
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Librarian of the Royal
Geographical Society, London.
Kenya;
Kilimanjaro.
E. H. B.
Sir Edward Herbert Bunbury, Bart., M.A., F.R.G.S. (d. 1895).
M.P. for Bury St Edmunds, 1847-1852. Author of _A History of
Ancient Geography_; &c.
Italy: _Geography_ (_in part_).
E. H. M.
Ellis Hovell Minns, M.A.
University Lecturer in Palaeography, Cambridge. Lecturer and
Assistant Librarian at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Formerly
Fellow of Pembroke College.
Iyrcae;
Kashubes.
Ed. M.
Eduard Meyer, Ph.D., D.Litt. (Oxon.), LL.D.
Professor of Ancient History in the University of Berlin. Author
of _Geschichte des Alterthums_; _Geschichte des alten Aegyptens_;
_Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstämme_.
Kavadh.
E. O.*
Edmund Owen, M.B., F.R.C.S., LL.D., D.Sc.
Consulting Surgeon to St Mary's Hospital, London, and to the
Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street; late Examiner in Surgery
in the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and London. Author of _A
Manual of Anatomy for Senior Students_.
Joints: _Diseases and Injuries_;
Kidney Diseases (_in part_).
E. Tn.
Rev. Ethelred Luke Taunton (d. 1907).
Author of _The English Black Monks of St Benedict_; _History of
the Jesuits in England_.
Jesuits (_in part_).
F. By.
Captain Frank Brinkley, R.N.
Foreign Adviser to Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Tokyo. Correspondent of
_The Times_ in Japan. Editor of the Japan Mail. Formerly Professor
of Mathematics at Imperial Engineering College, Tokyo. Author of
_Japan_; &c.
Japan.
F. C. C.
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, M.A., D.Th. (Giessen).
Fellow of the British Academy. Formerly Fellow of University
College, Oxford. Author of The _Ancient Armenian Texts of
Aristotle_; _Myth, Magic and Morals_; &c.
Jacobite Church.
F. G. M. B.
Frederick George Meeson Beck, M.A.
Fellow and Lecturer in Classics, Clare College, Cambridge.
Kent, Kingdom of.
F. G. P.
Frederick Gymer Parsons, F.R.C.S., F.Z.S., F.R.Anthrop.Inst.
Vice-President, Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Lecturer on Anatomy at St Thomas's Hospital and the London School
of Medicine for Women. Formerly Hunterian Professor at the Royal
College of Surgeons.
Joints: _Anatomy_.
F. L. L.
Lady Lugard.
See the biographical article: LUGARD, SIR F. J. D.
Kano;
Katagum.
F. LI. G.
Francis Llewellyn Griffith, M.A., Ph.D. (Leipzig), F.S.A.
Reader in Egyptology, Oxford University. Editor of the
Archaeological Survey and Archaeological Reports of the Egypt
Exploration Fund. Fellow of Imperial German Archaeological
Institute.
Karnak.
F. R. C.
Frank R. Cana.
Author of _South Africa from the Great Trek to the Union_.
Kharga.
Fr. Sy.
Friedrich Sciiwally.
Professor of Semitic Philology in the University of Giessen.
Koran (_in part_).
F. S. P,
Francis Samuel Philbrick, A.M., Ph.D.
Formerly Teaching Fellow of Nebraska State University, and Scholar
and Fellow of Harvard University. Member of American Historical
Association.
Jefferson, Thomas.
F. v. H.
Baron Friedrich von Hügel.
Member of Cambridge Philological Society; Member of Hellenic
Society. Author of _The Mystical Element of Religion_; &c.
John: _The Apostle_;
John, Gospel of St.
F. W. R.*
Frederick William Rudler, I.S.O., F.G.S.
Curator and Librarian of the Museum of Practical Geology, London,
1879-1902. President of the Geologists' Association, 1887-1889.
Jade;
Jargoon;
Jasper;
Kaolin.
G. A. Gr.
George Abraham Grierson, C.I.E., Ph.D., D.Litt.
Member of the Indian Civil Service, 1873-1903. In charge of the
Linguistic Survey of India, 1898-1902. Gold Medallist, Royal
Asiatic Society, 1909. Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic
Society. Formerly Fellow of Calcutta University. Author of _The
Languages of India_; &c.
Kashmiri.
G. E.
Rev. George Edmundson, M.A., F.R.Hist.S.
Formerly Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford. Ford's
Lecturer, 1909. Hon. Member, Dutch Historical Society, and Foreign
Member, Netherlands Association of Literature.
Jacoba.
G. F. Mo.
Rev. George Foot Moore.
See the biographical article: MOORE, GEORGE FOOT.
Jehovah.
G. G. Co.
George Gordon Coulton, M.A.
Birkbeck Lecturer in Ecclesiastical History, Trinity College,
Cambridge. Author of _Medieval Studies_; _Chaucer and his
England_; _From St Francis to Dante_; &c.
Knighthood and Chivalry.
G. H. Bo.
Rev. George Herbert Box, M.A.
Rector of Sutton Sandy, Beds. Formerly Hebrew Master, Merchant
Taylors' School, London. Lecturer in Faculty of Theology,
University of Oxford, 1908-1909. Author of _Translation of Book of
Isaiah_; &c.
John the Baptist;
Joseph (_New Testament_);
Jubilee, Year of (_in part_).
G. K.
Gustav Krüger.
Professor of Church History in the University of Giessen. Author
of _Das Papsttum_; &c.
Justin Martyr.
G. Mi.
Rev. George Milligan, D.D.
Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism in the University of
Glasgow. Author of _The Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews_;
_Lectures from the Greek Papyri_; &c.
James (_New Testament_);
Judas Iscariot.
G. Sa.
George Saintsbury, LL.D., D.C.L.
See the biographical article: SAINTSBURY, G. E. B.
Joinville.
G. S. L.
George Somes Layard.
Barrister-at-Law, Inner Temple. Author of _Charles Keene_;
_Shirley Brooks_; &c.
Keene, Charles S.
G. S. R.
Sir George Scott Robertson, K.C.S.I., D.C.L., M.P.
Formerly British Agent in Gilgit. Author of _The Kafirs of the
Hindu Kush_; _Chitral: the Story of a Minor Siege_. M.P. Central
Division, Bradford.
Kafiristan.
G. W. T.
Rev. Griffithes Wheeler Thatcher, M.A., B.D.
Warden of Camden College, Sydney, N.S.W. Formerly Tutor in Hebrew
and Old Testament History at Mansfield College, Oxford.
Jahiz;
Jarir Ibn 'Atiyya ul-Khatfl;
Jauhari;
Jawaliqì;
Jurjani;
Khalil Ibn Ahmad;
Khansa;
Kindi;
Kumait Ibn Zaid.
H. A. W.
Hugh Alexander Webster.
Formerly Librarian of University of Edinburgh. Editor of the
_Scottish Geographical Magazine_.
Java (_in part_).
H. Ch.
Hugh Chisholm, M.A.
Formerly Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Editor of the
11th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; Co-editor of the
10th edition.
Joan of Arc (_in part_).
H. Cl.
Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, K.C.M.G.
Colonial Secretary, Ceylon. Fellow of the Royal Colonial
Institute. Formerly Resident, Pahang. Colonial Secretary, Trinidad
and Tobago, 1903-1907. Author of _Studies in Brown Humanity_;
_Further India_; &c. Joint-author of _A Dictionary of the Malay
Language_.
Johor.
H. C. H.
Horace Carter Hovey, A.M., D.D.
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Geological Society of America, National Geographic Society and
Société de Spéléologie (France). Author of _Celebrated American
Caverns_; _Handbook of Mammoth Cave of Kentucky_, &c.
Jacobs Cavern.
H. C. R.
Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Bart.
See the biographical article: RAWLINSON, SIR H. C.
Kurdistan (_in part_).
H. De.
Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J.
Assistant in the compilation of the Bollandist publications:
_Analecta Bollandiana_ and _Acta sanctorum_.
Januarius, St;
Kilian, St.
H. M. C.
Hector Munro Chadwick, M.A.
Librarian and Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. Reader in
Scandinavian, Cambridge University. Author of _Studies on
Anglo-Saxon Institutions_.
Jutes.
H. M. R.
Hugh Munro Ross.
Formerly Exhibitioner of Lincoln College, Oxford. Editor of _The
Times Engineering Supplement_. Author of _British Railways_.
Kelvin, Lord (_in part_).
H. M. V.
Herbert M. Vaughan, F.S.A.
Keble College, Oxford. Author of _The Last of the Royal Stuarts_;
_The Medici Popes_; _The Last Stuart Queen_.
James: _the Pretender_;
King's Evil.
H. W. C. D.
Henry William Carless Davis, M.A.
Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, Oxford. Fellow of All Souls'
College, Oxford, 1895-1902. Author of _England under the Normans
and Angevins_; _Charlemagne_.
John, King of England;
John of Hexham.
H. W. S.
H. Wickham Steed.
Correspondent of _The Times_ at Vienna. Correspondent of _The
Times_ at Rome, 1897-1902.
Italy: _History_ (_F._).
H. Y.
Sir Henry Yule, K.C.S.I., C.B.
See the biographical article: YULE, SIR HENRY.
Kublai Khan.
I. A.
Israel Abrahams, M.A.
Reader in Talmudic and Rabbinic Literature in the University of
Cambridge Formerly President, Jewish Historical Society of
England. Author of _A Short History of Jewish Literature_; _Jewish
Life in the Middle Ages_; _Judaism_; &c.
Jacob ben Asher;
Jellinek;
Jews: _Dispersion to Modern Times_;
Joel;
Johanan Ben Zaceia;
Josippon;
Kalisch, Marcus;
Krochmal.
I. L. B.
Isabella L. Bishop.
See the biographical article: BISHOP, ISABELLA.
Korea (_in part_).
J. A. H
John Allen Howe.
Curator and Librarian of the Museum of Practical Geology, London.
Author of _The Geology of Building Stones_.
Joints (_Geology_);
Jurassic;
Keuper;
Kimeridgian.
J. A. R.
Very Rev. Joseph Armitage Robinson, D.D.
Dean of Westminster. Fellow of the British Academy. Hon. Fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge, and Norrisian Professor of Divinity
in the University. Author of _Some Thoughts on the Incarnation_;
&c.
Jesus Christ.
J. A. S.
John Addington Symonds, LL.D.
See the biographical article, SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON.
Italy: _History_ (C.).
J. Br.
Right Hon. James Bryce, D.C.L., D.Litt.
See the biographical article: BRYCE, JAMES.
Justinian I.
J. Bt.
James Bartlett.
Lecturer on Construction, Architecture, Sanitation, Quantities,
&c., at King's College, London. Member of Society of Architects.
Member of Institute of Junior Engineers.
Joinery.
J. B. A.
Joseph Beavington Atkinson.
Formerly art-critic of the _Saturday Review_. Author of _An Art
Tour in the Northern Capitals of Europe_; _Schools of Modern Art
in Germany_.
Kaulbach.
J. F.-K.
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Litt.D., F.R.Hist.S.
Gilmour Professor of Spanish Language and Literature, Liverpool
University. Norman McColl Lecturer, Cambridge University. Fellow
of the British Academy. Member of the Royal Spanish Academy.
Knight Commander of the Order of Alphonso XII. Author of _A
History of Spanish Literature_; &c.
Juan Manuel, Don.
J. G. C. A.
John George Clark Anderson, M.A.
Censor and Tutor of Christ Church, Oxford. Formerly Fellow of
Lincoln College; Craven Fellow, Oxford, 1896. Conington Prizeman,
1893.
Kastamuni.
J. G. Sc.
Sir James George Scott, K.C.I.E.
Superintendent and Political Officer, Southern Shan States. Author
of _Burma_; _The Upper Burma Gazetteer_.
Karen;
Karen-Ni;
Keng Tung.
J. Hn.
Justus Hashagen, Ph.D.
Privatdozent in Medieval and Modern History, University of Bonn.
Author of _Das Rheinland unter die französische Herrschaft_.
John, King of Saxony.
J. H. A. H.
John Henry Arthur Hart, M.A.
Fellow, Theological Lecturer and Librarian, St John's College,
Cambridge.
Jews: _Greek Domination_;
Josephus.
J. H. F.
John Henry Freese, M.A.
Formerly Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.
Janus;
Julian (_in part_).
J. H. R.
John Horace Round, M.A., LL.D. (Edin.).
Author of _Feudal England_; _Studies in Peerage and Family
History_, _Peerage and Pedigree_.
Knight-Service.
J. Hl. R.
John Holland Rose, M.A., Litt.D.
Lecturer on Modern History to the Cambridge University Local
Lectures Syndicate. Author of _Life of Napoleon I._; _Napoleonic
Studies_; _The Development of the European Nations_; _The Life of
Pitt_; &c.
Italy: _History_ (D.);
Josephine;
Junot.
J. Ja.
Joseph Jacobs, Litt.D.
Professor of English Literature in the Jewish Theological
Seminary, New York. Formerly President of the Jewish Historical
Society of England. Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of
History, Madrid. Author of _Jews of Angevin England_; _Studies in
Biblical Archaeology_, &c.
Jew, The Wandering.
J. J. L,*
Rev. John James Lias, M.A.
Chancellor of Llandaff Cathedral. Formerly Hulsean Lecturer in
Divinity and Lady Margaret Preacher, University of Cambridge.
Ketteler, Baron von.
J. Mt.
James Moffatt, M.A., D.D.
Jowett Lecturer, London, 1907. Author of _Historical New
Testament_; &c.
John, Epistles of.
J. N. K.
John Neville Keynes, M.A., D.Sc.
Registrary of the University of Cambridge. University Lecturer in
Moral Science. Secretary to the Local Examinations and Lectures
Syndicate. Formerly Fellow of Pembroke College. Author of _Studies
and Exercises in Formal Logic_; &c.
Jevons, William Stanley.
J. P. P.
John Percival Postgate, M.A., Litt.D.
Professor of Latin in the University of Liverpool. Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge. Fellow of the British Academy. Editor
of the _Classical Quarterly_. Editor-in-Chief of the _Corpus
Poetarum Latinorum_; &c.
Juvenal (_in part_).
J. P. Pe.
Rev. John Punnett Peters, Ph.D., D.D.
Canon Residentiary, P.E. Cathedral of New York. Formerly Professor
of Hebrew in the University of Pennsylvania. Director of the
University Expedition to Babylonia, 1888-1895. Author of _Nippur,
or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates_.
Kerbela;
Kerkuk;
Khorsabad.
J. R. B.
John Rose Bradford, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.
Physician to University College Hospital. Professor of Materia
Medica and Therapeutics, University College, London. Secretary of
the Royal Society. Formerly Member of Senate, University of
London.
Kidney Diseases (_in part_)
J. T. Be.
John Thomas Bealby.
Joint-author of Stanford's Europe. Formerly Editor of the
_Scottish Geographical Magazine_. Translator of Sven Hedin's
_Through Asia, Central Asia and Tibet_; &c.
Kalmuck;
Kaluga;
Kamchatka;
Kara-Kum;
Kars;
Kazañ;
Kerch;
Khingan;
Khiva;
Khokand;
Khotan;
Kiev;
Kronstadt;
Kubañ;
Kuen-Lun;
Kursk;
Kutais.
J. T. S.*
James Thomson Shotwell, Ph.D.
Professor of History in Columbia University, New York City.
Joan of Arc (_in part_).
J. V.*
Jules Viard.
Archivist at the National Archives, Paris. Officer of Public
Instruction. Author of _La France sous Philippe VI. de Valois_;
&c.
Jacquerie, The.
J. W. He.
James Wycliffe Headlam, M.A.
Staff Inspector of Secondary Schools under the Board of Education.
Formerly Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Professor of Greek
and Ancient History at Queen's College, London. Author of
_Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire_; &c.
Kossuth.
K.
Baron Dairoku Kikuchi, M.A., D.Sc., LL.D.
President of the Imperial University of Kyoto. President of
Imperial Academy of Japan. Emeritus Professor, Imperial
University, Tokio. Author of _Japanese Education_; &c.
Japan: _The Claim of Japan_.
K. S.
Kathleen Schlesinger.
Editor of the _Portfolio of Musical Archaeology_. Author of _The
Instruments of the Orchestra_; &c.
Jew's Harp;
Kettledrum;
Keyboard.
L.
Count Lützow, Litt.D. (Oxon.), D.Ph. (Prague), F.R.G.S.
Chamberlain of H.M. the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia. Hon.
Member of the Royal Society of Literature. Member of the Bohemian
Academy, &c. Author of _Bohemia, a Historical Sketch_; _The
Historians of Bohemia_ (Ilchester Lecture, Oxford, 1904); _The
Life and Times of John Hus_; &c.
Jerome of Prague.
L. F. V.-H.
Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt, M.A., M.Inst.C.E. (1839-1907).
Formerly Professor of Civil Engineering at University College,
London. Author of _Rivers and Canals_; _Harbours and Docks_;
_Civil Engineering as applied in Construction_; &c.
Jetty.
L. J. S.
Leonard James Spencer, M.A.
Assistant in the Department of Mineralogy, British Museum.
Formerly Scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and Harkness
Scholar. Editor of the _Mineralogical Magazine_.
Jarosite.
L. C.
Rev. Lewis Campbell, D.C.L., LL.D.
See the biographical article: CAMPBELL, LEWIS.
Jowett.
L. D.*
Louis Duchesne.
See the biographical article: DUCHESNE, L. M. O.
John XIX.;
Julius I.
L. V.*
Luigi Villari.
