hospital on the Coelian. The rebuilding of the Palazzo del Parlamento is only second to the enormous monument of Victor Emanuel II. The majority of the buildings erected by individuals and corporations since 1870 present no original or characteristic features, and the best of them are copies or imitations of well-known models. The Cassa del Risparmio, in the Corso, reproduces a Florentine palace; the Palazzo Negroni, near the Piazza Nicotia, is modelled on the Cancelleria and the Palazzo Giraud; many of the large, residences in the new quarters beyond the Tiber are fairly good copies of palaces in the Florentine style, though the magnificent carved stone of earlier centuries is disadvantageously replaced by stucco, a material which lasts tolerably well in the mild climate of Rome. Opposite the beautiful and severe Palazzo di Venezia, what might have been a faultless reproduction of it is marred by tasteless ornament. Finally, so far as the construction of new streets is concerned, which lovers of the picturesque so greatly deplore, it must be admitted that they have been rendered necessary by the great increase of traffic and population, and it should be remembered that after the 16th century the wisest of the popes did their best to open up the city by widening and straightening the thoroughfares.
Municipal Administration.—After the taking of Rome, those persons who remained loyal to Pius IX. took no part whatever in public affairs, and the municipal administration was entirely in the hands of the monarchists. The expression “nè eletti nè elettori,” meaning that Catholics are to be neither voters nor candidates, which came to be regarded as a sort of rule of the party, was invented at that time by an epigrammatic journalist, and it seems at first to have been applied also to municipal matters, whereas it was later understood to refer only to parliamentary elections. Leo XIII. encouraged the formation of a Catholic party in the municipal administration, and the municipal government drifted largely into the hands of Catholics, though circumstances make it necessary that the Syndic (Mayor) should always, be a royalist. Between 1870 and the end of the century the socialist party had no great influence in Rome, which can never be a city of manufacturing interests. For purposes of municipal government the division of the city into districts has been modified, but the old division into fourteen rioni is adhered to in principle, the new quarters of Castro Pretorio and the Esquiline having been included in the first Rione, which still bears the name of “Monti.” The municipality consists of a mayor and eighty communal councillors, of whom a large proportion were for many years members of the aristocracy. Later, however, the three democratic parties, known as the monarchist, socialist and republican, united to form a popular coalition, and succeeded in completely excluding the conservative, aristocratic and Catholic elements.
Population.—The population in 1870 was 226,022, as against 462,743 in 1901 (communal population). It therefore more than doubled in thirty years. The increase, however, did not take place at a regular rate, owing to the changes in the rates of immigration and emigration. The largest increase was in 1870, reaching 22,186; the next most important in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, in which years it constantly remained near 20,000. The least increase in later years was 4417 in 1891. The garrison of Rome is about 10,000 men. Careful inquiry has placed it beyond doubt that there are in Rome about the same number of ecclesiastics of all orders, including about 1500 students in the theological seminaries. The average birth-rate is lower in Rome than in the majority of great cities. The number of births increased after 1870 very nearly in proportion with the increase of population.
Climate and Hygiene.—The climate of Rome is mild and sunny, but the variation in temperature between day and night is very great. December and February appear to be the coldest months, the thermometer then averaging 47° F.; the greatest heat, which averages 75°, is felt in July and August. The surrounding Campagna is still not all habitable during the summer, though the dangerous malaria has been checked by the planting of numerous eucalyptus trees. A remarkable instance of the effect produced upon the marshy soil by these plantations may be studied at the Trappist monastery of the Tre Fontane, situated on the Via Ardeatina, about 4 m. from Rome. Whereas in former times it was almost always fatal to spend the whole summer there, the monks have so far dried the soil by means of the eucalyptus that they reside in the monastery throughout the year. The municipality has everywhere made strenuous efforts to reduce the mortality due to malaria; in 1890, 14% of all the deaths in Rome and the Campagna were attributed to this cause; in 1905 the proportion had dropped to 3%. Very large sums have been expended in a scientific system of drainage and sub-drainage on both sides of the Tiber, and the use of wire gauze mosquito nets for the doors and windows of the humblest habitations in the Campagna has contributed much to the present satisfactory result. The hygienic conditions of Rome itself have greatly improved, largely through the ceaseless efforts of Commendatore Baccelli, a distinguished man of science, who repeatedly held office in the Italian Ministry. The publication of exceedingly accurate graphic tables in February 1900 shows the following facts. Ninety per 1000 deaths occurred in 1871 from typhoid (the so-called “Roman fever”), and the average has now fallen to a low constant. Deaths from small-pox, formerly of alarming frequency, can be said not to occur at all, and their numbers diminished suddenly after the introduction of compulsory vaccination.
Charities and Education.—A great number of small charitable institutions for children and old people have been founded, which are organized on the most modern principles, and in many of these charitable persons of the upper classes give their individual assistance to the poor. There are also private hospitals for diseases of the eye, in which poor patients are lodged and treated without payment. There are two hospitals entirely maintained by private resources, where infants are treated whose mothers fear to send them to a public hospital, or in cases refused by the latter as not being serious enough for admission. Of course, the numbers of the poor greatly increased with the growth of population, especially after the failure of building speculations between 1888 and 1890, though great efforts were made by the municipality to send all persons then thrown out of employment back to their homes. One of the difficulties under which Rome labours is that while it attracts the population of the country, as other capitals do, it possesses no great mechanical industries in which the newcomers can be employed. Efforts to create small industries in the populous quarters of the poor met with little success. Before 1870 a society was formed, which has since greatly developed as an intelligent private enterprise, to provide the poor with sanitary tenements; but its success is much hampered by the absence of employment, which again is partly due to the heavy taxation of small industries. A number of trade schools are also maintained by private funds, such as the Instituto degli Artigianelli, managed by the Fratelli della Dottrina Cristiana, and the Ricovero pei Fanciulli Abbandonati (home for friendless children), which is under lay management and has flourishing workshops. The character of official charities has certainly improved in principle, so far as their educational and moral scope are concerned; for whereas in former times the limited number of the poor made individual and almost paternal relief possible, that form of charity had a pauperizing influence. If anything, the present tendency is to go too far in the opposite direction, and to require too many formalities before any relief is granted; and while the union of the principal charities under a central management on advanced theories improved the methods of administration, it destroyed numerous small sources of immediate relief on which the poor had a traditional right to count, and was in that way productive of hardship. At the same time, however, mutual benefit societies (società di mutuo soccorso) have been organized in great numbers by the different crafts and professions, and are chiefly distinguishable by the political parties to which they belong. It is characteristic of the modern Roman people that the most widely different elements subsist without showing any signs of amalgamating, yet without attacking each other. Some of these societies have an exclusively clerical character, others are merely conservative, some consist of monarchists and some of avowed republicans.
Popular education is principally in the hands of the municipality, but besides the public schools there are numerous religious institutions attended by the children of the lower classes; they follow the curriculum prescribed by the government, and are under the constant supervision of municipal inspectors, both as regards their teaching and their hygiene. The pope also expends large sums in the maintenance of the people's schools, managed entirely by laymen, and also under government inspection. For education of the higher grade, besides the regular lyceums and gymnasiums, there are many private schools similarly designated from which pupils can present themselves for the regular government examinations,
