ITALY
217
ITALY
trudes into the lake between Desenzano and Salo was
the happy soiourn of the Latin poet Catullus (Catul.,
XXXI, i) ; it IS nearly two miles in loiiRth. Lake Idro
is formed by the C'hiese River, which is an affluent of
the Oglio; it has an area of over 4 sq. miles, and its
surface is 1200 feet above the level of the sea. Other
minor lakes are those of Azeglio to the south-east of
Ivrea, Varese, Alserio, Pusiano, Annono. ami Segrino,
between Como and Leeco; Lake Emlinc (ir Spinone
between Val Seriana and Lake Isco; Lake Molveno,
Lake Ledro, west of Riva.and Lakes Caklonazzo and
Levico, from which flows the Brenta.
The lakes of the peninsula, besides being smaller than those of Continental Italy, are, almost all of them, of a volcanic nature, or are coast lakes. The lakes of Montepulciano and of Chiusi, however, at the south- ern extremity of the valley of Chiana, constitute a class of their own, together with Lakes Perugia and Matese, the latter, on the mountain group of the same name, having a length of 2-5 miles and a breadth of -625 mile. To this class belongs also the small Lake of Pergusa, in the Erei Mountains, in Sicily. The Lake of Perugia or Trasimeno is the largest lake of peninsular Italy and contains three islands, Polvese, Maggiore, and Minore. Its shores are low and marshy, and its waters, which abound in fishes, are carried by an artificial outlet into a sul>al'Buent of the Tiber. The lake in fact is a remnant of a larger one that coveretl nearly all of the valley of Chiana, and there is a proj- ect on foot to drain it dry. It was near Lake Trasi- meno that Hannibal defeated the Romans in 217 B. c. The two minor lakes of Montepulciano and of Chiusi are of the same nature, and were probably a part of Lake Trasimeno. At the first of the two begins the Canal of Chiana, a work of the Grand Dukes of Tus- cany, which drains the Chiana valley and directs its waters into the Arno. From the second flows the Chiana River, which empties into the Paglia, an afflu- ent of the Tiber. Wlicrefore, through these two lakes, connected by a canal, the Tiber and the Arno com- municate with each other, (b) Volcanic Lakes. — Volcanic lakes are very plentiful in the peninsula ; they are so called becau.se they occupy the craters of ex- tinct volcanoes, which accounts for their small di- mensions. The principal one among them is Lake Bolsena (Loch.s \'ulsiuius), containing two islands, Bisentina and Martana, on the second of which, it is said, Amalasuntha, the only daughter of Theodoric, was killed by Teodato in .534. The outlet of this lake is the Ma rta" River. Other smaller volcanic lakes are those of Bracciano or Sabatino and Vico {Lacus Ci- minus) which is situated between Lakes BoLsena and Bracciano at a height of 16.50 feet above the level of the sea ; also Lakes Albano and Nemi, near Rome, on the Albanian Mountains, having an area of 2-.33 sq. m. and of -(12,5 sq. m., respectively, and an altitude of 961 ft. and of 1050 ft. Lake Albano having a depth of 558 ft., and Lake Nemi, a depth of 112 ft.; lastly, Lakes Averno, Agnano, and Lucrino, with others, in the Campi Flegrei, and Lake Gurrita, to the north- west of Mt. Etna, (c) Coast Lakes. — The Italian region abounds in lakes of this kind, but in many cases, rather than lakes, they are swamps that should be drained and their sites redeemed for agriculture. Among them the best-known are Lake Varano, to the north of Mt. Gargano; that of Salpi, between the Ofanto and the Carapella Rivers; LakeLesina; Lake Massaciucoli, near the mouth of the Serchio (nearly 25 sq. miles); Lake Orlietello to the east of Mt. Argentario, with an area of 10 sq. miles; Lake Salso between the Carapella and Manf redonia ; Lake Fondi to the east of Terracina ; and the Lake of Fogliano, to the west of the Pontine Marshes; the lakes of Alimeni, in the Salentine penin- sula; the swamps of Quartu, near Cagliari.
(3) Canals. — There is no country in which a system for the distribution of waters is more complete than is that of northern Italy, a pre-eminence which the
other portions of the kingdom do not share. In the
country between the Adda and the Ticino, especially,
a close network of canals and ditches, rivulets and
aqueducts, now meeting, now separating from each
other, intersecting or passing over and imder one an-
other, makes all the waters, whether of spring, river, or
rain, available. Probably works of this kind existed
in ancient times; it is certain, however, that they were
resvimed in the twelfth century; and from that time,
the Italians spent enormous sums of money on this
undertaking and employed in it a .special intelligence
that estabUshed their position as the first hyilrolcigists
of Europe. There is no greater maiiifcstaliou of the
wealth and of the civilization of medieval Italian Re-
publics than these gigantic works.
Physical Divisions. — Northern Italy is divided into the following regions, Piedmont, Lombardy, Venice, Emilia, and Liguria, which are politically subdivided
Certosa di Val d'Ema, near Florence
Founded 1341
into provinces. Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venice are the subjects of special articles.
Emilia is subdivided into the provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ravenna, Reggio neir Emilia. Emilia, a region through which passes the ancient Emilian Way, whence the name, is quadrilateral in shape and embraces the territory formed by the north-east watershed of the Northern Apennines, and by the triangular plain, the sides of which are the Emilian Way, the Po, and the Adriatic Sea. The former is a rolling country ploughed by tor- rential streams that have washed out deep valleys, on which account its inhabitants live on the moimtain sides; the apex of the triangular plain points towards Piacenza, while the base between Rimini and the mouths of the Po attains a length of 60 miles. It is a part of the great plain of the Po, the origin and nature of which it shares. In the district between Ferrara, the Po della Maestra, and Ravenna, it has lands that have not yet been drained, containing the so-called valli or lagoons of Comacchio, abounding in fish, and near which stands the town of the same name. They are connected with the sea by the Magna vacca Canal. Some of these valleys, like the polders of Holland, have been drained and are very fertile. The River Reno divides tliis region into two parts: the western, Emilia properly so-called, and the eastern, Romagna, a name that re- calls the time when Ravenna was capital of the West- ern Roman Empire, and therefore called Romandiola, meaning Little Rome. All the roads from France, Germany, and Austria that lead directly to Brindisi, and by the Suez Canal to the Indies, pass through Emilia. The clunate of this region is almost the same as that of the Continent, and agriculture is its chief industry, principally corn, sugar-beet, and cattle raising. In the lands around Bologna and Ferrara the cultivation of hemp predominates, of which staple