Italian Foreign Office (Emigration Department). Formerly Newspaper
Correspondent in east of Europe. Italian Vice-Consul in New
Orleans, 1906; Philadelphia, 1907; Boston, U.S.A., 1907-1910.
Author of _Italian Life in Town and Country_; _Fire and Sword in
the Caucasus_; &c.
Italy: _History_ (E. _and_ G.).
M.
Lord Macaulay.
See the biographical article: MACAULAY, BARON.
Johnson, Samuel.
M. Br.
Margaret Bryant.
Keats (_in part_).
M. F.
Sir Michael Foster, K.C.B., D.C.L., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S.
See the biographical article: FOSTER, SIR M.
Kölliker.
M. M. Bh.
Sir Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree.
Fellow of Bombay University. M.P. for N.E. Bethnal Green,
1895-1906. Author of _History of the Constitution of the East
India Company_; &c.
Jeejeebhoy.
M. O. B. C.
Maximilian Otto Bismarck Caspari, M.A.
Reader in Ancient History at London University. Lecturer in Greek
at Birmingham University, 1905-1908.
Justin II.
M. P.*
Leon Jacques Maxime Prinet.
Formerly Archivist to the French National Archives. Auxiliary of
the Institute of France (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences).
Joinville (_Family_);
Joyeuse;
Juge, Boffille de.
N. M.
Norman McLean, M.A.
Lecturer in Aramaic, Cambridge University. Fellow and Hebrew
Lecturer, Christ's College, Cambridge. Joint-editor of the larger
_Cambridge Septuagint_.
Jacob of Edessa;
Jacob of Serugh;
Joshua the Stylite.
N. V.
Joseph Marie Noel Valois.
Member of Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris.
Honorary Archivist at the Archives Nationales. Formerly President
of the Société de l'Histoire de France and the Société de l'École
de Chartes. Author of _La France et le grand schisme d'Occident_;
&c.
John XXIII.
O. H.*
Otto Hehner, F.I.C., F.C.S.
Public Analyst. Formerly President of Society of Public Analysts.
Vice-President of Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and
Ireland. Author of works on butter analysis; _Alcohol Tables_; &c.
Jams and Jellies.
O. J. R. H.
Osbert John Radcliffe Howarth, M.A.
Christ Church, Oxford. Geographical Scholar, 1901. Assistant
Secretary of the British Association.
Java (_in part_);
Korea (_in part_).
P. A.
Paul Daniel Alphandéry.
Professor of the History of Dogma, École pratique des Hautes
Études, Sorbonne, Paris. Author of _Les Idées morales chez les
hétérodoxes latines au début du XIII^e siècle_.
Joachim of Floris;
John XXII.
P. A. A.
Philip A. Ashworth, M.A., Doc.Juris.
New College, Oxford. Barrister-at-Law. Translator of H. R. von
Gneist's _History of the English Constitution_.
Jhering.
P. A. K.
Prince Peter Alexeivitch Kropotkin.
See the biographical article: KROPOTKIN, P. A.
Kalmuck;
Kaluga;
Kamchatka;
Kara-Kum;
Kazañ;
Kerch;
Khingan;
Khokand;
Kiev;
Kronstadt;
Kubañ;
Kuen-Lun;
Kursk;
Kutais.
P. Gi.
Peter Giles, M.A., LL.D., Litt.D.
Fellow and Classical Lecturer of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and
University Reader in Comparative Philology. Formerly Secretary of
the Cambridge Philological Society. Author of _Manual of
Comparative Philology_.
J.
K.
P. G. T.
Peter Guthrie Tait.
See the biographical article: TAIT, PETER GUTHRIE.
Knot.
P. La.
Philip Lake, M.A., F.G.S.
Lecturer on Physical and Regional Geography in Cambridge
University. Formerly of the Geological Survey of India. Author of
_Monograph of British Cambrian Trilobites_. Translator and Editor
of Kayser's _Comparative Geology_.
Japan: _Geology_.
P. L. G.
Philip Lyttelton Gell, M.A.
Sometime Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. Secretary to the
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1884-1897. Fellow of King's College,
London.
Khazars (_in part_).
P. Vi.
Paul Vinogradoff, D.C.L., LL.D.
See the biographical article: VLNOGRADOFF, PAUL.
Jurisprudence, Comparative.
R. A.*
Robert Anchel.
Archivist to the Département de l'Eure.
Kersaint.
R. Ad.
Robert Adamson, LL.D.
See the biographical article: ADAMSON, ROBERT.
Kant (_in part_).
R. A. S. M.
Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister, M.A., F.S.A.
St John's College, Cambridge. Director of Excavations for the
Palestine Exploration Fund.
Joppa;
Kerak.
R. A. W.
Robert Alexander Wahab, C.B., C.M.G., C.I.E.
Colonel, Royal Engineers. Formerly H.M. Commissioner, Aden
Boundary Delimitation, and Superintendent, Survey of India. Served
with Tirah Expeditionary Force, 1897-1898; Anglo-Russian Boundary
Commission, Pamirs, 1895; &c.
Kuwet.
R. F. L.
Rev. Richard Frederick Littledale, M.A., LL.D., D.C.L.
(1833-1890).
Author of _Religious Communities of Women in the Early Church_;
_Catholic Ritual in the Church of England_; _Why Ritualists do not
become Roman Catholics_.
Jesuits (_in part_).
R. G.
Richard Garnett, LL.D.
See the biographical article: GARNETT, RICHARD.
Krazewski.
R. H. C.
Rev. Robert Henry Charles, M.A., D.D., D.Litt. (Oxon.).
Grinfield Lecturer and Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Oxford and
Fellow of Merton College. Fellow of the British Academy. Formerly
Senior Moderator of Trinity College, Dublin. Author and Editor of
_Book of Enoch_; _Book of Jubilees_; _Assumption of Moses_;
_Ascension of Isaiah_; _Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs_; &c.
Jeremy, Epistle of;
Jubilees, Book of;
Judith, The Book of.
R. I. P.
Reginald Innes Pocock, F.Z.S.
Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens, London.
King-Crab.
R. J. M.
Ronald John McNeill, M.A.
Christ Church, Oxford. Barrister-at-Law. Formerly Editor of the
_St James's Gazette_, London.
Jeffreys, 1st Baron;
Keith: _Family_.
R. K. D.
Sir Robert Kennaway Douglas.
Formerly Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. at the British
Museum, and Professor of Chinese, King's College, London. Author
of _The Language and Literature of China_; &c.
Jenghiz Khan;
Julien.
R. L.*
Richard Lydekker, F.R.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S.
Member of the Staff of the Geological Survey of India, 1874-1882.
Author of _Catalogue of Fossil Mammals, Reptiles and Birds in the
British Museum_; _The Deer of all Lands_; _The Game Animals of
Africa_; &c.
Jerboa;
Kangaroo (_in part_).
R. N. B.
Robert Nisbet Bain (d. 1909).
Assistant Librarian, British Museum, 1883-1909. Author of
_Scandinavia, the Political History of Denmark, Norway and Sweden,
1513-1900_; _The First Romanovs, 1613-1725_; _Slavonic Europe, the
Political History of Poland and Russia from 1469 to 1796_; &c.
Ivan I.-VI.;
Jellaehieh;
John III.: _Sobieski_;
Juel, Jens;
Juel, Neils;
Kármán;
Kemeny, Baron;
Kisfaludy;
Kollontaj;
Koniecpolski;
Kosciuszko;
Kurakin, Prince.
R. Po.
René Poupardin, D. Ès L.
Secretary of the École des Chartes. Honorary Librarian at the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Author of _Le Royaume de Provence
sous les Carolingiens_; _Recueil des chartes de Saint-Germain_;
&c.
John, Duke of Burgundy.
R. P. S.
R. Phené Spiers, F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.
Formerly Master of the Architectural School, Royal Academy,
London. Past President of Architectural Association. Associate and
Fellow of King's College, London. Corresponding Member of the
Institute of France. Editor of Fergusson's _History of
Architecture_. Author of _Architecture: East and West_; &c.
Jacobean Style.
R. S. C.
Robert Seymour Conway, M.A., D.Litt. (Cantab.).
Professor of Latin and Indo-European Philology in the University
of Manchester. Formerly Professor of Latin in University College,
Cardiff; and Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Author of _The Italic Dialects_.
Italy: _History_ (A.).
S. A. C.
Stanley Arthur Cook, M.A.
Lecturer in Hebrew and Syriac, and formerly Fellow, Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge. Editor for Palestine Exploration Fund.
Examiner in Hebrew and Aramaic, London University, 1904-1908.
Author of _Glossary of Aramaic Inscriptions_; _The Laws of Moses
and the Code of Hammurabi_; _Critical Notes on Old Testament
History_; _Religion of Ancient Palestine_; &c.
Jacob;
Jehoiakim;
Jehoram;
Jehoshaphat;
Jehu;
Jephthah;
Jerahmeel;
Jeroboam;
Jews: _Old Testament History_;
Jezebel;
Joab;
Joash;
Joseph: _Old Testament_;
Joshua;
Josiah;
Judah;
Judges, Book of;
Kabbalah (_in part_);
Kenites;
Kings, Books of.
St. C.
Viscount St Cyres.
See the biographical article: IDDESLEIGH, 1ST EARL OF.
Jansen;
Jansenism.
S. N.
Simon Newcomb, D.Sc., D.C.L.
See the biographical article: NEWCOMB, SIMON.
Jupiter: _Satellites_.
T. As.
Thomas Ashby, M.A., D.Litt. (Oxon.).
Director of British School of Archaeology at Rome. Formerly
Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford. Craven Fellow, 1897. Conington
Prizeman, 1906. Member of the Imperial German Archaeological
Institute.
Italy: _Geography and Statistics_; _History_ (B.);
Ivrea.
T. A. I.
Thomas Allan Ingram, M.A., LL.D.
Trinity College, Dublin.
Juvenile Offenders (_in part_).
T. A. J.
Thomas Athol Joyce, M.A.
Assistant in Department of Ethnography, British Museum. Hon. Sec.,
Royal Anthropological Institute.
Kavirondo.
T. F. C.
Theodore Freylinghuysen Collier, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, Williams College, Williamstown,
Mass., U.S.A.
Julius III.
T. H.
Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., LL.D.
See the biographical article: HODGKIN, T.
Jordanes (_in part_).
T. H. H.*
Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich, K.C.M.G., K.C.I.E., D.Sc., F.R.G.S.
Colonel in the Royal Engineers. Superintendent Frontier Surveys,
India, 1892-1898. Gold Medallist, R.G.S. (London), 1887. H.M.
Commissioner for the Perso-Beluc Boundary, 1896. Author of _The
Indian Borderland_; _The Gates of India_; &c.
Kabul;
Kalat;
Kandahar;
Kashmir;
Khyber Pass;
Kunar;
Kushk.
T. K.
Thomas Kirkup, M.A., LL.D.
Author of _An Inquiry into Socialism_; _Primer of Socialism_; &c.
Julian (_in part_).
T. K. C.
Rev. Thomas Kelly Cheyne, D.D.
See the biographical article: CHEYNE, T. K.
Jeremiah;
Joel (_in part_);
Jonah.
Th. N.
Theodor Nöldeke, Ph.D.
See the biographical article: NÖLDEKE, THEODOR.
Koran (_in part_).
T. Se.
Thomas Seccombe, M.A.
Balliol College, Oxford. Lecturer in History, East London and
Birkbeck Colleges, University of London. Stanhope Prizeman,
Oxford, 1887. Assistant Editor of _Dictionary of National
Biography_, 1891-1901. Author of _The Age of Johnson_.
Joint-author of _Bookman History of English Literature_; &c.
Johnson, Samuel.
T. Wo.
Thomas Woodhouse.
Head of the Weaving and Textile Designing Department, Technical
College, Dundee.
Jute.
T. W. R. D.
Thomas William Rhys Davids, LL.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Comparative Religion, Manchester. Professor of Pali
and Buddhist Literature, University College, London, 1882-1904.
President of the Pali Text Society. Fellow of the British Academy.
Secretary and Librarian of Royal Asiatic Society, 1885-1902.
Author of _Buddhism_; _Sacred Books of the Buddhists_; _Early
Buddhism_; _Buddhist India_; _Dialogues of the Buddha_; &c.
Jains;
Jataka;
Kanishka.
W. An.
William Anderson, F.R.C.S
Formerly Chairman of Council of the Japan Society. Author of _The
Pictorial Arts of Japan_; _Japanese Wood Engravings_; _Catalogue
of Chinese and Japanese Pictures in the British Museum_; &c.
Japan: _Art_ (_in part_).
W. A. B. C.
Rev. William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge, M.A., F.R.G.S., Ph.D.
(Bern).
Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Professor of English History,
St David's. College, Lampeter, 1880-1881. Author of _Guide to
Switzerland_; _The Alps in Nature and in History_, &c. Editor of
_The Alpine Journal_, 1880-1889.
Jenatsch, Georg;
Jungfrau;
Jura.
W. A. P.
Walter Alison Phillips, M.A.
Formerly Exhibitioner of Merton College and Senior Scholar of St
John's College, Oxford. Author of _Modern Europe_; &c.
Jacobins;
King;
Kriemhild;
Krüdener, Baroness von.
W. B.*
William Burton, M.A., F.C.S.
Chairman, Joint Committee of Pottery Manufacturers of Great
Britain. Author of _English Stoneware and Earthenware_; &c.
Kashi (_in part_).
W. Ba.
William Bacher, Ph.D.
Professor of Biblical Studies at the Rabbinical Seminary,
Buda-Pest.
Jonah, Rabbi;
Kimhi.
W. Be.
Sir Walter Besant.
See the biographical article: BESANT, SIR WALTER.
Jefferies.
W. F. C.
William Feilden Craies, M.A.
Barrister-at-Law, Inner Temple. Lecturer on Criminal Law at King's
College, London. Editor of Archbold's _Criminal Pleading_, 23rd
ed.
Jury.
W. F. D.
William Frederick Denning, F.R.A.S.
Gold Medal, R.A.S. President, Liverpool Astronomical Society,
1877-1878. Corresponding Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada; &c. Author of _Telescopic Work for Starlight Evenings_;
_The Great Meteoric Shower_; &c.
Jupiter.
W. G.
William Garnett, M.A., D.C.L.
Educational Adviser to the London County Council. Formerly Fellow
and Lecturer of St John's College, Cambridge. Principal and
Professor of Mathematics, Durham College of Science,
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Author of _Elementary Dynamics_; &c.
Kelvin, Lord.
W. G. S.
William Graham Sumner.
See the biographical article: SUMNER, WILLIAM GRAHAM.
Jackson, Andrew.
W. H. Be.
William Henry Bennett, M.A., D.D., D.Litt.(Cantab.).
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis in New and Hackney Colleges,
London. Formerly Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Lecturer
in Hebrew at Firth College, Sheffield. Author of _Religion of the
Post-Exilic Prophets_; &c.
Japheth.
W. H. Di.
William Henry Dines, F.R.S.
Director of Upper Air Investigation for the English Meteorological
Office.
Kite-flying (_in part_).
W. H. F.
Sir William H. Flower, LL.D.
See the biographical article: FLOWER, SIR W. H.
Kangaroo (_in part_).
W. L. F.
Walter Lynwood Fleming, A.M., Ph.D.
Professor of History in Louisiana State University. Author of
_Documentary History of Reconstruction_; &c.
Knights of the Golden Circle;
Ku Klux Klan.
W. L.-W.
Sir William Lee-Warner, M.A., K.C.S.I.
Member of Council of India. Formerly Secretary in the Political
and Secret Department of the India Office. Author of _Life of the
Marquis of Dalhousie_; _Memoirs of Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wylie
Norman_; &c.
Jung Bahadur, Sir.
W. M. R.
William Michael Rossetti.
See the biographical article: ROSSETTI, DANTE G.
Kneller.
W. M. Ra.
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, LL.D., D.C.L.
See the biographical article, RAMSAY, SIR W. M.
Jupiter (_in part_).
W. P. J.
William Price James.
Barrister-at-Law, Inner Temple. High Bailiff, Cardiff County
Court. Author of _Romantic Professions_; &c.
Kipling, Rudyard.
W. R. S.
William Robertson Smith, LL.D.
See the biographical article: SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON.
Joel (_in part_);
Jubilee, Year of (_in part_).
W. W. F.*
William Warde Fowler, M.A.
Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. Sub-rector, 1881-1904. Gifford
Lecturer, Edinburgh University, 1908. Author of _The City-State of
the Greeks and Romans_; _The Roman Festivals of the Republican
Period_; &c.
Juno;
Jupiter (_in part_).
W. W. R.*
William Walker Rockwell, Lic.Theol.
Assistant Professor of Church History, Union Theological Seminary,
New York.
Jerusalem, Synod of.
W. Y. S.
William Young Sellar, LL.D.
See the biographical article: SELLAR, W. Y.
Juvenal (_in part_).
PRINCIPAL UNSIGNED ARTICLES
Ivy. Jumping. Kansas. Ketones.
Jamaica. Juniper. Kent. Kildare.
Janissaries. Jurisprudence. Kentucky. Kilkenny.
Jaundice. Kaffirs. Kerry. Know Nothing Party.
Ju-Jutsu.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] A complete list, showing all individual contributors, appears in
the final volume.
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XV
ITALY (_Italia_), the name[1] applied both in ancient and in modern
times to the great peninsula that projects from the mass of central
Europe far to the south into the Mediterranean Sea, where the island of
Sicily may be considered as a continuation of the 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 main continent of Europe, it is
separated from the adjacent regions by the mighty barrier of the Alps,
which sweeps round in a vast semicircle from the head of the Adriatic to
the shores of Nice and Monaco.
