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ITALY

these two districts are the chief centres of production. The cities of EmiUa, with the exception of Ferrara and Ravenna, are all built on the Emilian Way, which skirts the base of the Apennines. Piacenza (pop. 36,000), on the Po, was an ancient Roman colony that became a republic in the Middle Ages and later with Guastalla a duchy of the House of Farnese. It is now a stronghold, defending the Pass of Stra- della. Its communal palace of the thirteenth century and its cathedral of the twelfth century are notable structures. Piacenza was the birth-place of Melchiorre Gioja (1797-1S29) and of the famous man of letters, Pietro Giordani. To the south-west of this city is the Field of Roncaglia, where the Emperor Frederick Bar- barossa convoked his feudal lords to support the claims of the empire (1154-1159). Thecityof Bobbio (pop. 5000), on the River Trebbia, is famous for the convent founded there by St. Columbanus; and on the lower course of that river was fought a battle in 218 B. c. between Hamiibal and the Romans, and one be- tween MacDonald and Suvaroff in 1799. On the Arda is Fiorenzuola d'Arda (pop. 12,000), the birth- place of Cardinal Giulio Alberoni. In its neighbour- liood were discovered the ruins of the ancient Veleia, and among them the famous Table of Trajan. Near Borgotaro, on the Taro River, where it receives the Ceno, is Fornovo, where Cliarles VIII of France de- feated the Italian Confederation in 1495. In the valley of Stirone is Salsomaggiore, famous for its therapeutic springs; and in the plain is BorgoSanDon- nino (pop. 12,000), with its Gothic cathedral, and Bus- seto, the birth-place of the great musician Giuseppe Verdi. Parma (pop. 48,000), a very ancient Etruscan city on the Parma River, contains noble monuments, such as its cathedral and its baptistery. It became fa- mous by its defence against Frederick II, who besieged it unsuccessfully (1247—48). It was the capital of a duchy under the princes of the House of Farnese and undertheBourbonsof Spain. At thefootof thePietra Bismantova (3440 feet) is theCastleofCanossa, where Queen Adelaide took refuge and where Gregory VII humiliated the Emperor JHenry IV. Reggio (pop. 59,000), on the Crostolo River, once the capital of Cisalpine Gaul, was the birth-place of the poet Ariosto and of the famous astronomer of our times, Angelo Secchi, S.J. Where the River Secchia opens into the plain, stands Sassuolo, famous on account of its vol- canic phenomena, called salse; and to the north-east is Modena (pop. 63,000), the ancient Roman city of Mutina, which became the capital of a duchy and was the birth-place of the naturalist Spallanzani, of Sado- leto, of Sigonio, and of Tassoni. It contains a military school. Vignola is the birth-place of Ludovico Antonio Muratori, and contains the famous .-^bbey of San Sil- vestro. Faenza (pop. 40,000) on the Lamone River was once famous for its majolica, called Faience by the French. Itisthcliirlh-plaocuf the physicist Torricelli. Cesena (pop. 42,0(10) isthebirth-placeof PiusVI andof Pius VII. Rimini diu]). 44,000), at the termination of the Emilian, and the beginning of the Flaminian Way, is rich in historical memories. It contains the bridge and the arch of Augustus, the church of St. Francis, called the .Malatestan Temple, after the Malatestas, lords of the city, who caused the church to be built by Leon Battista .\lbcrti. Two hours from Rimini, be- tween the Marecchia and the Conca Rivers, rises San Leo, the stronghold where Berengarius II was made prisoner by Otto I and where the famous Cagliostro died. Ravenna (pop. 36,000), a most important port under the Romans, became the capital of the West- ern Empire, later the capital of the Goths, and finally of the Greek Exarchate. It has exceptionally fine examples of Byzantine architecture, among which should be mentioned the basilica of San Vitale. It is in this city that the immortal Catholic poet Dante Alighicri died, and where al.so is preserved his sepul- chre. The ancient military port that was constructed

by Augustus is now covered over, and the town is at a distance from the coast, with which it is connected by a small canal, 5 miles in length. Along the coast stretches the famous Pineta, 25 miles long, and from 1 to 2 J miles broad; but the negligence with which it is treated is allowing it to waste away. Liguria com- prises the provinces of Genoa and Porto Maurizio and is bounded by the Apennines and the Ligurian Alps, and by the Roia and the Magra rivers. It is a moim- tainous country, with no other plains than the small one near Albenga. The mountain spurs that project into the sea produce an arc-shaped bay at the highest point of which is the port of Genoa. Rains, especially in the Apennines, are abundant (50 inches). This region is separated from the rest of Continental Italy by .steep moimtain ranges, but this barrier has been overcome by railroads that have made Liguria the natural outlet to the Mediterranean Sea for the valley of the Po and for western Germany. It has a maritime climate, but the natural fertility of its soil does not correspond with that climatic advantage, and there- fore its inhabitants devote themselves to a seafaring life, as the fisheries along this coast are not remimera- tive. Sixty-one per cent of the population live on the coast. Where its soil is arable, Liguria produces oil, fruits, and flowers; but commerce is its chief in- dustry. Between the Polcevera and the Bisagno Rivers, in the form of an amphitheatre, stands Genoa. (q. V.)

Central Italy containsfive regions: Tuscany, (q. v.), L^mbria, Lazio, the Marches, .\bruzzo and Molise. While northern Italy may be called the head, central Italy is the heart of Italy, for it was this section of the country w-hich in ancient times, as well as in the Mid- dle .^ges, predominated by its prowess, by its laws, and by its religion, as in modern times by its arts and by its letters. The fertile genius of its inhabitants, to- gether with the happy conditions of its soil and free- dom from prolonged foreign domination, all conspire to intensify an artistic and literary sentiment and to maintain in the race the ethnical type of its ancestors, the Etruscans, the Marsians, the Umbrians, and the Latins — who together conquered the world. The chief occupation of its inhabitants is farming, there being few manufacturing industries. Although this section has a coast-line of 600 miles, it has only three ports: Ancona, which is the only one on the Adriatic Sea, anil Leghorn and Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhen- ian Sea. The coasts of the latter sea being almost without inhal>itants, owing to the malaria, Tuscany and Lazio have little or no seafaring populations; the corresponding shores on the Adriatic Sea, however, are abundantly peopled, but, as they are straight and low, they have no natural liarbours, and conse(iuently at the mouths of rivers small canal-ports have lieen dug out for fishing craft. This explains why the Marches and the .\bruzzi have a considerable seafaring popula- tion that is devoted to the fishery, and not to naviga- tion, as is the case in Liguria and Venice. The princi- pal inland cities are Florence, on the banks of the Arno, and Rome on the Tiber. All the others, as Siena, Perugia, Urbino, and Pesaro, are famous cities tliat flourished in past centuries; but they have not a brilliant future under present economical con- ditions.

Umbria consists of a single province called Periigia. It has an area of 3StH) si|. miles, ati estimated jiopula- tion, on 1 January, 1!)0S, cf (il):;,2.");; inhabitants. It is an essentially mouiilaimius region, of which the ele- vation is dotiTiuined by the dorsal aspect of the .\pen- nines and by the parallel chains of the Uinl)rian Sub- Apennines that form the upper liasin of the Tiber, the valley of Foligno. and the basin of the Nera and its affluents, or the highland plain of Norcia, the basin of Rieti.aiid the Sabine mountains. In the Middle Ages, the prcfiTcnce gi\'en to the Tuscan roads over the Flaminian Way, left Umbria in an isolated position, on