Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/252

 ITALY

210

ITALY

but that wealth of vegetation has been improvidently destroyed everywhere along this range, and, conse- quently, iron grey, the ashy colour of calcareous rocks, and the red brown of clay and sand-beds are the pre- dominant tints of the country. The highest summit is that of Mt. Corno (9585 feet) in the group of the Gran Sasso. On account of their latitude and of their proximity to the sea, the Apennines have neither snow-clad peaks nor glaciers, and, while the Pre-Al- pine hills are of moraine origin the Pre-Apennine hills were formed of sands, clay, flint, and other substances disintegrated and transformed by the waters. Rains are frequent on the Apennines in autumn and winter. The configuration of the Apennine system is simple at its two extremities, but it becomes complex to- wards the centre, where it consists of a group of par- allel chains, arranged in steps, those curving towards the east constituting the Sub-Apennine range; while those groups that extend along the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic coasts constitute the Anti-Apennine sys- tem. Geographers do not agree on the determining lines of these three divisions. We will adopt the line from Cadibona Pass (1620 feet) to Bocca Serriola (2-tOO feet) between the Tiber and the Metauro Rivers, for the northern division; from Bocca Serriola to the Pass of Rionero Ijetween the Rivers Sangro and \o\- turno, for the Central Apennines, and from this point to Cape Armi, for the southern division. The Northern Apennines encircle the southern basin of the Po, in a north-west to south-east direction, and the Pass of Cisa (3410 feet) divides them into two sections, the Ligiu-ian and the Emilio-Tuscan. (a) The Ligurian Apennines form an arc around the Gulf of Genoa and have their crest near and parallel to the coast; but, to the north of Genoa, they deviate towards the east. Their southern spurs are short and steep ; those towards the Po are longer and more ramified, the two principal ones among them being those of Mt. Antola and of Mt. Penna, the former of which fans out between the Scrivia and Trebbia Rivers and contains Mt. Ebro (5570 feet) and Mt. l.esima (5760 feet), and it termi- nates near the Po, forming the Pass of Stradella; that of Mt. Penna, with numerous branches between the Trebbia and the Taro Rivers, contains Mt. Misurasca, or Bue (5930 feet), which is the highest point of this section. The Langhe and the hills of Monferrato, which last are called also Hills of the Po, famous for their sparkling wines, form a species of promontory of the Ligurian Apennines, enclosed between the Po, the Tanaro, and the western part of the Bormida. All this hilly region consists, superficially, of greenish and of yellowish sands, and below the surface, of clay and of bluish marl, alternating with veins of gypsum, of gravel, and at times of lignite. During the Miocene period, this region was a continuation of the Gulf of the Po and communicated with the Mediterranean Sea by the channel, or possibly the archipelago, of Cadibona. Four railroads cross this section: (i) the Savona-Torino, with a branch to Alessandria through the Cadibona Pass; (ii) the Genova-Ovada-Asti near the summit of the Turchino; (iii) the Genova-Novi, with two tunnels near the summit of the Giovi Pass; (iv) the Spezia-Parma, with the Borgallo tunnel, (b) The Emilio-Tuscan-Apcnnines. — There are character- istic differences between the two slopes of this section of the Apennines. The branches towards the north- east, that is towards the Adriatic Sea, are parallel, and perpendicular to the crest that separates the watersheds; they terminate at a .short distance from the Emilia n Way. The nio.st important Immch, on ac- count of its length and ramifications, and also because it separates Northern Italy from Ccntial Italy, is the one which is called Alps of Luna, bcf;iiining in the dor- sal spur of Mt. Maggiore (4400 feet), between the Mareeelii.i and the Metauro Hivers and divided into three branches, the last of which closes the great val- ley of the Po near the Pass of Cattolica. On the south-

western watershed the spurs are almost parallel to the mother chain and are separated from it by broad longitudinal valleys, forming the Sub-Apennines of Tuscany, (c) The Tuscan or Metalliferous Anti-Ap- ennines consist of a group of parallel chains, directed from north-west to south-east on the Tuscan uplands, ploughed by the Ombrone of Pistoia. The eastern chain, towards the Arno River and the valley of Chi- ana, is formed by the wine-producing mountains of Chianti, Montepulciano, and Cetona. The interior chains consist of the mountains of vSiena, abounding in marbles, the mountains of Volterra, that yield ala- baster, and those of Montalcino, and they terminate in the volcanic mass of Mt. Amiata, the highest point of the Anti-Apennines (5640 feet). The coast range, abounding in metals, includes the mountains of Leg- horn, the Cornate di Gerfalco, and the Poggio Mon- tieri. They contain mines of copper, lead, zinc, salt, and are rich in borax and lignite coal. The highest point of the Emilio-Tuscan Apennines is Mt. Cimone (7190 feet). Other summits are the Alps of Succiso (6610 feet) and Mt. Cusna (6960 feet). Two railroads cross this section : the Bologna-Firenze and the Faenza- Firenze. Wherefore northern and central Italy are connected by five railroads which, together with the common roads, constitute the unifying system be- tween these two divisions of the coimtry.

The Central Apennines are divided into two sections, the Umbro-Marchesan, from Bocca Serriola to the Tor- rita Pass, between the Velino and the Tronto Rivers, and the Apennines of the Abruzzi, from the Torrita Pass (3280 feet) to that of Rionero. (d) The Umbro- Marchesan Apennines. — This range is not formed of a single, well-defined chain, as is the case in the Northern Apennines, but, of three parallel ranges, in echelon, that graduallj; approach the Adriatic Sea towards the south. The finst chain, that is the western one, is merely the prolongation of the Northern Apennines, and extends from Bocca Serriola to the highland plain of Gubbio, to terminate on the low plain of Fuligno. The second, or middle, range, called also Chain of Mt. Catria, contains many peaks over 4900 feet, Mt. Catria being 5570 feet high. These two ranges are connected by a highland plain which terminates at the defile of Scheggia (1930 feet) and over which passed the an- cient Flaminian Way. The eastern or Mt. San Vicino range begins to the right of the Metauro River and follows a north-easterly direction. It is cut by many openings through which flow the rivers that rise in the central chain and empty into the Adriatic Sea. From Mt. San Vicino this range takes a southerly direction and forms the Sibilline Mountains, of which the chief summits are Mt. Regina (7650 feet) and Jit. A'ettore (8100 feet). Towards the Adriatic Sea the Sul>.\p- ennine range consisted of chains parallel to the .Xpen- nines, Init it was worn away by the waters and only the mountains of Ascensione, Cingoli, and Conero re- main to mark the position that it occupied. The Umljrian or Tyrrhenian Sub-Apennines are divided into two principal groups. The first of these is be- tween the Tiber and the Valley of Chiana, and beyond the Scopettone Pass (920 feet), it receives the names of Aha di S. Egidio (3400 feet), Perugia Mountains, Poggio Montereale and others. The second group stantls lietween the Tiber, the Topino, and the Ma- roggia Rivers, containing the Deruta Moimtains, Mt. Martano (3500 feet), and Mt. Torre Maggiore (3560 feet). There is liut one railroad that crosses this sec- tion of the Central Apennines; it is the one between Ancona and Foligno that passes near Fossa to, through a tunnel about a mile and a quarter long, (e) The .\bruzzan Apennines. — This section eonsi.sts of three high ranges that form a kind of ellips<- of which the major axis is in a south-easterly direction. They en- close the lofty plain of the Abruzzi that is divided into the t'onca Aquilana, to the east, through which flows tlic River Aterno, and the Conca di Avezzano or of the