Boundaries.
_Topography._--The land thus circumscribed extends between the parallels
of 46° 40´ and 36° 38´ N., and between 6° 30´ and 18° 30´ E. Its
greatest length in a straight line along the mainland is from N.W. to
S.E., in which direction it measures 708 m. in a direct line from the
frontier near Courmayeur to Cape Sta Maria di Leuca, south of Otranto,
but the great mountain peninsula of Calabria extends about two degrees
farther south to Cape Spartivento in lat. 37° 55´. Its breadth is, owing
to its configuration, very irregular. The northern portion, measured
from the Alps at the Monte Viso to the mouth of the Po, has a breadth of
about 270 m., while the maximum breadth, from the Rocca Chiardonnet near
Susa to a peak in the valley of the Isonzo, is 354 m. But the peninsula
of Italy, which forms the largest portion of the country, nowhere
exceeds 150 m. in breadth, while it does not generally measure more than
100 m. across. Its southern extremity, Calabria, forms a complete
peninsula, being united to the mass of Lucania or the Basilicata by an
isthmus only 35 m. in width, while that between the gulfs of Sta Eufemia
and Squillace, which connects the two portions of the province, does not
exceed 20 m. The area of the kingdom of Italy, exclusive of the large
islands, is computed at 91,277 sq. m. Though the Alps form throughout
the northern boundary of Italy, the exact limits at the extremities of
the Alpine 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 geographical point of view it is
probably the best point that could be selected. But Augustus, who was
the first to give to Italy a definite political organization, carried
the frontier to the river Varus or Var, a few miles west of Nice, and
this river continued in modern times to be generally recognized as the
boundary between France and Italy. But in 1860 the annexation of Nice
and the adjoining territory to France brought the political frontier
farther east, to a point between Mentone and Ventimiglia which
constitutes no natural limit.
Towards the north-east, the point where the Julian Alps approach close
to the seashore (just at the 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 Tergeste (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 Istria; and the circumstance that
the coast of Istria was throughout the middle ages held by the republic
of 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. Present Italian aspirations are
similarly directed.
The only other part of the northern frontier of Italy where the boundary
is not clearly marked by nature is Tirol or the valley of the Adige.
Here the main chain of the Alps (as marked by the 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 Raetia; and the line
of demarcation between that province and Italy was purely arbitrary, as
it remains to this day. Tridentum or Trent was in the time of Pliny
included in the tenth region of Italy or Venetia, but he tells us that
the inhabitants were a Raetian tribe. At the present day the frontier
between Austria and the kingdom of Italy crosses the Adige about 30 m.
below Trent--that city and its territory, which previous to the treaty
of Lunéville in 1801 was governed by sovereign archbishops, subject only
to the German emperors, being now included in the Austrian empire.
While the Alps thus constitute the northern boundary of Italy, its
configuration and internal geography are determined almost entirely by
the great chain of the Apennines, which branches off from the Maritime
Alps between Nice and 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 Central and Southern Italy, of which it forms as
it were the backbone, until it ends in the southernmost extremity of
Calabria at Cape Spartivento. The great spur or promontory projecting
towards the east to Brindisi and Otranto has no direct connexion with
the central chain.
One chief result of the manner in which the Apennines traverse Italy
from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic is the marked division between
Northern Italy, including the region north of the Apennines and
extending thence to the 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
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 basin of the Po, which comprises the whole of the
broad 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 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
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 separate mouth. Farther to the N. and N.E.
the various 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 character of the
plain being as striking as the boldness with which the lower slopes of
the mountain ranges begin to rise on each 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 Romans to our
own, preserves an unbroken straight line from Rimini to Piacenza, a
distance of more than 150 m., during which the underfalls of the
mountains continually approach it on the left, without once 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 origin 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 Saluzzo, between
which and Turin, a distance of only 30 m., it receives three
considerable tributaries--the Chisone on its left 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 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 sake Dora Riparia), which unites with
the greater river just below Turin, has its source in the Mont
Genèvre, and flows past Susa at the foot of the Mont Cenis. Next comes
the Stura, which rises in the glaciers of the Roche 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 Blanc, above Courmayeur, and thence
descends through the Val d'Aosta for about 70 m. till it enters the
plain at Ivrea, and, after flowing about 20 m. more, joins the Po a
few miles below Chivasso. This great valley--one of the most
considerable on the southern side of the Alps--has attracted special
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 Bernard--the former diverging at Aosta, and
crossing the main ridges to the north into the valley of the Rhone,
the other following a more westerly direction into Savoy. Below Aosta
also the Dora Baltea receives several considerable tributaries, which
descend from the glaciers between Mont Blanc and Monte 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 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 bend
south to Valenza, and then returns again to the northward--it is
joined by the Ticino, a large and rapid river, which brings with it
the outflow of Lago 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 Bellinzona (where it is joined by the Moësa bringing down
the waters of the Val Misocco) enters the lake through a marshy plain
at Magadino, about 10 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. farther has its outlet into the
lake between Baveno and Pallanza. The Lago Maggiore is also the
receptacle of the waters of the Lago di Lugano on the east and the
Lago d'Orta on the west.
The next great affluent of the Po, the Adda, forms the outflow of the
Lake of Como, and has also its sources in the Alps, above Bormio,
whence it flows through the broad and fertile valley of the 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
Splügen, 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 Lecco, and has thence a course through the plain of above
70 m. till it enters the Po between Piacenza and Cremona. It flows by
Lodi and Pizzighettone, and receives the waters of the Brembo,
descending from the Val Brembana, and the Serio from the Val Seriana
above Bergamo. The Oglio, a more considerable stream than either of
the last two, rises in the Monte Tonale above Edolo, and descends
through the Val Camonica to Lovere, where it expands into a large
lake, called Iseo from the town of that name on its southern shore.
Issuing thence at its south-west extremity, the Oglio has a 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 Mella, which flows by 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 angle,
till it joins the Po. About 12 m. above the confluence it passes under
the walls of 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 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 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 discharge its waters into those of
the Po, but below Legnago it turns eastward and runs parallel to the
Po for about 40 m., entering the Adriatic by an 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 place.
The Po itself, which is here a very large stream, with an average
width of 400 to 600 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 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 10 m.
west of Ferrara, where a small arm of the river, still called the Po
di Ferrara, branches from the main stream. Previous to the 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 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
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 salt
water, generally separated from the Adriatic by narrow strips of 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 Torcello in the north to 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 navigation, by
what were called "the Seven Seas" (Septem Maria), from Ravenna to
Altinum, a few miles north of Torcello. That city, like Ravenna,
originally stood in the midst of a 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 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 Aquileia and Trieste, and northwards to the
foot of the great chain, which here sweeps round in a semicircle from
the neighbourhood of 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 Friuli.
Returning to the south of the Po, the tributaries of that river on its
right bank below the Tanaro are very inferior in volume and importance
to those from the north. Flowing from the Ligurian Apennines, which
never attain the limit of perpetual snow, they generally dwindle in
summer into insignificant streams. Beginning from the Tanaro, the
principal of them are--(1) the Scrivia, a small but rapid stream
flowing from the Apennines at the back of Genoa; (2) the Trebbia, a
much larger river, though of the same torrent-like character, which
rises near Torriglia within 20 m. of Genoa, flows by Bobbio, and joins
the Po a few miles above Piacenza; (3) the Nure, a few miles east of
the preceding; (4) the Taro, a more considerable stream; (5) the
Parma, flowing by the city of the same name; (6) the Enza; (7) the
Secchia, which flows by Modena; (8) the Panaro, a few miles to the
east of that city; (9) the Reno, which flows by Bologna, but instead
of holding its course till it discharges its waters into the Po, as it
did in Roman times, is turned aside by an artificial channel into the
Po di Primaro. The other small streams east of this--of which the most
considerable are the Solaro, the Santerno, flowing by Imola, the
Lamone by Faenza, the Montone by Forlì, all in Roman times tributaries
of the Po--have their outlet in like manner into the Po di Primaro, or
by artificial mouths into the Adriatic between Ravenna and Rimini. The
river Marecchia, which enters the sea immediately north of Rimini, may
be considered as the natural limit of Northern Italy. It was adopted
by Augustus as the boundary of Gallia Cispadana; the far-famed Rubicon
was a trifling stream a few miles farther north, now called Fiumicino.
The Savio is the only other stream of any importance which has always
flowed directly into the Adriatic from this side of the Tuscan
Apennines.
The narrow strip of coast-land between the Maritime Alps, the
Apennines and the sea--called in ancient times Liguria, and now known
as the Riviera of Genoa--is throughout its extent, from Nice to Genoa
on the one side, and from Genoa to Spezia on the other, almost wholly
mountainous. It is occupied by the branches and offshoots of the
mountain ranges which separate it from the great plain to the north,
and send down their lateral ridges close to the water's edge, leaving
only in places a few square miles of level plains at the mouths of the
rivers and openings of the valleys. The district is by no means devoid
of fertility, the steep slopes facing the south enjoying so fine a
climate as to render them very favourable for the | growth of fruit
trees, especially the olive, which is cultivated in terraces to a
considerable height up the face of the mountains, while the openings
of the valleys are generally occupied by towns or villages, some of
which have become favourite winter resorts.
From the proximity of the mountains to the sea none of the rivers in
this part of Italy has a long course, and they are generally mere
mountain torrents, rapid and swollen in winter and spring, and almost
dry in summer. The largest and most important are those which descend
from the Maritime Alps between Nice and Albenga. The most considerable
of them are--the Roja, which rises in the Col di Tenda and descends to
Ventimiglia; the Taggia, between San Remo and Oneglia; and the Centa,
which enters the sea at Albenga. The Lavagna, which enters the sea at
Chiavari, is the only stream of any importance between Genoa and the
Gulf of Spezia. But immediately east of that inlet (a remarkable
instance of a deep landlocked gulf with no river flowing into it) the
Magra, which descends from Pontremoli down the valley known as the
Lunigiana, is a large stream, and brings with it the waters of another
considerable stream, the Vara. The Magra (Macra), in ancient times the
boundary between Liguria and Etruria, may be considered as
constituting on this side the limit of Northern Italy.
The Apennines (q.v.), as has been already mentioned, here traverse the
whole breadth of Italy, cutting off the peninsula properly so termed
from the broader mass of Northern Italy by a continuous barrier of
considerable breadth, though of far inferior elevation to that of the
Alps. The Ligurian Apennines may be considered as taking their rise in
the neighbourhood of Savona, where a pass of very moderate elevation
connects them with the Maritime Alps, of which they are in fact only a
continuation. From the neighbourhood of Savona to that of Genoa they
do not rise to more than 3000 to 4000 ft., and are traversed by passes
of less than 2000 ft. As they extend towards the east they increase in
elevation; the Monte Bue rises to 5915 ft., while the Monte Cimone, a
little farther east, attains 7103 ft. This is the highest point in the
northern Apennines, and belongs to a group of summits of nearly equal
altitude; the range which is continued thence between Tuscany and what
are now known as the Emilian provinces presents a continuous ridge
from the mountains at the head of the Val di Mugello (due north of
Florence) to the point where they are traversed by the celebrated
Furlo Pass. The highest point in this part of the range is the Monte
Falterona, above the sources of the Arno, which attains 5410 ft.
Throughout this tract the Apennines are generally covered with
extensive forests of chestnut, oak and beech; while their upper slopes
afford admirable pasturage. Few towns of any importance are found
either on their northern or southern declivity, and the former region
especially, though occupying a tract of from 30 to 40 m. in width,
between the crest of the Apennines and the plain of the Po, is one of
the least known and at the same time least interesting portions of
Italy.
2. _Central Italy._--The geography of Central Italy is almost wholly
determined by the Apennines, which traverse it in a direction from
about north-north-east to south-south-west, almost precisely parallel
to that of the coast of the Adriatic from Rimini to Pescara. The line
of the highest summits and of the watershed ranges is about 30 to 40
m. from the Adriatic, while about double that distance separates it
from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west. In this part of the range almost
all the highest points of the Apennines are found. Beginning from the
group called the Alpi della Luna near the sources of the Tiber, which
attain 4435 ft., they are continued by the Monte Nerone (5010 ft.),
Monte Catria (5590), and Monte Maggio to the Monte Pennino near Nocera
(5169 ft.), and thence to the Monte della Sibilla, at the source of
the Nar or Nera, which attains 7663 ft. Proceeding thence southwards,
we find in succession the Monte Vettore (8128 ft.), the Pizzo di Sevo
(7945 ft.), and the two great mountain masses of the Monte Corno,
commonly called the Gran Sasso d'Italia, the most lofty of all the
Apennines, attaining to a height of 9560 ft., and the Monte della
Maiella, its highest summit measuring 9170 ft. Farther south no very
lofty summits are found till we come to the group of Monti del Matese,
in Samnium (6660 ft.), which according to the division here adopted
belongs to Southern Italy. Besides the lofty central masses enumerated
there are two other lofty peaks, outliers from the main range, and
separated from it by valleys of considerable extent. These are the
Monte Terminillo, near Leonessa (7278 ft.), and the Monte Velino near
the Lake Fucino, rising to 8192 ft., both of which are covered with
snow from November till May. But the Apennines of Central Italy,
instead of presenting, like the Alps and the northern Apennines, a
definite central ridge, with transverse valleys leading down from it
on both sides, in reality constitute a mountain mass of very
considerable breadth, composed of a number of minor ranges and groups
of mountains, which preserve a generally parallel direction, and are
separated by upland valleys, some of them of considerable extent as
well as considerable elevation above the sea. Such is the basin of
Lake Fucino, situated in the centre of the mass, almost exactly midway
between the two seas, at an elevation of 2180 ft. above them; while
the upper valley of the Aterno, in which Aquila is situated, is 2380
ft. above the sea. Still more elevated is the valley of the Gizio (a
tributary of the Aterno), of which Sulmona is the chief town. This
communicates with the upper valley of the Sangro by a level plain
called the Piano di Cinque Miglia, at an elevation of 4298 ft.,
regarded as the most wintry spot in Italy. Nor do the highest summits
form a continuous ridge of great altitude for any considerable
distance; they are rather a series of groups separated by tracts of
very inferior elevation forming natural passes across the range, and
broken in some places (as is the case in almost all limestone
countries) by the waters from the upland valleys turning suddenly at
right angles, and breaking through the mountain ranges which bound
them. Thus the Gran Sasso and the Maiella are separated by the deep
valley of the Aterno, while the Tronto breaks through the range
between Monte Vettore and the Pizzo di Sevo. This constitution of the
great mass of the central Apennines has in all ages exercised an
important influence upon the character of this portion of Italy, which
may be considered as divided by nature into two great regions, a cold
and barren upland country, bordered on both sides by rich and fertile
tracts, enjoying a warm but temperate climate.
The district west of the Apennines, a region of great beauty and
fertility, though inferior in productiveness to Northern Italy,
coincides in a general way with the countries familiar to all students
of ancient history as Etruria and Latium. Until the union of Italy
they were comprised in Tuscany and the southern Papal States. The
northern part of Tuscany is indeed occupied to a considerable extent
by the underfalls and offshoots of the Apennines, which, besides the
slopes and spurs of the main range that constitutes its northern
frontier towards the plain of the Po, throw off several outlying
ranges or groups. Of these the most remarkable is the group between
the valleys of the Serchio and the Magra, commonly known as the
mountains of Carrara, from the celebrated marble quarries in the
vicinity of that city. Two of the summits of this group, the Pizzo
d'Uccello and the Pania della Croce, attain 6155 and 6100 ft. Another
lateral range, the Prato Magno, which branches off from the central
chain at the Monte Falterona, and separates the upper valley of the
Arno from its second basin, rises to 5188 ft.; while a similar branch,
called the Alpe di Catenaja, of inferior elevation, divides the upper
course of the Arno from that of the Tiber.
The rest of this tract is for the most part a hilly, broken country,
of moderate elevation, but Monte Amiata, near Radicofani, an isolated
mass of volcanic origin, attains a height of 5650 ft. South of this
the country between the frontier of Tuscany and the Tiber is in great
part of volcanic origin, forming hills with distinct crater-shaped
basins, in several instances occupied by small lakes (the Lake of
Bolsena, Lake of Vico and Lake of Bracciano). This volcanic tract
extends across the Campagna of Rome, till it rises again in the lofty
group of the Alban hills, the highest summit of which, the Monte Cavo,
is 3160 ft. above the sea. In this part the Apennines are separated
from the sea, distant about 30 m. by the undulating volcanic plain of
the Roman Campagna, from which the mountains rise in a wall-like
barrier, of which the highest point, the Monte Gennaro, attains 4165
ft. South of Palestrina again, the main mass of the Apennines throws
off another lateral mass, known in ancient times as the Volscian
mountains (now called the Monti Lepini), separated from the central
ranges by the broad valley of the Sacco, a tributary of the Liri
(Liris) or Garigliano, and forming a large and rugged mountain mass,
nearly 5000 ft. in height, which descends to the sea at 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 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 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 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
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 Pisa. Its principal tributary is the 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 Siena and Volterra, are inconsiderable streams; and the Serchio,
which flows from the territory of 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 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 m. east of the source of the Arno, and flows nearly south by Borgo
S. Sepolcro and Città di Castello, then between Perugia and Todi to
Orte, just below which it receives the Nera. The Nera, which rises in
the lofty group of the Monte della Sibilla, is a considerable stream,
and brings with it the waters of the Velino (with its tributaries the
Turano and the Salto), which joins it a few miles below its celebrated
waterfall at 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 body of water from the mountains above 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
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 short courses and are of
comparatively little importance. They may be enumerated, proceeding
from Rimini southwards: (1) the Foglia; (2) the Metauro, of historical
celebrity, and affording access to one of the most frequented passes
of the Apennines; (3) the Esino; (4) the Potenza; (5) the Chienti; (6)
the Aso; (7) the Tronto; (8) the Vomano; (9) the Aterno; (10) the
Sangro; (11) the Trigno, which forms the boundary of the southernmost
province of the 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, 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 absence of
ports, the coast preserving an almost unbroken straight line, with the
single exception of Ancona, the only 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 100 m. farther, from the basin-shaped group
of the Monti del Matese (which rises to 6660 ft.) to the neighbourhood
of Potenza, in the 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 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 60 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
Apulia or Puglia, composed partly of level plains, but for the most
part of undulating 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 Bay of Naples from that of
Salerno, and culminates in the Monte S. Angelo above Castellammare
(4720 ft.), while the detached volcanic cone of 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 Gargano
(3465 ft.), a detached limestone mass which projects in a bold
spur-like promontory into the Adriatic, forming the only break in the
otherwise uniform coast-line of Italy on that sea, though separated
from the great body of the Apennines by a considerable interval of 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 Nicastro and 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 Sila. A similar mass, separated
from the preceding by a low neck of Tertiary hills, fills up the whole
of the peninsular extremity of Italy from Squillace to Reggio. Its
highest point is called Aspromonte (6420 ft.).
