Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/256

 ITALY

214

ITALY

fissures of which, called chimneys, there constantly emanate smoke and vapours of sulphuretted hydro- gen. The Vulture volcanic region to the east of the Apennines is not allied to the Tyrrhenian volcanic region. The Vulture consists of two concentric craters of which the interior one is more recent: this contains the two small lakes of Monticchio (2050 feet).

Thermal springs are very abundant in Italy, espe- cially those containing sulphur and carbonic acid. Of gaseous springs, there are in Italy the so-called fu- maiole that emit aqueous vapour with carbonic acid, the boraciferous blowers of Tuscany, and the sulphur- producing .spring of Pozzuoli which burst into an erup- tion in 1198. Near Rome there are the Albula Springs. Lastly there are the mephitic springs that produce carbonic acid, the most famous of them being the so-called Grotta del Cane, near the Lake_of Aguano, which is an ancient, extinct crater, near Naples.

Besides her volcanic characteristics, Italy, like Japan, is the classic land of earthquakes. The regions that are most subject to them are (a) the southern parts of the Alps, (b) the coast region of the basin of the Po, from Venice to Pesaro, (c) the Apennines of the Marches and of the Al)ruzzi, (d) the neighbourhood of Mt. Vesuvius, that of Mt. Vulture, and that of Mt. Etna, (e) the Luco-Calaljrian district, (f) the islands of volcanic origin. Of the famous catastrophes _due to earthquakes, the best known are those of 1783, in Calabria, when there were destroyed 109 cities and villages, under the ruins of which 32,000 people were buried; the one of 1857 in the Basilicata that cost 10,000 victims to Potenza and its neighbourhood. The earthquake that shook the western Ligurian Riviera in 1887, although the most terrible catas- trophe of its kind that has befallen continental Italy, was, withal, much less severe than those that have visited the southern portion of the peninsula. Calabria may be said to have Ijeen for ten years on the brink of the earthquake that culminated fatally on the morning of 28 December, 1908, wlicn, in a few mo- ments, the city of Messina, with 150,000 inhabitants, the city of Reggio, with 45,000 inhabitants, the town of Sille, and other smaller ones, were razed to the ground, burying more than 100,000 people under their ruins. Italy was comforted by all the civilized nations, and especially the United States, which built a town in the beautiful district of Santa Cecilia, in the neighbourhood of Messina, with nearly 1500 frame houses, after the fashion of Swiss chalets, prettily finished, and painted in white. The United States Avenue, parallel with the sea, and Theodore Roosevelt .4 venue, parallel with the torrent of Zaera, divide the town into four quarters that are intersected by streets having the names of those generous Ameri- cans who helped in the work: Commander Belknap of the Navv, who was the head of the relief Commission; Lieutenants Buchanan and Spofford; Engineer Elliot, director of construction; Dr. Donelson, and others. Hydrography. (1) Rivers.- — The rivers of Continen- tal Italy empty into the Adriatic and the Ligurian Seas. The water-courses of the Ligurian slope are rapid torrents, dry in summer, while in autumn and in winter they carry enormous volumes of water. Chief among them are the Roja, the longest and most im- portant water course of Liguria, on the banks of which are Tenda and Ventimiglia; the Taggia; the Centa, which is formed of the Arroscia and the Neva; the Bisagno and the Polcevera, between the mouths of which is the city of (lenoa; and the Entella. The Adriatic watershed beiuf; bounded liy the Alps and by the .Apennines, it follows that the rivers flowing from the latter movmtains are shorter than those coming from the Alps, and as they do not receive the drainage of the glaciers, but only "that of the snow and of the rains, they have the nature of torrents, rather than that of rivers. This is a providential condition be- cause it minimizes the danger of inund.ations in the

valley of the Po; for the rivers of the Apennines come down charged with alluvial matter and enter the Po almost at right angles, engaging its channel; but the Alpine rivers that flow into the Po, farther down its stream, with less turbulence, yet with a strong flood, spread the alluvial deposits of the other rivers over the entire bed. Notwithstanding this, the bed of the Po tends continually to rise, and the waters of that river, contained by embankments, are seven, ten, and even seventeen feet above the level of the lands through which they flow.

The rivers of Continental Italy that empty into the Adriatic Sea are divided into four groups: (a) the Po and its tributaries; (b) the Venetian rivers; (c) the rivers of the Romagna; and (d) the rivers of Istria, grouped on account of their special characteristics, (a) The Po, which is the principal river of Italy, rises on the Piano del Re, on Mt. Viso, at a height of 6500 feet above the sea. It makes a first descent of 500 feet in a distance of only 10 nules, after which it opens into the plain near Saluzzo, and from there follows a northerly direction as far as Chivasso, where the Cavour Canal begins. Throughout the remainder of its course it flows from west to east, winding along the 45th parallel, and empties into the sea through a vast delta, the chief branch of which is Po della Maes- tra, which is unnavigable, while the other branch, the Po delle Tolle, has two navigable entrances. The surface of its basin is 27 square miles and its mean flood is 53,000 cubic feet per second, but when at its height, more than 70,000 cubic feet. In the middle of its course, at Cremona, its greatest breadth is three fifths of a mile, but at its greatest height, farther down the valley, it attains a breadth of two and one-half miles. Notwithstanding the volume of its waters, the Po is not well suited to navigation, on account of the instability of its bed, for which no artificial remedy has been found. Available navigation begins at Casale for boats of about 9 tons, and from Pavia to the sea the river is navigable for boats of 120 to 130 tons. The River Po, unlike the Rhine, the Danube, and the Elbe, was never a politically unifying element, having always divided the inhabitants of its valley into two parts, (b) Among the Venetian rivers, the principal one is the Adige, which is the second river of Italy ; after that are the Brcnta, the Piave, the Taglia- mento, the Isonzo, and others. The Alpine basin of the Adige has the shape of a triangle, with its summit at Verona, and its base on the Alps, between the Reschen hill, where are the sources, and the base of Tolbach, where are the sources of the Rienz. It en- ters the Italian region at Salurno and receives the Noce River, on the right, and the Avisio on the left, and it passes the boundary between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire to the south of Ala. At Verona it enters the plain and flows parallel to the Po, flanked by massive embankments. Between the two rivers is a territory, portions of which have yet to be redeemed, as are the valleys of Verona, while the remaining portion is drained already by a labyrinth of canals, as for example, the Polesine. The Adige emp- ties into the Adriatic Sea, after a course of 248 miles, having an average breadth of 330 feet between Trent and Verona, and of 220 feet between Verona and the sea. The Venetian rivers enter the plain charged with alluvial materials that would make them over- flow, if they were not held in their beds by artificial embankments. Although the sources of some of these rivers are known, it is difficult to say where and how they empty into the sea; the Bacchiglione is a type of them, (c) The Rivers of Romagna. — The Po di Volano, once a branch of the Po, with which river, however, it is no longer connected, rises in the springs of the plain near Cento; at Ferrara it divides into two branches, one of which is navigable and, flowing to- wards the east, empties into the sea at Porto Volano; the ot her branch, which is not available for navigation,