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 ITALY

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ITALY

the Liri. Its elevation is formed by the Neapolitan and the Lucan Sub-Apennines and by the Neapolitan Anti-Apennines which form three different sub-re- gions, the Campania Plain or Terra di Lavoro, the Beneventana Basin, and the mountains of Cilento. The ancient Campania (from campus), so famous for the fertility of its soil and for the enchantments of its coast, extended from the Garigliano to the Gulf of Policastro and was the ancient seat of the Oscians and of the Ausonians. It was later subjugated by the Etruscans and the Samnites, and later still by the Romans, who made it a place of recreation. This de- lightful region, which seems to have been destined al- ways to be conquered, whether by Romans or Greeks, Normans, French, or Spaniards, always assimilated its conquerors to itself, by the fascination of its beauty. Its climate is variable, and agriculture is the chief oc- cupation of its people; the raising of cattle, however, is not much pursued. The industries are few, but they are being developed gradually by means of fiscal as- sistance, for which provision is made by the recent law that was promulgated in behalf of Southern Italy. The chief cities of this section are placed along the coast, between the coast and the Sub-Apennines, and between this mountain range and the Apennines. In the valley of the Liri is the thriving town of Sora (pop. 16,000), with its famous paper mills, called the Fibreno, after the waterfall of this tributary of the Liri which furnislies their power; the town is of Pelasgic ori- gin; Arpino, the birth-place of Marius and of Cicero; Pontecorvo, a former possession of the Church ; Aquino, the home of Juvenal and of St. Thomas, the prince of scholastic philosophy; on the Gari is Cassino, above which there stands upon an eminence the great Abbey of Montecassino, mother-house of the order estab- lished in 519 by St. Benedict of Nursia and the most ancient monastery in western Europe; Capua (pop. 14,000), on the Volturno River, a strong town that was founded by the Longobards on the ruins of the ancient Casilinum, where Narses defeated the Goths, and further to the south-east is Santa Maria Capua Vetere (pop. 22,000), occupying a part of the site of ancient Capua, which proved so harmful to the inter- ests of Hannibal, and which, until the defeat of the Longobards, remained the second city of Italy; it was destroyed by the Saracens. The chief town of the Beneventana basin is Benevento (q. v.). Avellino is an agricultural city in the neighbourhood of which is the famous sanctuary of Monte Vergine to which pilgrimages are made. In the Campania plain are Ca- serta (pop. 33,000), founded by the Longobards in the eighth century, having a villa and royal palace, built by Charles Illof Bourbon; this wonderful architectural produclioii of Vanvitelli, after many years of deplo- ral)le aliaiidonment, is about to be restored by Victor Emmanuel III; Nola (pop. 15,000), a very ancient city where Augustus died and where were born St. Paul- inus, one of the best Christian poets, and the apostate Giordano Bruno; Aversa (pop. 23,000), the first pos- session of the Normans in Italy; Montesarchio, south- east of Benevento, is probaljly in the neighbourhood of the ancient Caudium on the Appian Way; from which the famoi:s pass, so fateful to the Romans, was named the Caudine Forks. On the coast is Gaeta, a stronghold ; it has a good port and is noted for the sieges that it un- derwent in 1799, 1806, and 1861. Pius IX took refuge therein lS48,as did also thelastKingof Naples. Fran- cis II of Bourbon. Naples is treated in a special article (q.v.). In Pozzuoli (pop. 17,000) the ruins of the Temple of Augustus and of that of Serapis are witnesses of the former splendour of the town, near which is obtained the pozzolana earth that is excellent for building pur- poses. At the foot of Mt. Vesuvius are Portici and Resina, under which, at a depth of from 65 to 100 feet lies Herculaneum that was buried under torrents of lava in the year 79 of the Christian Era. Farther to the east are the ruins of Pompeii, buried also by the

eruption of Mt. Vesuvius; but, contrary to what hap- pened at Herculaneum, Pompeii was buried under heaps of ashes, on which account the excavations that were begun there in 1748 were relatively easy, and now the town is almost entirely unearthed. Another city destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, in the same eruption, was StabiiE over which is now built Castellamare, amid attractive surroundings, and having a good har- bour and important docks. Sorrento, a beautiful spot, was the home of Torquato Tasso. The Parthenopian Islands rise around the Bay of Naples ; they are Nisida, at the entrance of the Gulf of Baja; Procida that gave its name to the conspirator Giovanni da Procida, the en- emy of the French ; Ischia, with the volcano of Epomeo ; Capri, mountainous and picturesque, and famous for its blue cave and for its wines; it was the last home of

Church of St. Laurence Outside the Walls Showing monument erected in honour of the saint by Pius IX

Tiberius. Salerno (pop. 42,000) is at the northern- most point of the gulf of its name; it was once the seat of a famous school of medicine and was an important place under the Longobard and the Norman kings; the cathedral of St. Matthew, where the great Pope Greg- ory VII is buried, was erected by Robert GuLscard and is one of the grandest Norman structures in Italy. Amalfi, in the Middle Ages, one of the strongest of the maritime republics, a rival of Genoa and of Pisa, was destroyed by them. It had the glory of framing laws, the " Amalfian Tables ", by which maritime and com- mercial relations were regulated. Cava dei Tirreni contains a famous abbey of the Benedictine Order. To the south-east of the mouth of the Sele are the much admired ruins of Psstum, which was founded by the Greeks, about the year 600 b. c, under the name of Poseidonia; the Temple of Neptune there is one of the most beautiful examples of Cireek architecture in ex- istence. Eboli (pop. 12,000) is an important road cen- tre of this part of Italy.

Apulia comprises the provinces of Bari or Terra di Ban, Foggia or Capitanata, Lecce or Terra d'Otranto. The territorial boundaries of this region are the coasts of the Ionian Sea, as far as the mouth of the Bradano, this river and its tributary the Basentiello, the Saddle of Spinazzola, the Looone, the crest of the Apennines and that of the mountains of Capitanata as far as the mouth of the Biferno. Its topographical configura- tion is determined by the Promontory of Gargano, by the heights of the Murgie, and by the Tavoliere. The Murgie heights and the Promontory of Gargano at one time were two separate islands, and it is probable that the southern Murgie, to the south-east of Brindisi and Taranto were also islands. Apulia was debarred from exercising influence on neighbouring peoples, and its subjugation by them was made easy by reason of its position, its topograpliical conditions, and the character of its inhabitants, the .\pulians. the Daunians, the Mes-