While the rugged and mountainous district of Calabria, extending
nearly due south for a distance of more than 150 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 soil of Tertiary origin. The Monte
Volture, which rises in the neighbourhood of Melfi and 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
bare hills called the Murgie of Gravina and Altamura gradually sink
into the still more moderate level of those which constitute the
peninsular tract between Brindisi and 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 "heel" or "spur" of Southern Italy, in
conjunction with the great promontory of Calabria, forms the deep Gulf
of Taranto, about 70 m. in width, and somewhat greater 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 Sora, not far from Lake Fucino, and enters the Gulf of
Gaeta about 10 m. east of the city of that name, brings down a
considerable body of water; as does also the Volturno, which rises in
the mountains between Castel di Sangro and Agnone, flows past Isernia,
Venafro and 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 Benevento. The Silarus or Sele enters the Gulf of Salerno a
few miles below the ruins of 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 (1) 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 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 Canosa and
traverses the celebrated battlefield of 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 Cosenza
northwards, and then turns abruptly eastward to enter the same gulf,
is the only stream worthy of notice in the rugged peninsula of
Calabria; while the arid limestone hills projecting eastwards to 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.
Lakes.
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 they are formed,
but may be again enumerated in order of succession. They are,
proceeding from west to east, (1) 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 32¼ m. long by 10 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 depth--the Lago Maggiore having an extreme depth of 1198
ft., while that of Como attains to 1365 ft. Of a wholly different
character is the Lago di 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.
[Illustration: Map of Italy (Modern).]
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
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 half its surface laid bare. Next in size is the Lago
Trasimeno, a broad expanse of shallow waters, about 30 m. in
circumference, surrounded by low hills. The neighbouring lake of
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 cup-shaped hollows, which have undoubtedly
at one time formed the craters of extinct volcanoes. Such is the Lago
di Bolsena, near the city of the same name, which is an extensive
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 and 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.
Islands.
The three great islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica are closely
connected with Italy, both by geographical position and community of
language, but they are considered at length in separate articles. Of
the smaller islands that lie near the coasts of Italy, the most
considerable is that of Elba, off the west coast of central Italy,
about 50 m. S. of Leghorn, and separated from the mainland at 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 Capraia,
steep and rocky, and only 4½ m. long, but with a secure port; Gorgona,
about 25 m. farther north, is still smaller, and is a mere rock,
inhabited by a few fishermen. South of Elba are the equally
insignificant islets of Pianosa and Montecristo, while the more
considerable island of Giglio lies much nearer the mainland,
immediately opposite the mountain promontory of Monte Argentano,
itself almost an island. The islands farther south in the Tyrrhenian
Sea are of an entirely different character. Of these Ischia and
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 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 Capri, on the other 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 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.
_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 Bari to
Otranto.
Besides these, and leaving out of account the islands, the Italian
peninsula presents four distinct volcanic districts. In three of them
the volcanoes are entirely extinct, while the fourth is still in great
activity.
1. The Euganean hills form a small group extending for about 10 m.
from the neighbourhood of Padua to 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 Albani, the second highest[2] of which, Monte Cavo (3115
ft.), is the ancient Mons Albanus, on the summit of which stood the
temple of Jupiter Latialis, where the assemblies of the cities forming
the Latin confederation were held; the Monti Cimini, which extend from
the valley of the Tiber to the neighbourhood 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 malaria.
3. The volcanic region of the Terra di Lavoro is separated by the
Volscian mountains from the Roman district. It may be also divided
into three groups. Of Roccamonfina, at the N.N.W. end of the Campanian
Plain, the highest cone, called Montagna di Santa Croce, is 3291 ft.
The Phlegraean Fields embrace all the country round Baiae and Pozzuoli
and the adjoining islands. Monte Barbaro (Gaurus), north-east of the
site of Cumae, Monte San Nicola (Epomeus), 2589 ft. in Ischia, and
Camaldoli, 1488 ft., west of Naples, are the highest cones. The lakes
Averno (Avernus), Lucrino (Lucrinus), Fusaro (Palus Acherusia), and
Agnano are within this group, which has shown activity in historical
times. A stream of lava issued in 1198 from the crater of the
Solfatara, which still continues to exhale 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 September 1538. Since its first historical eruption
in A.D. 79, Vesuvius or Somma, which forms the third group, has been
in 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
Ampsanctus, in a wooded valley S.E. of Frigento, in the province of
Avellino, Campania (Virgil, _Aeneid_, vii. 563-571), The largest is
not more than 160 ft. in circumference, and 7 ft. deep.
The whole of the great plain of Lombardy is covered by Pleistocene and
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 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 variations of climate. Great 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 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 Milan is higher than that of Sassari, and equal
to that of Naples, and the extremes reached at Milan and Bologna are a
good deal higher than those of Naples, the mean winter temperature of
Turin is actually lower than that of Copenhagen. The lowest recorded
winter temperature at Turin is 5° Fahr. Throughout the region north of
the Apennines no plants will thrive which cannot stand occasional
severe frosts in winter, so that not only oranges and lemons but even
the olive 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 aloe, the cactus and the palm flourish in many places.
Central Italy also presents striking differences of climate and
temperature according to the greater or less proximity to the
mountains. 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 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 regular
passages are made between the different houses for the sake of
communication among the inhabitants. The district from the south-east
of Lake Fucino to the Piano di Cinque Miglia, enclosing the upper
basin of the Sangro and the small lake of Scanno, is the coldest and
most bleak part of Italy south of the Alps. Heavy falls of snow in
June are not uncommon, and only for a short time towards the end of
July are the nights totally exempt from light frosts. Yet less than 40
m. E. of this district, and even more to the north, the olive, the
fig-tree and the orange thrive luxuriantly on the shores of the
Adriatic from Ortona to 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 grove of olive, orange,
lemon and citron trees, which attain a size unknown in the north of
Italy. The sugar-cane flourishes, the cotton-plant ripens to
perfection, date-trees are seen in the gardens, the rocks are clothed
with the prickly-pear or Indian fig, the enclosures of the fields are
formed by aloes and sometimes pomegranates, the liquorice-root grows
wild, and the mastic, the myrtle and many varieties of oleander and
cistus form the underwood of the natural forests of arbutus and
evergreen oak. If we turn inland but 5 or 6 m. from the shore, and
often even less, the 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 August, and snow begins to appear at the end of
September or early in October. Along the shores of the Adriatic, which
are exposed 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 Greece and the southern
provinces of Spain. Unfortunately several of these fertile tracts
suffer severely from malaria (q.v.), and especially the great plain
adjoining the Gulf of Tarentum, which in the early ages of history was
surrounded by a girdle of Greek cities--some of which attained to
almost unexampled prosperity--has for centuries past been given up to
almost complete desolation.[3]
It is remarkable that, of the 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
century. The same remark applies to the maize or Indian corn. Many
botanists are even of 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 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 extension and importance which it now possesses. The eucalyptus is
of quite modern introduction; it has been extensively planted in
malarious districts. The characteristic cypress, ilex and stone-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.
_Fauna._--The chamois, bouquetin and marmot are found only in the
Alps, not at all in the Apennines. In the latter the 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 white sheepdogs, who have
some wolf blood in them. Wild boars are also found in mountainous and
forest districts. Foxes are common in the neighbourhood of Rome. The
sea mammals include the common dolphin (_Delphinus delphis_). The
birds are similar to those of central Europe; in the mountains
vultures, eagles, buzzards, kites, falcons and hawks are found.
Partridges, woodcock, snipe, &c., are among the 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 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 numbers of quails are shot
in the spring. Among reptiles, the various kinds of lizard are
noticeable. There are several varieties of snakes, of which three
species (all vipers) are poisonous. Of sea-fish there are many
varieties, the tunny, the sardine and the 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 article of diet. Tortoiseshell, an important article
of commerce, is derived from the _Thalassochelys caretta_, a sea
turtle. Of freshwater fish the trout of the mountain streams and the
eels of the coast lagoons may be mentioned. The tarantula spider and
the scorpion are found in the south of Italy. The aquarium of the
zoological station at Naples contains the finest collection in the
world of marine animals, showing the wonderful variety of the
different species of fish, molluscs, crustacea, &c., found in the
Mediterranean. (E. H. B.; T. As.)
_Population._--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 December 1881 and the 9th of February
1901. (The larger divisions or compartments in which the provinces are
grouped are not officially recognized.)
+----------------------------------+---------+-------------------------+
| | | Population. |
| Provinces and Compartments. | Area in +------------+------------+
| | sq. m. | 1881. | 1901. |
+----------------------------------+---------+------------+------------+
| Alessandria | 1950 | 729,710 | 825,745 |
| Cuneo | 2882 | 635,400 | 670,504 |
| Novara | 2553 | 675,926 | 763,830 |
| Turin | 3955 | 1,029,214 | 1,147,414 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Piedmont | 11,340 | 3,070,250 | 3,407,493 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Genoa | 1582 | 760,122 | 931,156 |
| Porto Maurizio | 455 | 132,251 | 144,604 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Liguria | 2037 | 892,373 | 1,075,760 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Bergamo | 1098 | 390,775 | 467,549 |
| Brescia | 1845 | 471,568 | 541,765 |
| Como | 1091 | 515,050 | 594,304 |
| Cremona | 695 | 302,097 | 329,471 |
| Mantua | 912 | 295,728 | 315,448 |
| Milan | 1223 | 1,114,991 | 1,450,214 |
| Pavia | 1290 | 469,831 | 504,382 |
| Sondrio | 1232 | 120,534 | 130,966 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Lombardy | 9386 | 3,680,574 | 4,334,099 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Belluno | 1293 | 174,140 | 214,803 |
| Padua | 823 | 397,762 | 444,360 |
| Rovigo | 685 | 217,700 | 222,057 |
| Treviso | 960 | 375,704 | 416,945 |
| 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 |
| Forlì | 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 (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 |
| 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 |
| Ascoli Piceno | 796 | 209,185 | 251,829 |
| Macerata | 1087 | 239,713 | 269,505 |
| Pesaro and Urbino | 1118 | 223,043 | 259,083 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Marches | 3763 | 939,279 | 1,088,763 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Perugia--Umbria | 3748 | 572,060 | 675,352 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Rome--Lazio | 4663 | 903,472 | 1,142,526 |
| Aquila degli Abruzzi (Abruzzo | | | |
| Ulteriore II.) | 2484 | 353,027 | 436,367 |
| Campobasso (Molise) | 1691 | 365,434 | 389,967 |
| Chieti (Abruzzo Citeriore) | 1138 | 343,948 | 387,604 |
| Teramo (Abruzzo Ulteriore I.) | 1067 | 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 |
| 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 |
| Foggia (Capitanata) | 2688 | 356,267 | 421,115 |
| 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 | | | |
| II.) | 2030 | 433,975 | 498,791 |
| Cosenza (Calabria Citeriore) | 2568 | 451,185 | 503,329 |
| Reggio di Calabria (Calabria | | | |
| Ulteriore I.) | 1221 | 372,723 | 437,209 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Calabria | 5819 | 1,257,883 | 1,439,329 |
| +---------+------------+------------+
| Caltanisetta | 1263 | 266,379 | 329,449 |
| Catania | 1917 | 563,457 | 703,598 |
| Girgenti | 1172 | 312,487 | 380,666 |
| Messina | 1246 | 460,924 | 550,895 |
| Palermo | 1948 | 699,151 | 796,151 |
| Syracuse | 1442 | 341,526 | 433,796 |
| 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 | 110,623 | 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 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 census of the 10th 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 law which provided that judicial reform should not modify existing
administrative and electoral divisions. The principal elective local
administrative bodies are the provincial and the communal councils.
The franchise is somewhat wider than the parliamentary. Both bodies
are elected for six years, one-half being renewed every three years.
The provincial council elects a provincial 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 syndic of each commune is elected by ballot by the communal
council from among its own members.
The actual (not the resident or "legal") population of Italy since
1770 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 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 100,000 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
dialect; and there is little community of sentiment between them. The
modes of life and 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 man shall serve within
the military district to which he belongs. In almost all parts the idea
of personal loyalty (e.g. between master and servant) retains an almost
feudal strength. The inhabitants of the north--the Piedmontese, Lombards
and Genoese especially--have suffered less than those of the rest of the
peninsula from foreign domination and from the admixture of inferior
racial elements, and the cold winter climate prevents the 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
stable, capable of organization or trustworthy. The southerners are
apathetic except when roused, and socialist doctrines find their chief
adherents in the north. The Sicilians and Sardinians have something of
Spanish dignity, but the former are one of the most mixed and the latter
probably one of the purest races of the Italian kingdom. Physical
characteristics differ widely; but as a whole the Italian is somewhat
short of stature, with dark or black hair and eyes, often good looking.
Both sexes reach maturity early. Mortality is decreasing, but if we may
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 manual (especially agricultural) work undertaken
by women and children. The women especially age rapidly, largely owing
to this cause (E. Nathan, _Vent' anni di vita italiana attraverso all'
annuario_, 169 sqq.).
_Births, Marriages, Deaths._--Birth and 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 death-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 statistics for the whole kingdom, the annual marriage-rate
for the years 1876-1880 was 7.53 per 1000; in 1881-1885 it 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. Divorce is
forbidden by the Roman Catholic 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, 36.0% married, and 6.5% widowers or
widows. The illegitimate births show a decrease, having been 6.95 per
100 births in 1872 and 5.72 in 1902, with a rise, however, in the
intermediate period as high as 7.76 in 1883. The birth-rate shows a
corresponding decrease from 38.10 per 1000 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 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 in both cases on the total of births and
deaths of both sexes.) The result is that, while in 1871 there was an
excess of 143,370 males over females in the total population, in 1881
the excess was only 71,138, and in 1901 there were 169,684 more
females than males. The death-rate (excluding still-born children)
was, in 1872, 30.78 per 1000, and has since steadily decreased--less
rapidly between 1886-1890 than during other years; in 1902 it was only
22.15 and in 1899 was as low as 21.89. The excess of births over
deaths shows considerable variations--owing to a very low birth-rate,
it was only 3.12 per 1000 in 1880, but has averaged 11.05 per 1000
from 1896 to 1900, reaching 11.98 in 1899 and 11.14 in 1902. For the
four years 1899-1902 24.66% died under the age of one year, 9.41
between one and two years. The average expectation of life at birth
for the same period was 52 years and 11 months, 62 years and 2 months
at the age of three years, 52 years at the age of fifteen, 44 years at
the age of twenty-four, 30 years at the age of forty; while the
average period of life, which was 35 years 3 months per individual in
1882, was 43 years per individual in 1901. This shows a considerable
improvement, largely, but not entirely, in the diminution of infant
mortality; the expectation of life at birth in 1882, it is true, was
only 33 years and 6 months, and at three years of age 56 years 1
month; but the increase, both in the expectation of life and in its
average duration, goes all through the different ages.
_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:--
+---------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | Total. | Males. | Females. |
+---------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Agricultural (including hunting | | | |
| and fishing) | 9,666,467 | 6,466,165 | 3,200,302 |
| Industrial | 4,505,736 | 3,017,393 | 1,488,343 |
| Commerce and transport | | | |
| (public and private services) | 1,003,888 | 885,070 | 118,818 |
| Domestic service, &c. | 574,855 | 171,875 | 402,980 |
| Professional classes, | | | |
| administration, &c. | 1,304,347 | 855,217 | 449,130 |
| Defence | 204,012 | 204,012 | .. |
| Religion | 129,893 | 89,329 | 40,564 |
+---------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
_Emigration._--The movement of emigration may be divided into two
currents, temporary and permanent--the former going chiefly towards
neighbouring European countries and to North Africa, and consisting of
manual labourers, the latter towards trans-oceanic countries,
principally Brazil, 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 quarter of the 19th
century. The principal causes are the growth of population, and the
over-supply of and low rates of remuneration for manual labour in
various Italian provinces. Emigration has, however, recently assumed
such proportions as to lead to scarcity of labour and rise of wages in
Italy itself. Italians form about half of the total emigrants to
America.
+-------+----------------------------+----------------------------+
| | Temporary Emigration. | Permanent Emigration. |
| +--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
| Year. | Total No. of | Per every | Total No. of | Per every |
| | Emigrants. | 100,000 of | Emigrants. | 100,000 of |
| | | Population. | | Population. |
+-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
| 1881 | 94,225 | 333 | 41,607 | 147 |
| 1891 | 118,111 | 389 | 175,520 | 578 |
| 1901 | 281,668 | 865 | 251,577 | 772 |
+-------+--------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+
The increased figures may, to a minor extent, be due to better
registration, in consequence of the law of 1901.
From the next table will be seen the direction of emigration in the
years specified:--
+------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| | 1900. | 1901. | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. |
+------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| Europe | 181,047 | 244,298 | 236,066 | 215,943 | 209,942 | 266,982 |
| N. Africa | 5,417 | 9,499 | 11,771 | 9,452 | 14,709 | 11,910 |
| U.S. and Canada | 89,400 | 124,636 | 196,723 | 200,383 | 173,537 | 322,627 |
| Mexico (Central | | | | | | |
| America) | 2,069 | 997 | 766 | 1,311 | 1,828 | 2,044 |
| South America | 74,168 | 152,543 | 85,097 | 78,699 | 74,209 | 111,943 |
| Asia and Oceania | 691 | 1,272 | 1,086 | 2,168 | 2,966 | 2,715 |
| +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| Total | 352,792 | 533,245 | 531,509 | 507,956 | 477,191 | 718,221 |
+------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
The figures for 1905 show that the total of 718,221 emigrants was made
up, as regards numbers, mainly by individuals from Venetia, Sicily,
Campania, Piedmont, Calabria and the Abruzzi; while the percentage was
highest in Calabria (4.44), the Abruzzi, Venetia, Basilicata, the
Marches, Sicily (2.86), Campania, Piedmont (2.02). Tuscany gives 1.20,
Latium 1.14%, Apulia only 1.02, while Sardinia with 0.34% occupies an
exceptional position. The figure for Sicily, which was 106,000 in
1905, reached 127,000 in 1906 (3.5%), and of these about
three-fourths would be adults; in the meantime, however, the
population increases so fast that even in 1905 there was a 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 kind of collective madness."
_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
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
re-assessment of the tax on the new basis. An idea of the effects of the
survey may be gathered from the fact that the assessments in the four
provinces of Mantua, Ancona, Cremona and Milan, which formerly amounted
to a total of £1,454,696, 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 1882 and 1902
over £4,000,000 was spent on this by the government). The uncultivated
area is 13%. This includes 3.50% of the total susceptible of
cultivation.
The cultivated area may be divided into five agrarian regions or
zones, named after the variety of tree culture which flourishes in
them. (1) Proceeding from south to north, the first 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
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, 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 are near
the lakes of upper Italy and in Venetia, and the territories of
Verona, Vicenza, Treviso and Friuli. (3) The 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 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 woods consist chiefly of pine and hazel upon
the Apennines, and upon the Calabrian, Sicilian and Sardinian
mountains of oak, ilex, hornbeam and similar trees.
Between these regions of tree culture lie zones of different
herbaceous culture, cereals, vegetables and textile plants. The style
of cultivation varies according to the nature of the ground, terraces
supported by stone walls being much used in mountainous districts.
Cereal cultivation occupies the foremost place in area and quantity
though it has been on the decline since 1903, still representing,
however, an advance on previous years. Wheat is the most important
crop and is widely distributed. In 1905 12,734,491 acres, or about 18%
of the total area, produced 151,696,571 bushels of wheat, a yield of
only 12 bushels per acre. The importation has, however, enormously
increased since 1882--from 164,600 to 1,126,368 tons; while the extent
of land devoted to corn cultivation has slightly decreased. Next in
importance to wheat comes maize, occupying about 7% of the total area
of the country, and cultivated almost everywhere as an alternative
crop. The production of maize in 1905 reached about 96,250,000
bushels, a slight increase on the average. The production of maize is,
however, insufficient, and 208,719 tons were imported in 1902--about
double the amount imported in 1882.
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 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 barley zone is geographically extensive but
embraces not more than 1% of the total area, of which half is situated
in Sardinia and Sicily. Oats, cultivated in the Roman and Tuscan
maremma and in Apulia, are used almost exclusively for horses and
cattle. The area of oats cultivation is 1.5% of the total area. The
other cereals, 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 bread for agricultural labourers, and as forage
when mixed with buckwheat (_Sorghum saccaratum_). The manufacture of
macaroni and similar foodstuff is a characteristic Italian industry.
It is extensively distributed, but especially flourishes in the
Neapolitan provinces. The exportation of "corn-flour pastes" sank,
however, from 7100 tons to 350 between 1882 and 1902.
The cultivation of green forage is extensive and is divided into the
categories of temporary and perennial. The temporary includes vetches,
pulse, lupine, clover and trifolium; and the perennial,
meadow-trefoil, lupinella, sulla (_Hedysarum coronarium_), lucerne and
darnel. The natural grass meadows are extensive, and hay is grown all
over the country, but especially in the Po valley. Pasture occupies
about 30% of the total area of the country, of which Alpine pastures
occupy 1.25%. 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-pease are
extensively cultivated in the southern provinces. Horse beans are
grown, especially in the south and in the larger islands; lupines are
also grown for fodder.
Among tuberous vegetables the 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 10 tons per acre. Sugar 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
thirty-three, with an output of 93,916 tons.
Market gardening is carried on both near towns and villages, where
products find ready sale, and along the great railways, on account of
transport facilities. Rome is an exception to the former rule and
imports garden produce largely from the neighbourhood of Naples and
from Sardinia.
Among the chief industrial plants is tobacco, which grows wherever
suitable soil exists. Since tobacco is a government monopoly, its
cultivation is subject to official concessions and prescriptions.
Experiments hitherto made show that the cultivation of 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 hemp, flax and cotton. Hemp is largely
cultivated in the provinces of Turin, Ferrara, Bologna, Forlì, 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 blockade, and again
during the American War of Secession, was largely cultivated, is now
grown only in parts of Sicily and in a few southern provinces. Sumach,
liquorice and 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 10 to 20% of the cultivated area, in some of the northern
provinces, such as Sondrio, Belluno, Grosseto, &c., the average is
only about 1 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 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 elm and the 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 the beginning of September to the beginning of November. The vine
has been attacked by the _Oidium Tuckeri_, the _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 production of wine in the vintage
of 1907, which was extraordinarily 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 home 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 balance of 1907 impossible, and fiscal
regulations rendered the distillation of the superfluous amount
difficult. The quality, too, owing to bad 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 Bordeaux
and 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 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 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 protection;
in the rest of the peninsula it runs the risk of damage by 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 oils from Lucca, Calci and Buti are
considered the best in the world; those of Bari, Umbria and western
Liguria rank next. The 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 insects, notably the
_Cycloconium oleoginum_, and the _Dacus oleae_, or oil-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 mills give the best
results. The export trade, however, is decreasing considerably, while
the home consumption is increasing. In 1901, 1985 imperial tuns of oil
were shipped from Gallipoli for abroad--two-thirds to the United
Kingdom, one-third to 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 shipping is
Gioia Tauro, 30 m. N.N.E. of Reggio Calabria. A certain amount of
linseed-oil is made in Lombardy, Sicily, Apulia and Calabria; colza in
Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia and Emilia; and 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 term _agrumi_) is of comparatively modern
date, the introduction of the _Citrus Bigaradia_ being probably due to
the 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 lime-juice is exported, and essential oils are
extracted from the rind of the _agrumi_, more particularly from that
of the lemon and the 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 extract, which forms the basis of citric acid. Extraction is
extensively carried on in the provinces of Messina and Palermo.
Among other fruit trees, apple-trees have special importance. Almonds
are widely cultivated in Sicily, Sardinia and the southern provinces;
walnut trees throughout the peninsula, their wood being more important
than their fruit; hazel nuts, figs, prickly pears (used in the south
and the islands for hedges, their fruit being a minor consideration),
peaches, pears, locust beans and pistachio nuts are among the other
fruits. The mulberry-tree (_Morus 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 1850. Silkworm-rearing establishments of importance now exist
in the Marches, Umbria, in the Abruzzi, Tuscany, Piedmont and Venetia.
The chief 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 fancy of the 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 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 fallow and
crop year by year. The following 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.
Woods and forests play an important part, especially in regard to the
consistency of the soil and to the character of the watercourses. The
chestnut is of great value for its wood and its fruit, an article of
popular consumption. Good timber is furnished by the oak and beech,
and pine and fir forests of the Alps and Apennines. Notwithstanding
the efforts of the government to unify and co-ordinate the forest laws
previously existing in the various states, deforestation has continued
in many regions. This has been due to speculation, to the unrestricted
pasturage of goats, to the rights which many communes have over the
forests, and to some extent to excessive taxation, which led the
proprietors to cut and sell the trees and then abandon the ground to
the Treasury. The results are--a lack of water-supply and of
water-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 industries of Italy will be incalculable, and the
importation of 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 charcoal and for fuel, coal being little used
except for manufacturing purposes. Forest nurseries have also been
founded.
Live stock.
According to an approximate calculation the number of head of live
stock in Italy in 1890 was 16,620,000, thus divided:--horses, 720,000;
asses, 1,000,000; mules, 300,000; cattle, 5,000,000; sheep, 6,000,000;
goats, 1,800,000; swine, 1,800,000.
The breed of cattle most widely distributed is that known as the
Podolian, usually with white or 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 stall-fed all the year round; next is
ranked the so-called 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 dairy purposes.
Another stock, with no close allies nearer than the south of France,
is found in the plain of Racconigi and Carmagnola; the 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 Modica race is of note; and in Sardinia there is a distinct
stock which seldom exceeds the 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
hanging ears, arched face and tall stature, kept for its dairy
qualities; and in the Biellese the 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
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 system of pastoral
migration with the 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 young plantations.
Horse-breeding is on the increase. The state helps to improve the
breeds by placing choice stallions at the disposal of private breeders
at a low 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 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 cheese, otherwise called Lodigiano (from Lodi) or _grana_,
was presented to King Louis XII. 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. 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-cavallo_ is produced in regions
extending from 37° to 43° N. lat. Gruyère, extensively manufactured in
Switzerland and France, is also produced in Italy in the Alpine
regions and in Sicily. With the exception of Parmesan, Gorgonzola, La
Fontina and Gruyère, 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.
Drainage, &c.
The drainage of marshes and marshy lands has considerably extended. A
law passed on the 22nd of March 1900 gave a special impulse to this
form of enterprise by fixing the ratio of expenditure incumbent
respectively upon the State, the provinces, the communes, and the
owners or other private individuals directly interested.
Agrarian economics.
The Italian Federation of Agrarian Unions has greatly contributed to
agricultural progress. Government travelling teachers of agriculture,
and fixed schools of viticulture, also do good work. Some unions
annually purchase large quantities of merchandise for their members,
especially chemical 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
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 elasticity and of
adaptation to local conditions. Taxes are not sufficiently
proportioned to what the land may reasonably be expected to produce,
nor sufficient allowance made for the exceptional conditions of a
southern climate, in which a few hours' bad weather may destroy a
whole crop. The Italian agriculturist has come to look (and often in
vain) for action on a large scale from the state, for 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 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 hope of bringing them into closer harmony
with the needs of rational cultivation and the exigencies of social
justice.
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_
(_métayage_), the _terzieria_, the _colonia parziaria_, the _boaria_,
the _schiavenza_ and the _affitto_, or 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 rent-free, and receives one-sixth of the
corn, one-third of the maize and has a small money wage. This contract
is usually renewed from year to year. The _boaria_ is widely diffused
in its two forms of _cascina fatta_ and _paghe_. In the former case a
peasant family undertakes all the necessary work in return for 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 simple or with a 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 capital, and has
no right to compensation for ordinary improvements, nor for
extraordinary improvements effected without the landlord's consent. He
is obliged to give a guarantee for the fulfilment of his engagements.
In some places he pays an annual tribute in grapes, corn and other
produce. In some of the Lombard _mezzadria_ contracts taxes are paid
by the 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 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 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 manage the estates, but the 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 residence not being possible owing to the
malaria. Near Velletri and 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
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 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 costs of improvements and builds 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 harvest-time the produce is placed in the barns
of the lessor, who first deducts 25% as 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 few cases
of _mezzadria_ the Tuscan system is followed.
_Mines._--The number of mines increased from 589 in 1881 to 1580 in
1902. The output in 1881 was worth about £2,800,000, but by 1895 had
decreased to £1,800,000, chiefly on account of the fall in the price
of 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, iron,
zinc, lead; these, and, to a smaller extent, copper of an inferior
quality, manganese and antimony, are successfully mined. The bulk of
the sulphur mines are in Sicily, while the majority of the lead and
zinc mines are in Sardinia; much of the lead smelting is done at
Pertusola, near Genoa, the company formed for this purpose having
acquired many of the Sardinian mines. Iron is mainly mined in Elba.
Quicksilver and 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 building enterprise in many cities, and to the
decrease in the demand for stone for railway, maritime and river
embankment works. The value of the output had, however, by 1902 risen
to £1,600,000, representing a tonnage of about 10,000,000. There is
good travertine below Tivoli and elsewhere in Italy; the finest
granite is found at Baveno. Lava is much used for paving-stones in the
neighbourhood of volcanic districts, where pozzolana (for cement) and
pumice stone are also important. Much of Italy contains Pliocene clay,
which is good for pottery and brickmaking. Mineral springs are very
numerous, and of great variety.
_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 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 coral boats from the western Mediterranean coast, and the sponge
boats from the western Mediterranean and Sicilian coasts. Fishing and
trawling are carried on chiefly off the Italian (especially Ligurian),
Austrian and Tunisian coasts; coral is found principally near Sardinia
and Sicily, and sponges almost exclusively off Sicily and Tunisia in
the neighbourhood of 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 Lampedusa may be considered its centre.
Coral fishing, which fell off between 1889 and 1892 on account of the
temporary closing of the 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 kilogramme (2.204 lb.), and is much more
valuable than the Sicilian coral. The Sciacca reefs were again closed
for three winters by a decree of 1904. The fishing is largely carried
on by boats from Torre del 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 1000. 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 Comacchio, the lagoon of
Orbetello and the Mare Piccolo at Taranto &c. The deep-sea fishing
boats in 1902 numbered 1368, with a total tonnage of 16,149; 100 of
these were coral-fishing boats and 111 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 lignite and anthracite mines, but water power
is abundant and has been largely applied to industry, especially in
generating electricity. The electric power required for the tramways and
the 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.
Mechanical industries.
The chief development has taken place in mechanical industries, though
it has also been marked in metallurgy. Sulphur mining supplies large
industries of sulphur-refining and grinding, in spite of American
competition. Very little pig iron is made, most of the iron ore being
exported, and iron manufactured consists of old iron resmelted. For
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, 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 employs 2000 workmen, while eight
others employ 2780 amongst them.
Textiles.
The textile industries, some of which are of ancient date, are among
those that have most rapidly developed. Handlooms and small spinning
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 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 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 £7,200,000, was in 1900, notwithstanding 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
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.
Chemicals.
Chemical industries show an output worth £2,640,000 in 1902 as against
£1,040,000 in 1893. The chief products are sulphuric acid; sulphate of
copper, employed chiefly as a preventive of certain maladies of the
vine; carbonate of lead, hyperphosphates and chemical manures; calcium
carbide; explosive powder; dynamite and other explosives.
Pharmaceutical industries, as distinguished from those above
mentioned, have kept pace with the general development of Italian
activity. The principal product is 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 candle-, soap-, glue-, and
perfume-making, and the preparation of india-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 excise which allows a considerable premium
to manufacturers.
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 180,000 hectolitres per annum. The
greatest quantity is produced in Lombardy, Piedmont, Venetia and
Tuscany. The quantity of beer is about the same, the greater part of
the beer drunk being imported from 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.
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 Fabriano is especially
good.
Furniture-making in different styles is carried on all over Italy,
especially as a result of the 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
cabinet-making in great factories are carried on particularly in
Lombardy and Piedmont. Bent-wood factories have been established in
Venetia and Liguria.
A characteristic Italian industry is that of straw-plaiting for
hat-making, which is carried on principally in Tuscany, in the
district of 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 glass is made in Tuscany and Venetia; Venetian glass is
often coloured and of artistic form.
Artistic industries.
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, came to an untimely end in
1820; those of Castelli (in the Abruzzi), which have been revived,
were supplanted by Charles III.'s establishment at Capodimonte, 1750,
which after producing articles of surprising 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 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, Gubbio, Faenza (whose name long ago became the
distinctive term for the finer kind of potter's work in France,
faïence), Savona and Albissola, Turin, 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 art--the making of tiles and common
wares--are 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 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 host
of tourists. The copying of the paintings of the old masters is
becoming an art industry of no small 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
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--lace-making, 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 drawn chiefly from the rural classes, furnish another 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 obligation to
provide guarantees for payment of rent, for repayment of seed corn and
for the division of products.
Malaria.
It was only at the close of the 19th century that the true cause of
malaria--the conveyance of the infection by the bite of the _Anopheles
claviger_--was discovered. This mosquito does not as a rule enter the
large towns; but low-lying coast districts and ill-drained plains are
especially subject to it. Much has been done in keeping out the
insects by fine wire netting placed on the windows and the doors of
houses, especially in the railwaymen'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.
+---------------+-----------------------+------------------+
|Financial Year.|Pounds of quinine sold.|Deaths by 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 |
+---------------+-----------------------+------------------+
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 provisions of the workmen's
compensation 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 _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 1000) peasants afflicted by the
disease, in 1899 there were only 72,603 (10.30 per 1000) peasants,
with a maximum of 39,882 (34.32 per 1000) peasants in Venetia, and
19,557 (12.90 per 1000) 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 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 comparative rarity of large estates,
agricultural labourers are in a better condition. Men earn between 1s.
3d. and 2s. 1d. 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 lay by something
against 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 of Grosseto, where malaria rages, labourers are
organized in gangs under "corporals," who undertake harvest work. They
are poverty-stricken, and easily fall victims to fever. In the Abruzzi
and in Apulia both regular and irregular workmen are engaged by the
year. The _curatori_ or _curatoli_ (factors) receive £40 a year, with
a slight interest in the profits; the stockmen 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 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 £10; irregular
workmen are paid from 8½d. to 1s. 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 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 10d. a day, with free shelter and an
allotment for private cultivation. Irregular adult workmen earn
between 10d. and 1s. 3d., and boys from 6d. to 10d. a day. Woodcutters
and vine-waterers, however, sometimes earn as much as 3s. a day.
The peasants somewhat rarely use animal food--this is most largely
used in Sardinia and least in Sicily--bread and polenta or macaroni
and vegetables being the 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 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 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 10d. a day, and, for some classes of work,
as little as 7d. and 4½d. 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 inn the bedding is clean.
Strikes.
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 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 English trade
unions. Mutual benefit and co-operative 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 "Chambers of Labour," intended to look after the
technical education of workmen and to form commissions of 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 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 national fund for the 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
Post Office Savings Bank), and part by the premiums of the workmen.
The minimum annual premium is six lire for an annuity of one lira per
day 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 Sunday in
every case in which it was possible, and otherwise upon some other day
of the week.
The French institution of _Prudhommes_ was introduced into Italy in
1893, under the name of _Collegi di Probiviri_. The institution has
not attained great vogue. Most of the colleges deal with matters
affecting textile and mechanical industries. Each "college" is founded
by royal decree, and consists of a president, with not fewer than ten
and not more than twenty members. A conciliation bureau and a jury are
elected to deal with disputes concerning wages, hours of work, labour
contracts, &c., and have power to settle the disputes, without appeal,
whenever the amounts involved do not exceed £8.
Provident Institutions.
Provident institutions have considerably developed in Italy under the
forms of savings banks, assurance companies and mutual benefit
societies. Besides the Post Office Savings Bank and the ordinary savings
banks, many co-operative 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 habit of thrift is
less developed. Assurance societies in Italy are subject to the
general dispositions of the commercial 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 workmen
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 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.
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 of association known as
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 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 gift. These loans
are made on personal security, but the members of the bank do not
contribute any 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-operation
flourishes 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 gauge) remain in the hands of private
companies. The total length, including the Sardinian railways, was
10,368 m. in 1907. The state, in taking over the railways, did not
exercise sufficient care to see that the lines and the 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 administration
the service was distinctly bad, and the lack of goods trucks at the
ports was especially 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 cope with the rapidly increasing 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
gross receipts per mile slightly lower. The _personnel_ had increased
from 70,568 to 108,690. The construction of numerous unremunerative
lines, and the free granting of concessions 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 10% for expenses) are: 1st class, 1.85d.; 2nd, 1.3d.; 3rd, 0.725d.
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 tunnel is 7 m. in length), the Simplon line (tunnel 11 m.
in length) from Domodossola to Brigue, the St Gotthard from Milan to
Chiasso (the tunnel is entirely in Swiss territory), the Brenner from
Verona to Trent, the line from Udine to Tarvis and the line from
Venice to Triest by the Adriatic coast. Besides these international
lines the most important are those from Milan to Turin (via Vercelli
and via Alessandria), to Genoa via 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 Sarzana (whence a line runs to Parma)
to Pisa (whence lines run to 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 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
min., or 45.40 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 matter of difficulty to
provide trucks for a sudden emergency, e.g. the vintage 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 traction have
developed rapidly. Between 1875, when the first line was opened, and
1901, the length of the lines 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.
_Carriage-roads_ have been greatly extended in modern times, although
their ratio to area varies in different localities. In north Italy
there are 1480 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 and the Po di Primaro on the right,
and the 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 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 cards (i.e. nearly 10 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 telegraph
offices was 4603, of other offices (railway and tramway stations,
which accept private telegrams for transmission) 1930. The telephone
system is considerably developed; in 1904, 92 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 Paris, and Italy and Switzerland also exists. The 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 postage sanctioned at the Postal Union
congress, held in Rome in 1906, by which the rates became 2½d. for the
first oz., and 1½d. per oz. afterwards. The internal rate is 15c.
(1½d.) per ½ oz.; post-cards 10c. (1d.), reply 15c. On the other hand,
letters within the postal district are only 5c. (½d.) per ½ oz.
Printed matter is 2c. (1/5d.) per 50 grammes (1(2/3) oz.). The
regulations provide that if there is a greater weight of
correspondence (including book-packets) than 1¼ 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 10 lire [8s.]
for 10c. [1d.]), as they need not be enclosed in a letter, while a
short private 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
train has a travelling sorter, for whom a compartment is reserved)
without a late 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 mail train, and are conveyed direct
to the travelling post office. Another convenient arrangement is the
provision of letter-boxes on electric tram-cars in some cities.
_Mercantile Marine._--Between the years 1881 and 1905 the number of
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 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-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 coasting trade, the fisheries or in traffic on the high seas.
Thus:--
+------+--------+-------------------+-------------------+
| | Total | Steamships. | Sailing Vessels. |
| Year.| No. of +---------+---------+---------+---------+
| | Ships. | Number. | Tonnage | Number. | Tonnage |
| | | | (Net). | | (Net.) |
+------+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| 1881 | 7815 | 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 1000 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 £1000 |
| | (exclusive of Precious Metals).* |
| Year.+--------+--------+--------+------------+
| | | | | 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 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 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 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, 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 undergone 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
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 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 person may open a school without state authorization. Schools
may be classed thus:--
1. 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 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 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 60.8 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%. 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
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 holiday schools,
while in 1900-1901 these numbers had fallen to 94,510 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 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 1880-1881 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 superior to the general increase of the population. The
greatest 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 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| | | |
| government schools | 6,417 | 7,208 | 76 |
| Not on such a footing |22,609 | 24,850* | 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 | 8,670 | 3,623* | 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 | 378* | 7 |
| +-------+---------+--------+
| Total | 7,858 | 11,930 | 79 |
| +-------+---------+--------+
| Nautical institutes-- | | | |
| Government | 758 | 1,878 | 18 |
| On an equal footing | 69 | 38 | 1 |
| Not on such a footing | 13 | 29* | 1 |
| +-------+---------+--------+
| 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 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 6.60 per 1000
in Liguria and 5.92 in Latium, and a minimum of 2.30 in the Abruzzi,
2.27 in Calabria and 1.65 in Basilicata.
For the boarding schools, or _convitti_, there are only incomplete
reports except for the institutions directly dependent on the 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 8005 in 1882-1883 to 22,316 in 1895-1896, but decreased
to 19,044 in 1901-1902, owing to the 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 governmental) 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 | 4,801 | 8,385 |
| Philosophy and letters | 419 | 1,703 |
| Medicine and surgery | 4,428 | 9,055 |
| Professional diploma, pharmacy | 798 | 3,290 |
| Mathematics and natural science| 1,364 | 3,500 |
| Engineering | 982 | 1,293 |
| 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, 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 _Privatdozenten_, are
also allowed to be attached to the universities.
The institutions which co-operate with the universities are the
special schools for engineers at Turin, Naples, Rome and Bologna (and
others attached to some of the universities), the higher technical
institute at Milan, the higher veterinary schools of Milan, Naples and
Turin, the institute for higher studies at Florence (_Istituto di
studi superiori, pratici e di perfezionamento_), the literary and
scientific 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 naval school at Genoa, the higher schools of agriculture at
Milan and 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
Iglesias) with (1904-1905) 83 students; 308 industrial and commercial
schools with (1903-1904) 46,411 students; 174 schools of 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 music with 1026 students,
and 51 non-government with 4109 pupils (1904-1905). Almost all of
these show a considerable increase.
_Libraries_ are numerous in Italy, those even of small cities being
often rich in 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 incorporation
of the treasures of suppressed monastic institutions. The richest in
manuscripts is that of the Vatican, especially since the purchase of the
Barberini Library in 1902; it now contains over 34,000 MSS. The Vatican
archives are also of great importance. Most large towns contain
important state or communal archives, in which a considerable amount of
research is being done by local investigators; the various societies for
local history (_Società 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 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 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 all kinds.
_Charities._--In Italy there is no legal right in the poor to be
supported by the 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
foundations (_opere 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 1880 the number of charitable
institutions (exclusive of public pawnshops, or _Monti di Pietà_, and
other institutions which combine operations of credit with charity)
was approximately 22,000, with an aggregate patrimony of nearly
£80,000,000. The revenue was about £3,600,000; after 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 1880, £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 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 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 deaf and dumb; and of institutes for the
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 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 mortality 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 1890,
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 carità_
(municipal charity boards existing in every commune, and composed of
members elected by the municipal council), which administer funds
destined for the poor in general. All charitable institutions were
under the protection of provincial administrative junta, existing in
every province, and empowered to control the management of charitable
endowments. The supreme control was vested in the minister of the
Interior. The law of 1890 also empowers every 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 pietà_ 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
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 ½ goes for the sanitary service (doctors,
midwives, vaccination), 1/8 for the maintenance of foundlings, 1/10
for the support of the sick in hospitals, and 1/22 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 worship, and their
priests, like those of the Greek Church, are allowed to marry. Certain
peculiarities introduced by St Ambrose distinguish the ritual of Milan
from that of the general church. Up to 1871 the island of Sicily was,
according to the bull of Urban II., ecclesiastically dependent on the
king, and exempt from the canonical power of the 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 there still exists the
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 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 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 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--Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Sta Rufina,
Albano, Frascati, Palestrina, Sabina--all held by 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 suffragan dioceses. Their position is indicated in the following
table:--
_Metropolitans._ _Suffragans._
Acerenza-Matera Anglona-Tursi, Tricarico, Venosa.
Bari Conversano, Ruvo-Bitonto.
Benevento S. Agata de' Goti, Alife, Ariano, Ascoli
Satriano Cerignola, Avellino, Bojano,
Bovino, Larino, Lucera, S. Severo, Telese
(Cerreto), Termoli.
Bologna Faenza, Imola.
Brindisi and Ostuni No suffragan.
Cagliari Galtelli-Nuoro, Iglesias, Ogliastra.
Capua Caiazzo, Calvi-Teano, Caserta,
Isernia-Venafro, Sessa.
Chieti and Vasto No suffragan.
Conza and Campagna S. Angelo de' Lombardi-Bisaccia, Lacedonia,
Muro Lucano.
Fermo Macerata-Tolentino, Montalto, Ripatransone,
S. Severino.
Florence Borgo S. Sepolcro, Colle di Val d'Elsa,
Fiesole, S. Miniato, Modigliana,
Pistoia-Prato.
Genoa Albenga, Bobbio, Chiavari, Savona-Noli,
Tortona, Ventimiglia.
Lanciano and Ortona No suffragan.
Manfredonia and Viesti No suffragan.
Messina Lipari, Nicosia, Patti.
Milan Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Crema, Cremona, Lodi,
Mantua, Pavia.
Modena Carpi, Guastalla, Massa-Carrara, Reggio.
Monreale Caltanisetta, Girgenti.
Naples Acerra, Ischia, Nola, Pozzuoli.
Oristano Ales-Terralba.
Otranto Gallipoli, Lecce, Ugento.
Palermo Cefalù, Mazzara, Trapani.
Pisa Leghorn, Pescia, Pontremoli, Volterra.
Ravenna Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forlì,
Rimini, Sarsina.
Reggio Calabria Bova, Cassano, Catanzaro, Cotrone, Gerace,
Nicastro, Oppido, Nicotera-Tropea,
Squillace.
Salerno Acerno, Capaccio-Vallo, Diano, Marsico-Nuovo
and Potenza, Nocera dei Pagani, Nusco,
Policastro.
Sassari Alghero, Ampurias and Tempio, Bisarhio, Bosa.
S. Severino Cariati.
Siena Chiusi-Pienza, Grosseto, Massa Marittima,
Sovana-Pitigliano.
Syracuse Caltagirone, Noto, Piazza-Armerina.
Sorrento Castellammare.
Taranto Castellaneta, Oria.
Trani-Nazareth-
Barletta, Bisceglie Andria.
Turin Acqui, Alba, Aosta, Asti, Cuneo, Fossano,
Ivrea, Mondovi, Pinerolo, Saluzzo, Susa.
Urbino S. Angelo in Vado-Urbania, Cagli-Pergola,
Fossombrone, Montefeltro, Pesaro,
Sinigaglia.
Venice (patriarch) Adria, Belluno-Feltre, Ceneda (Vittorio),
Chioggia, Concordia-Portogruaro, Padua,
Treviso, Verona, Vicenza.
Vercelli Alessandria della Paglia, Biella, Casale,
Monferrato, Novara, Vigevano.
Twelve archbishops and sixty-one bishops are independent of all
metropolitan supervision, and hold directly of the Holy See. The
archbishops are those of Amalfi, Aquila, Camerino and Treia, Catania,
Cosenza, Ferrara, Gaeta, Lucca, Perugia, Rossano, Spoleto, and Udine,
and the bishops those of Acireale, Acquapendente, Alatri, Amelia,
Anagni, Ancona-Umana, Aquino-Sora-Pontecorvo, Arezzo, Ascoli, Assisi,
Aversa, Bagnorea, Borgo San Donnino, Cava-Sarno, Città di Castello,
Città della Pieve, Cività Castellana-Orte-Gallese, Corneto-Civita
Vecchia, Cortona, Fabriano-Matelica, Fano, Ferentino, Foggia, Foligno,
Gravina-Montepeloso, Gubbio, Jesi, Luni-Sarzana and Bragnato, S.
Marco-Bisignano, Marsi (Pescina), Melfi-Rapolla, Mileto,
Molfetta-Terlizzi-Giovennazzo, Monopoli, Montalcino, Montefiascone,
Montepulciano, Nardo, Narni, Nocera in Umbria, Norcia, Orvieto,
Osimo-Cingoli, Parma, Penne-Atri, Piacenza, Poggio Mirteto,
Recanati-Loreto, Rieti, Segni, Sutri-Nepi, Teramo, Terni,
Terracina-Piperno-Sezze, Tivoli, Todi, Trivento, Troia, Valva-Sulmona,
Veroli, Viterbo-Toscanella. Excluding the diocese of Rome and
suburbicarian 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, Forlì,
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 £800 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 seminary or diocesan
school.
Religious Foundations.
In 1855 an act was passed in the Sardinian states for the
disestablishment of all houses of the religious orders not engaged in
preaching, teaching or the care of the sick, of all chapters of
collegiate churches not having a cure of souls or existing in towns of
less than 20,000 inhabitants, and of all private benefices for which
no service was paid by the holders. The 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 1809 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 275 convents with 8787 male and 7493
female associates. There were thus disestablished in seven or eight
years 2075 houses of the regular 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 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 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 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 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 civil rights of laymen; and annuities were granted to
all those who had taken permanent religious vows prior to the 18th of
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 stead was
instituted a _Fondo pel Culto_, or public worship fund. From the
general 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, appurtenances, and movable property of
the abbeys of Monte Casino, Della Cava dei Tirreni, San Martino della
Scala, 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%
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, which were to be accepted at their nominal value as
purchase money for the alienated property. The public worship
endowment fund has relieved the state exchequer of the cost of public
worship; has gradually furnished to the poorer parish priests an
addition to their stipends, raising them to £32 per annum, with the
prospect of further raising them to £40; and has contributed to the
outlay incurred by the communes for religious purposes. The monastic
buildings required for public purposes have been made over to the
communal and provincial authorities, while the same authorities have
been entrusted with the administration of the ecclesiastical revenues
previously set apart for charity and education, and objects of art and
historical interest have been consigned to public libraries and
museums. By these laws the reception of novices was forbidden in the
existing conventual establishments the extinction of which had been
decreed, and all new foundations were forbidden, except those engaged
in instruction and the care of the sick. But the laws have not been
rigorously enforced of late years; and the ecclesiastical possessions
seized by the state were thrown on the market simultaneously, and so
realized very low prices, being often bought up by wealthy religious
institutions. The large number of these institutions was increased
when these bodies were expelled from France.
On the 30th of June 1903 the patrimony of the endowment fund amounted
to £17,339,040, of which only £264,289 were represented by buildings
still occupied by monks or nuns. The rest was made up of capital and
interest. The liabilities of the fund (capitalized) amounted to
£10,668,105, of which monastic pensions represented a rapidly
diminishing sum of £2,564,930. The chief items of annual expenditure
drawn from the fund are the supplementary stipends to priests and the
pensions to members of suppressed religious houses. The number of
persons in receipt of monastic pensions on the 30th of June 1899 was
13,255; but while this item of expenditure will disappear by the
deaths of those entitled to pensions, the supplementary stipends and
contributions are gradually increasing. The following table shows the
course of the two main categories of the fund from 1876 to
1902-1903:--
+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1876. |1885-1886.|1898-1899.|1902-1903.|
+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Monastic pensions, | | | | |
| liquidation of religious | | | | |
| property and provision of| | | | |
| shelter for nuns | £749,172 | £491,339 | £220,479 | £165,144 |
| Supplementary stipends to | | | | |
| bishops and parochial | | | | |
| clergy, assignments to | | | | |
| Sardinian clergy and | | | | |
| expenditure for education| | | | |
| and charitable purposes | 142,912 | 128,521 | 210,020 | 347,940 |
+----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
_Roman Charitable and Religious Fund._--The law of the 19th of June
1873 contained special provisions, in conformity with the character of
Rome as the seat of the papacy, and with the situation created by the
Law of Guarantees. According to the census of 1871 there were in the
city and province of Rome 474 monastic establishments (311 for monks,
163 for nuns), occupied by 4326 monks and 3825 nuns, and possessing a
gross revenue of 4,780,891 lire. Of these, 126 monasteries and 90
convents were situated in the city, 51 monasteries and 22 convents in
the "suburbicariates." The law of 1873 created a special charitable
and religious fund of the city, while it left untouched 23 monasteries
and 49 convents which had either the character of private institutions
or were supported by foreign funds. New parishes were created, old
parishes were improved, the property of the suppressed religious
corporations was assigned to charitable and educational institutions
and to hospitals, while property having no special application was
used to form a charitable and religious fund. On the 30th of June 1903
the balance-sheet of this fund showed a credit amounting to £1,796,120
and a debit of £460,819. Expenditure for the year 1902-1903 was
£889,858 and revenue £818,674.
_Constitution and Government._--The Vatican palace itself (with St
Peter's), the Lateran palace, and the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo
have secured to them the privilege of extraterritoriality by the law of
1871. The small republic of San Marino is the only other enclave in
Italian territory. Italy is a constitutional monarchy, in which the
executive power belongs exclusively to the sovereign, while the
legislative power is shared by him with the parliament. He holds supreme
command by land and sea, appoints ministers and officials, promulgates
the laws, coins money, bestows honours, has the right of pardoning, and
summons and dissolves the parliament. Treaties with foreign powers,
however, must have the consent of parliament. The sovereign is
irresponsible, the ministers, the signature of one of whom is required
to give validity to royal decrees, being responsible. Parliament
consists of two chambers, the senate and the Chamber of Deputies, which
are nominally on an equal footing, though practically the elective
chamber is the more important. The senate consists of princes of the
blood who have attained their majority, and of an unlimited number of
senators above forty years of age, who are qualified under any one of
twenty-one specified categories--by having either held high office, or
attained celebrity in science, literature, &c. In 1908 there were 318
senators exclusive of five members of the royal family. Nomination is by
the king for life. Besides its legislative functions, the senate is the
highest court of justice in the case of political offences or the
impeachment of ministers. The deputies to the lower house are 508 in
number, i.e. one to every 64,893 of the population, and all the
constituencies are single-member constituencies. The party system is not
really strong. The suffrage is extended to all citizens over twenty-one
years of age who can read and write and have either attained a certain
standard of elementary education or are qualified by paying a rent which
varies from £6 in communes of 2500 inhabitants to £16 in communes of
150,000 inhabitants, or, if peasant farmers, 16s. of rent; or by being
sharers in the profits of farms on which not less than £3, 4s. of direct
(including provincial) taxation is paid; or by paying not less than £16
in direct (including provincial) taxation. Others, e.g. members of the
professional classes, are qualified to vote by their position. The
number of electors (2,541,327) at the general election in 1904 was 29%
of the male population over twenty-one years of age, and 7.6% of the
total population--exclusive of those temporarily disfranchised on
account of military service; and of these 62.7% voted. No candidate can
be returned unless he obtains more than half the votes given and more
than one-sixth of the total number on the register; otherwise a second
ballot must be held. Nor can he be returned under the age of thirty, and
he must be qualified as an elector. All salaried government officials
(except ministers, under-secretaries of state and other high
functionaries, and officers in the army or navy), and ecclesiastics, are
disqualified for election. Senators and deputies receive no salary but
have free passes on railways throughout Italy and on certain lines of
steamers. Parliaments are quinquennial, but the king may dissolve the
Chamber of Deputies at any time, being bound, however, to convoke a new
chamber within four months. The executive must call parliament together
annually. Each of the chambers has the right of introducing new bills,
as has also the government; but all money bills must originate in the
Chamber of Deputies. The consent of both chambers and the assent of the
king is necessary to their being passed. Ministers may attend the
debates of either house but can only vote in that of which they are
members. The sittings of both houses are public, and an absolute
majority of the members must be present to make a sitting valid. The
ministers are eleven in number and have salaries of about £1000 each;
the presidency of the council of ministers (created in 1889) may be held
by itself or (as is usual) in conjunction with any other portfolio. The
ministries are: interior (under whom are the prefects of the several
provinces), foreign affairs, treasury (separated from finance in 1889),
finance, public works, justice and ecclesiastical affairs, war, marine,
public instruction, commerce, industry and agriculture, posts and
telegraphs (separated from public works in 1889). Each minister is aided
by an under-secretary of state at a salary of £500. There is a council
of state with advisory functions, which can also decide certain
questions of administration, especially applications from local
authorities and conflicts between ministries, and a court of accounts,
which has the right of examining all details of state expenditure. In
every country the bureaucracy is abused, with more or less reason, for
unprogressiveness, timidity and "red-tape," and Italy is no exception to
the rule. The officials are not well paid, and are certainly numerous;
while the manifold checks and counterchecks have by no means always been
sufficient to prevent dishonesty.
_Titles of Honour._--The former existence of so many separate
sovereignties and "fountains of honour" gave rise to a great many
hereditary titles of nobility. Besides many hundreds of princes,
dukes, marquesses, counts, barons and viscounts, there are a large
number of persons of "patrician" rank, persons with a right to the
designation _nobile_ or _signori_, and certain hereditary knights or
cavalieri. In the "Golden Book of the Capitol" (_Libro d'Oro del
Campidoglio_) are inscribed 321 patrician families, and of these 28
have the title of prince and 8 that of duke, while the others are
marquesses, counts or simply patricians. For the Italian orders of
knighthood see KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY: _Orders of Knighthood_. The
king's uncle is duke of Aosta, his son is prince of Piedmont and his
cousin is duke of Genoa.
_Justice._--The judiciary system of Italy is mainly framed on the
French model. Italy has courts of cassation at Rome, Naples, Palermo,
Turin, Florence, 20 appeal court districts, 162 tribunal districts and
1535 _mandamenti_, each with its own magistracy (_pretura_). In 13 of
the principal towns there are also _pretori_ who have exclusively
penal jurisdiction. For minor civil cases involving sums up to 100
lire (£4), _giudici conciliatori_ have also jurisdiction, while they
may act as arbitrators up to any amount by request. The Roman court of
cassation is the highest, and in both penal and civil matters has a
right to decide questions of law and disputes between the lower
judicial authorities, and is the only one which has jurisdiction in
penal cases, while sharing with the others the right to revise civil
cases.
The _pretori_ have penal jurisdiction concerning all misdemeanours
(_contravvenzioni_) or offences (_delitti_) punishable by imprisonment
not exceeding three months or by fine not exceeding 1000 lire (£40).
The penal tribunals have jurisdiction in cases involving imprisonment
up to ten years, or a fine exceeding £40, while the assize courts,
with a jury, deal with offences involving imprisonment for life or
over ten years, and have exclusive jurisdiction (except that the
senate is on occasion a high court of justice) over all political
offences. Appeal may be made from the sentences of the _pretori_ to
the tribunals, and from the tribunals to the courts of appeal; from
the assize courts there is no appeal except on a point of form, which
appeal goes to the court of cassation at Rome. This court has the
supreme power in all questions of legality of a sentence, jurisdiction
or competency.
The penal code was unified and reformed in 1890. A reform of late
years is the _condanna condizionale_, equivalent to the English "being
bound over to appear for judgment if called upon," applied in 94,489
cases in 1907. In civil matters there is appeal from the _giudice
conciliatore_ to the _pretore_ (who has jurisdiction up to a sum of
1500 lire = £60) from the _pretore_ to the civil tribunal, from the
civil tribunal to the court of appeal, and from the court of appeal to
the court of cassation.
The judges of all kinds are very poorly paid. Even the first president
of the Rome court of cassation only receives £600 a year.
The statistics of civil proceedings vary considerably from province to
province. Lombardy, with 25 lawsuits per 1000 inhabitants, holds the
lowest place; Emilia comes next with 31 per 1000; Tuscany has 39;
Venetia, 42; Calabria, 144; Rome, 146; Apulia, 153; and Sardinia, 360
per 1000. The high average in Sardinia is chiefly due to cases within
the competence of the conciliation offices. The number of penal
proceedings, especially those within the competence of praetors, has
also increased, chiefly on account of the frequency of minor
contraventions of the law referred to in the section _Crime_. The
ratio of criminal proceedings to population is, as a rule, much higher
in the south than in the north.
A royal decree, dated February 1891, established three classes of
prisons: judiciary prisons, for persons awaiting examination or
persons sentenced to arrest, detention or seclusion for less than six
months; penitentiaries of various kinds (_ergastoli_, _case di
reclusione_, _detenzione_ or _custodia_), for criminals condemned to
long terms of imprisonment; and reformatories, for criminals under age
and vagabonds. Capital punishment was abolished in 1877, penal
servitude for life being substituted. This generally involves solitary
confinement of the most rigorous nature, and, as little is done to
occupy the mind, the criminal not infrequently becomes insane. Certain
types of dangerous individuals are relegated after serving a sentence
in the ordinary convict prisons, and by administrative, not by
judicial process, to special penal colonies known as _domicilii
coatti_ or "forced residences." These establishments are, however,
unsatisfactory, being mostly situated on small islands, where it is
often difficult to find work for the _coatti_, who are free by day,
being only confined at night. They receive a small and hardly
sufficient, allowance for food of 50 _centesimi_ a day, which they are
at liberty to supplement by work if they can find it or care to do it.
Notwithstanding the construction of new prisons and the transformation
of old ones, the number of cells for solitary confinement is still
insufficient for a complete application of the penal system
established by the code of 1890, and the moral effect of the
association of the prisoners is not good, though the system of
solitary confinement as practised in Italy is little better. The total
number of prisoners, including minors and inhabitants of enforced
residences, which from 76,066 (2.84 per 1000 inhabitants) on the 31st
of December 1871 rose to a maximum of 80,792 on the 31st of December
1879 (2.87 per 1000), decreased to a minimum of 60,621 in 1896 (1.94
per 1000), and on the 31st of December 1898 rose again to 75,470
(2.38 per 1000), of whom 7038, less than one-tenth, were women. The
lowness of the figures regarding women is to be noticed throughout. On
the 31st of December 1903 it had decreased to 65,819, of which 6044
were women. Of these, 31,219 were in lockups, 25,145 in penal
establishments, 1837 minors in government, and 4547 in private
reformatories, and 3071 (males) were inmates of forced residences.
_Crime._--Statistics of offences, including _contravvenzioni_ or
breaches of by-laws and regulations, exhibit a considerable increase
per 100,000 inhabitants since 1887, and only a slight diminution on
the figures of 1897. The figure was 1783.45 per 100,000 in 1887,
2164.46 in 1892, 2546.49 in 1897, 2497.90 in 1902. The increase is
partly covered by _contravvenzioni_, but almost every class of penal
offence shows a rise except homicide, and even in that the diminution
is slow, 5418 in 1880, 3966 in 1887, 4408 in 1892, 4005 in 1897, 3202
in 1902; and Italy remains, owing to the frequent use of the knife,
the European country in which it is most frequent. Libels, insults,
&c., resistance to public authority, offences against good customs,
thefts and frauds, have increased; assaults are nearly stationary.
There is also an increase in juvenile delinquency. From 1890 to 1900
the actual number rose by one-third (from 30,108 to 43,684), the
proportion to the rest of those sentenced from one-fifth to
one-fourth; while in 1905 the actual number rose to 67,944, being a
considerable proportionate rise also. In Naples, the Camorra and in
Sicily, the Mafia are secret societies whose power of resistance to
authority is still not inconsiderable.
Procedure, both civil and criminal, is somewhat slow, and the
preliminary proceedings before the _juge d'instruction_ occupy much
time; and recent murder trials, by the large number of witnesses
called (including experts) and the lengthy speeches of counsel, have
been dragged out to an unconscionable length. In this, as in the
intervention of the presiding judge, the French system has been
adopted; and it is said (e.g. by Nathan, _Vent' anni di vita
italiana_, p. 241) that the efforts of the _juge d'instruction_ are,
as a rule, in fact, though not in law, largely directed to prove that
the accused is guilty. In 1902 of 884,612 persons accused of penal
offences, 13.12% were acquitted during the period of the
_instruction_, 30.31 by the courts, 46.32 condemned and the rest
acquitted in some other way. This shows that charges, often involving
preliminary imprisonment, are brought against an excessive proportion
of persons who either are not or cannot be proved to be guilty. The
courts of appeal and cassation, too, often have more than they can do;
in the year 1907 the court of cassation at Rome decided 948 appeals on
points of law in civil cases, while no fewer than 460 remained to be
decided.
As in most civilized countries, the number of suicides in Italy has
increased from year to year.
The Italian suicide rate of 63.6 per 1,000,000 is, however, lower than
those of Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and France, while it
approximates to that of England. The Italian rate is highest in the
more enlightened and industrial north, and lowest in the south. Emilia
gives a maximum rate of 10.48 per 100,000, while that of Liguria and
Lazio is little lower. The minimum of 1.27 is found in the Basilicata,
though Calabria gives only 2.13. About 20% of the total are women, and
there is an increase of nearly 3% since 1882 in the proportion of
suicides under twenty years of age.
_Army._--The Italian army grew out of the old Piedmontese army with
which in the main the unification of Italy was brought about. This
unification meant for the army the absorption of contingents from all
parts of Italy and presenting serious differences in physical and moral
aptitudes, political opinions and education. Moreover the strategic
geography of the country required the greater part of the army to be
stationed permanently within reach of the north-eastern and
north-western frontiers. These conditions made a territorial system of
recruiting or organization, as understood in Germany, practically
impossible. To secure fairly uniform efficiency in the various corps,
and also as a means of unifying Italy, Piedmontese, Umbrians and
Neapolitans are mixed in the same corps and sleep in the same barrack
room. But on leaving the colours the men disperse to their homes, and
thus a regiment has, on mobilization, to draw largely on the nearest
reservists, irrespective of the corps to which they belong. The remedy
for this condition of affairs is sought in a most elaborate and
artificial system of transferring officers and men from one unit to
another at stated intervals in peace-time, but this is no more than a
palliative, and there are other difficulties of almost equal importance
to be surmounted. Thus in Italy the universal service system, though
probably the best organization both for the army and the nation, works
with a maximum of friction. "Army Reform," therefore, has been very much
in the forefront of late years owing to the estrangement of Austria
(which power can mobilize much more rapidly), but financial difficulties
have hitherto stood in the way of any radical and far-reaching reforms,
and even the proposals of the Commission of 1907, referred to below,
have only been partially accepted.
The law of 1875 therefore still regulates the principles of military
service in Italy, though an important modification was made in
1907-1908. By this law, every man liable and accepted for service
served for eight or nine years on the _Active Army_ and its _Reserve_
(of which three to five were spent with the colours), four or five in
the _Mobile Militia_, and the rest of the service period of nineteen
years in the _Territorial Militia_. Under present regulations the term
of liability is divided into nine years in the _Active Army and
Reserve_ (three or two years with the colours) four in the _Mobile
Militia_ and six in the _Territorial Militia_. But these figures do
not represent the actual service of every able-bodied Italian. Like
almost all "Universal Service" countries, Italy only drafts a small
proportion of the available recruits into the army.
The following table shows the operation of the law of 1875, with the
figures of 1871 for comparison:--
+----------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| | 30th Sept. | 30th June. |
| +----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1871. | 1881. | 1891. | 1901. |
+----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Officers* | 14,070 | 22,482 | 36,739 | 36,718 |
| Men | 521,969 |1,833,554 |2,821,367 |3,330,202 |
| Acting Army & Reserve| 536,039 | 731,149 | 843,160 | 734,401 |
| Mobile Militia | .. | 294,714 | 445,315 | 320,170 |
| Territorial Militia | .. | 823,970 |1,553,784 |2,275,631 |
+----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
* Including officers on special service or in the reserve.
Thus, on the 30th of September 1871 the various categories of the army
included only 2% of the population, but on the 30th of June 1898 they
included 10%. But in 1901 the strength of the active army and reserve
shows a marked diminution, which became accentuated in the year
following. The table below indicates that up to 1907 the army, though
always below its nominal strength, never absorbed more than a quarter
of the available contingent.
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| | 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | 1906. |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Liable |441,171 |453,640 |469,860 |475,737 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Physically unfit | 91,176 | 98,065 |119,070 |122,559 |
| Struck off | 12,270 | 13,189 | 13,130 | 18,222 |
| Failed to appear | 33,634 | 34,711 | 39,219 | 40,226 |
| Put back for re-examination |108,835 |108,618 |107,173 |122,205 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Assigned to Territorial Militia| | | | |
| and excused peace service | 92,952 | 96,916 | 94,136 | 87,032 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| Assigned to active army |102,204 |102,141 | 97,132 | 87,493 |
| Joined active army | 88,666 | 86,448 | 81,581 | 66,836 |
+--------------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
The serious condition of recruiting was quickly noticed, and the
tabulation of each year's results was followed by a new draft law, but
no solution was achieved until a special commission assembled. The
inquiries made by this body revealed an unsatisfactory condition in
the national defences, traceable in the main to financial exigencies,
and as regards recruiting a new law was brought into force in
1907-1908.
One specially difficult point concerned the effectives of the
peace-strength army. Hitherto the actual time of training had been
less than the nominal. The recruits due to join in November were not
incorporated till the following March, and thus in the winter months
Italy was defenceless. The army is always maintained at a low peace
effective (about one-quarter of war establishment) and even this was
reduced, by the absence of the recruits, until there were often only
15 rank and file with a company, whose war strength is about 230. Even
in the summer and autumn a large proportion of the army consisted of
men with but a few months' service--a highly dangerous state of things
considering the peculiar mobilization conditions of the country.
Further--and this case no legislation can cover--the contingent, and
(what is more serious) the reserves, are being steadily weakened by
emigration. The increase in the numbers rejected as unfit is accounted
for by the fact that if only a small proportion of the contingent can
be taken for service, the medical standard of acceptance is high.
The new recruiting scheme of 1907 re-established three categories of
recruits,[4] the 2nd category corresponding practically to the German
_Ersatz-Reserve_. The men classed in it have to train for six months,
and they are called up in the late summer to bridge the gap above
mentioned. The new terms of service for the other categories have been
already stated. In consequence, in 1908, of 490,000 liable, some
110,000 actually joined for full training and 24,000 of the new 2nd
category for short training, which contrasts very forcibly with the
feeble embodiments of 1906 and 1907. These changes threw a
considerable strain on the finances, but the imminence of the danger
caused their acceptance.
The peace strength under the new scheme is nominally 300,000, but
actually (average throughout the year) about 240,000. The army is
organized in 12 army corps (each of 2 divisions), 6 of which are
quartered on the plain of Lombardy and Venetia and on the frontiers, and
2 more in northern Central Italy. Their headquarters are: I. Turin, II.
Alessandria, III. Milan, IV. Genoa, V. Verona, VI. Bologna, VII. Ancona,
VIII. Florence, IX. Rome, X. Naples, XI. Bari, XII. Palermo, Sardinian
division Cagliari. In addition there are 22 "Alpini" battalions and 15
mountain batteries stationed on the Alpine frontiers.
The war strength was estimated in 1901 as, _Active Army_ (incl. Reserve)
750,000, _Mobile Militia_ 320,000, _Territorial Militia_ 2,300,000 (more
than half of the last-named untrained). These figures are, with a
fractional increase in the Regular Army, applicable to-day. When the
1907 scheme takes full effect, however, the Active Army and the Mobile
Militia will each be augmented by about one-third. In 1915 the field
army should, including officers and permanent _cadres_, be about
1,012,000 strong. The Mobile Militia will not, however, at that date
have felt the effects of the scheme, and the Territorial Militia
(setting the drain of emigration against the increased population) will
probably remain at about the same figure as in 1901.
The army consists of 96 three-battalion regiments of infantry of the
line and 12 of _bersaglieri_ (riflemen), each of the latter having a
cyclist company (Bersaglieri cyclist battalions are being (1909)
provisionally formed); 26 regiments of cavalry, of which 10 are
lancers, each of 6 squadrons; 24 regiments of artillery, each of 8
batteries;[5] 1 regiment of horse artillery of 6 batteries; 1 of
mountain artillery of 12 batteries, and 3 independent mountain
batteries. The armament of the infantry is the Männlicher-Carcano
magazine rifle of 1891. The field and horse artillery was in 1909 in
process of rearmament with a Krupp quick-firer. The garrison artillery
consists of 3 coast and 3 fortress regiments, with a total of 72
companies. There are 4 regiments (11 battalions) of engineers. The
_carabinieri_ or gendarmerie, some 26,500 in number, are part of the
standing army; they are recruited from selected volunteers from the
army. In 1902 the special corps in Eritrea numbered about 4700 of all
ranks, including nearly 4000 natives.
Ordinary and extraordinary military expenditure for the financial year
1898-1899 amounted to nearly £10,000,000, an increase of £4,000,000 as
compared with 1871. The Italian Chamber decided that from the 1st of
July 1901 until the 30th of June 1907 Italian military expenditure
proper should not exceed the maximum of £9,560,000 per annum fixed by
the Army Bill of May 1897, and that military pensions should not
exceed £1,440,000. Italian military expenditure was thus until 1907
£11,000,000 per annum. In 1908 the ordinary and extraordinary
expenditure was £10,000,000. The demands of the Commission were only
partly complied with, but a large special grant was voted amounting to
at least £1,000,000 per annum for the next seven years. The amount
spent is slight compared with the military expenditure of other
countries.
The Alpine frontier is fortified strongly, although the condition of
the works was in many cases considered unsatisfactory by the 1907
Commission. The fortresses in the basin of the Po chiefly belong to
the era of divided Italy and are now out of date; the chief coast
fortresses are Vado, Genoa, Spezia, Monte Argentaro, Gaeta, Straits of
Messina, Taranto, Maddalena. Rome is protected by a circle of forts
from a _coup de main_ from the sea, the coast, only 12 m. off, being
flat and deserted.
_Navy._--For purposes of naval organization the Italian coast is divided
into three maritime departments, with headquarters at Spezia, Naples and
Venice; and into two _comandi militari_, with headquarters at Taranto
and at the island of Maddalena. The _personnel_ of the navy consists of
the following corps: (1) General staff; (2) naval engineers, chiefly
employed in building and repairing war vessels; (3) sanitary corps; (4)
commissariat corps, for supplies and account-keeping; (5) crews.
The _matériel_ of the Italian navy has been completely transformed,
especially in virtue of the bill of the 31st of March 1875. Old types of
vessels have been sold or demolished, and replaced by newer types.
In March 1907 the Italian navy contained, excluding ships of no
fighting value:--
+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
| |Effective.|Completing.|Projected.|
+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
| Modern battleships | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Old battleships | 10 | .. | .. |
| Armoured cruisers | 6 | 2 | .. |
| Protected cruisers | 14 | .. | .. |
| Torpedo gunboats | 13 | .. | .. |
| Destroyers | 13 | 4 | 10 |
| Modern torpedo boats| 34 | .. | 15 |
| Submarines | 1 | 4 | 2 |
+---------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
The four modern ships--the "Vittorio Emanuele" class, laid down in
1897--have a tonnage of 12,625, two 12-in. and twelve 8-in. guns, an
I.H.P. of 19,000, and a designed speed of 22 knots, being intended to
avoid any battleship and to carry enough guns to destroy any cruiser.
The _personnel_ on active service consisted of 1799 officers and
25,000 men, the former being doubled and the latter trebled since
1882.
Naval expenditure has enormously increased since 1871, the total for
1871 having been about £900,000, and the total for 1905-1906 over
£5,100,000. Violent fluctuations have, however, taken place from year
to year, according to the state of Italian finances. To permit the
steady execution of a normal programme of shipbuilding, the Italian
Chamber, in May 1901, adopted a resolution limiting naval expenditure,
inclusive of naval pensions and of premiums on mercantile
shipbuilding, to the sum of £4,840,000 for the following six years,
i.e. from 1st July 1901 until 30th June 1907. This sum consists of
£4,240,000 of naval expenditure proper, £220,000 for naval pensions
and £380,000 for premiums upon mercantile shipbuilding. During the
financial year ending on the 30th of June 1901 these figures were
slightly exceeded.
_Finance._--The volume of the Italian budget has considerably increased
as regards both income and expenditure. The income of £60,741,418 in
1881 rose in 1899-1900 to £69,917,126; while the expenditure increased
from £58,705,929 in 1881 to £69,708,706 in 1899-1900, an increase of
£9,175,708 in income and £11,002,777 in expenditure, while there has
been a still further increase since, the figures for 1905-1906 showing
(excluding items which figure on both sides of the account) an increase
of £8,766,995 in income and £5,434,560 in expenditure over 1899-1900.
These figures include not only the categories of "income and
expenditure" proper, but also those known as "movement of capital,"
"railway constructions" and "_partite di giro_" which do not constitute
real income and expenditure.[6] Considering only income and expenditure
proper, the approximate totals are:--
+---------------+------------+------------+------------+
|Financial Year.| Revenue. |Expenditure.|Surpluses or|
| | | | Deficits. |
+---------------+------------+------------+------------+
| 1882 |£52,064,800 |£51,904,800 |£+ 160,000 |
| 1885-1886 | 56,364,000 | 57,304,400 | - 940,000 |
| 1890-1891 | 61,600,000 | 64,601,600 | -3,001,600 |
| 1895-1896 | 65,344,000 | 67,962,800 | -2,618,800 |
| 1898-1899 | 66,352,800 | 65,046,400 | +1,306,400 |
| 1899-1900 | 66,860,800 | 65,323,600 | +1,537,200 |
| 1900-1901 | 68,829,200 | 66,094,400 | +2,734,800 |
| 1905-1906 | 77,684,100 | 75,143,300 | +2,540,900 |
+---------------+------------+------------+------------+
The financial year 1862 closed with a deficit of more than
£16,000,000, which increased in 1866 to £28,840,000 on account of the
preparations for the war against Austria. Excepting the increases of
deficit in 1868 and 1870, the annual deficits tended thenceforward to
decrease, until in 1875 equilibrium between expenditure and revenue
was attained, and was maintained until 1881. Advantage was taken of
the equilibrium to abolish certain imposts, amongst them the grist
tax, which prior to its gradual repeal produced more than £3,200,000
a year. From 1885-1886 onwards, outlay on public works, military and
colonial expenditure, and especially the commercial and financial
crises, contributed to produce annual deficits; but owing to drastic
reforms introduced in 1894-1895 and to careful management the year
1898-1899 marked a return of surpluses (nearly £1,306,400).
The revenue in the Italian financial year 1905-1906 (July 1, 1905 to
June 30, 1906) was £102,486,108, and the expenditure £99,945,253, or,
subtracting the _partite di giro_, £99,684,121 and £97,143,266,
leaving a surplus of £2,540,855.[7] The surplus was made up by
contributions from every branch of the effective revenue, except the
"contributions and repayments from local authorities." The railways
showed an increase of £351,685; registration transfer and succession,
£295,560; direct taxation, £42,136 (mainly from income tax, which more
than made up for the remission of the house tax in the districts of
Calabria visited by the earthquake of 1906); customs and excise,
£1,036,742; government monopolies, £291,027; posts, £41,310;
telegraphs, £23,364; telephones, £65,771. Of the surplus £1,000,000
was allocated to the improvement of posts, telegraphs and telephones;
£1,000,000 to public works (£720,000 for harbour improvement and
£280,000 for internal navigation); £200,000 to the navy (£132,000 for
a second dry dock at Taranto and £68,000 for coal purchase); and
£200,000 as a nucleus of a fund for the purchase of valuable works of
art which are in danger of exportation.
Taxation.
The state therefore draws its principal revenues from the imposts, the
taxes and the monopolies. According to the Italian tributary system,
"imposts," properly so called are those upon land, buildings and
personal estate. The impost upon land is based upon the cadastral
survey independently of the vicissitudes of harvests. In 1869 the main
quota to the impost was increased by one-tenth, in addition to the
extra two-tenths previously imposed in 1866. Subsequently, it was
decided to repeal these additional tenths, the first being abolished
in 1886 and the rest in 1887. On account of the inequalities still
existing in the cadastral survey, in spite of the law of 1886 (see
_Agriculture_, above), great differences are found in the land tax
assessments in various parts of Italy. Land is not so heavily burdened
by the government quota as by the additional centimes imposed by the
provincial and communal authorities. On an average Italian landowners
pay nearly 25% of their revenues from land in government and local
land tax. The buildings impost has been assessed since 1866 upon the
basis of 12.50% of "taxable revenue." Taxable revenue corresponds to
two-thirds of actual income from factories and to three-fourths of
actual income from houses; it is ascertained by the agents of the
financial administration. In 1869, however, a third additional tenth
was added to the previously existing additional two-tenths, and,
unlike the tenths of the land tax, they have not been abolished. At
present the main quota with the additional three-tenths amounts to
16.25% of taxable income. The imposts on incomes from personal estate
(_ricchezza mobile_) were introduced in 1866; it applies to incomes
derived from investments, industry or personal enterprise, but not to
landed revenues. It is proportional, and is collected by deduction
from salaries and pensions paid to servants of the state, where it is
assessed on three-eighths of the income, and from interest on
consolidated stock, where it is assessed on the whole amount; and by
register in the cases of private individuals, who pay on three-fourths
of their income, professional men, capitalists or manufacturers, who
pay on one-half or nine-twentieths of their income. From 1871 to 1894
it was assessed at 13.20% of taxable income, this quota being formed
of 12% main quota and 1.20% as an additional tenth. In 1894 the quota,
including the additional tenth, was raised to the uniform level of
20%. One-tenth of the tax is paid to the communes as compensation for
revenues made over to the state.
Taxes proper are divided into (a) taxes on business transactions and
(b) taxes on articles of consumption. The former apply principally to
successions, stamps, registrations, mortgages, &c.; the latter to
distilleries, breweries, explosives, native sugar and matches, though
the customs revenue and octrois upon articles of general consumption,
such as corn, wine, spirits, meat, flour, petroleum, butter, tea,
coffee and sugar, may be considered as belonging to this class. The
monopolies are those of salt, tobacco and the lottery.
Since 1880, while income from the salt and lotto monopolies has
remained almost stationary, and that from land tax and octroi has
diminished, revenue derived from all other sources has notably
increased, especially that from the income tax on personal estate, and
the customs, the yield from which has been nearly doubled.
It will be seen that the revenue is swollen by a large number of taxes
which can only be justified by necessity; the reduction and, still
more, the readjustment of taxation (which now largely falls on
articles of primary necessity) is urgently needed. The government in
presenting the estimates for 1907-1908 proposed to set aside a sum of
nearly £800,000 every year for this express purpose. It must be
remembered that the sums realized by the octroi go in the main to the
various communes. It is only in Rome and Naples that the octroi is
collected directly by the government, which pays over a certain
proportion to the respective communes.
The external taxation is not only strongly protectionist, but is
applied to goods which cannot be made in Italy; hardly anything comes
in duty free, even such articles as second-hand furniture paying duty,
unless within six months of the date at which the importer has
declared domicile in Italy. The application, too, is somewhat
rigorous, e.g. the tax on electric light is applied to foreign ships
generating their own electricity while lying in Italian ports.
The annual consumption per inhabitant of certain kinds of food and
drink has considerably increased, e.g. grain from 270 lb. per head in
1884-1885 to 321 lb. in 1901-1902 (maize remains almost stationary at
158 lb.); wine from 73 to 125 litres per head; oil from 12 to 13 lb.
per head (sugar is almost stationary at 7¼ lb. per head, and coffee at
about 1 lb.); salt from 14 to 16 lb. per head. Tobacco slightly
diminished in weight at a little over 1 lb. per head, while the gross
receipts are considerably increased--by over 2¼ millions sterling
since 1884-1885--showing that the quality consumed is much better. The
annual expenditure on tobacco was 5s. per inhabitant in 1902-1903, and
is increasing.
The annual surpluses are largely accounted for by the heavy taxation
on almost everything imported into the country,[8] and by the
monopolies on tobacco and on salt; and are as a rule spent, and well
spent, in other ways. Thus, that of 1907-1908 was devoted mainly to
raising the salaries of government officials and university
professors; even then the maximum for both (in the former class, for
an under-secretary of state) was only £500 per annum. The case is
frequent, too, in which a project is sanctioned by law, but is then
not carried into execution, or only partly so, owing to the lack of
funds. Additional stamp duties and taxes were imposed in 1909 to meet
the expenditure necessitated by the disastrous earthquake at the end
of 1908.
The way in which the taxes press on the poor may be shown by the
number of small proprietors sold up owing to inability to pay the land
and other taxes. In 1882 the number of landed proprietors was 14.52%
of the population, in 1902 only 12.66, with an actual diminution of
some 30,000. Had the percentage of 1882 been kept up there would have
been in 1902 600,000 more proprietors than there were. Between 1884
and 1902 no fewer than 220,616 sales were effected for failure to pay
taxes, while, from 1886 to 1902, 79,208 expropriations were effected
for other debts not due to the state. In 1884 there were 20,422 sales,
of which 35.28% were for debts of 4s. or less, and 51.95 for debts
between 4s. and £2; in 1902 there were 4857 sales, but only 11.01% for
debts under 4s. (the treasury having given up proceeding in cases
where the property is a tiny piece of ground, sometimes hardly capable
of cultivation), and 55.69% for debts between 4s. and £2. The
expropriations deal as a rule with properties of higher value; of
these there were 3217 in 1886, 5993 in 1892 (a period of agricultural
depression), 3910 in 1902. About 22% of them are for debts under £40,
about 49% from £40 to £200, about 26% from £200 to £2000.
Expenditure.
Of the expenditure a large amount is absorbed by interest on debt.
Debt has continually increased with the development of the state. The
sum paid in interest on debt amounted to £17,640,000 in 1871,
£19,440,000 in 1881, £25,600,000 in 1891-1892 and £27,560,000 in
1899-1900; but had been reduced to £23,100,409 by the 30th of June
1906. The public debt at that date was composed as follows:--
Part I.--_Funded Debt._
Grand Livre-- Amount.
Consolidated 5% £316,141,802
" 3% 6,404,335
" 4½% net 28,872,511
" 4% " 7,875,592
" 3½% " 37,689,880
------------
Total £396,984,120
Debts to be transferred to the Grand Livre. 60,868
Perpetual annuity to the Holy See 2,580,000
Perpetual debts (Modena, Sicily, Naples) 2,591,807
Total £402,216,795