In March 1907 the Italian navy contained, excluding ships of no fighting value:—Effective.Completing.Projected.Modern battleships443Old battleships10....Armoured cruisers62..Protected cruisers14....Torpedo gunboats13....Destroyers13410Modern torpedo boats34..15Submarines142The four modern ships—the “Vittorio Emanuele” class, laid down in 1897—have a tonnage of 12,625, two 12-in. and twelve 8-in. guns, an I.H.P. of 19,000, and a designed speed of 22 knots, being intended to avoid any battleship and to carry enough guns to destroy any cruiser.Thepersonnelon active service consisted of 1799 officers and 25,000 men, the former being doubled and the latter trebled since 1882.Naval expenditure has enormously increased since 1871, the total for 1871 having been about £900,000, and the total for 1905-1906 over £5,100,000. Violent fluctuations have, however, taken place from year to year, according to the state of Italian finances. To permit the steady execution of a normal programme of shipbuilding, the Italian Chamber, in May 1901, adopted a resolution limiting naval expenditure, inclusive of naval pensions and of premiums on mercantile shipbuilding, to the sum of £4,840,000 for the following six years,i.e.from 1st July 1901 until 30th June 1907. This sum consists of £4,240,000 of naval expenditure proper, £220,000 for naval pensions and £380,000 for premiums upon mercantile shipbuilding. During the financial year ending on the 30th of June 1901 these figures were slightly exceeded.
In March 1907 the Italian navy contained, excluding ships of no fighting value:—
The four modern ships—the “Vittorio Emanuele” class, laid down in 1897—have a tonnage of 12,625, two 12-in. and twelve 8-in. guns, an I.H.P. of 19,000, and a designed speed of 22 knots, being intended to avoid any battleship and to carry enough guns to destroy any cruiser.
Thepersonnelon active service consisted of 1799 officers and 25,000 men, the former being doubled and the latter trebled since 1882.
Naval expenditure has enormously increased since 1871, the total for 1871 having been about £900,000, and the total for 1905-1906 over £5,100,000. Violent fluctuations have, however, taken place from year to year, according to the state of Italian finances. To permit the steady execution of a normal programme of shipbuilding, the Italian Chamber, in May 1901, adopted a resolution limiting naval expenditure, inclusive of naval pensions and of premiums on mercantile shipbuilding, to the sum of £4,840,000 for the following six years,i.e.from 1st July 1901 until 30th June 1907. This sum consists of £4,240,000 of naval expenditure proper, £220,000 for naval pensions and £380,000 for premiums upon mercantile shipbuilding. During the financial year ending on the 30th of June 1901 these figures were slightly exceeded.
Finance.—The volume of the Italian budget has considerably increased as regards both income and expenditure. The income of £60,741,418 in 1881 rose in 1899-1900 to £69,917,126; while the expenditure increased from £58,705,929 in 1881 to £69,708,706 in 1899-1900, an increase of £9,175,708 in income and £11,002,777 in expenditure, while there has been a still further increase since, the figures for 1905-1906 showing (excluding items which figure on both sides of the account) an increase of £8,766,995 in income and £5,434,560 in expenditure over 1899-1900. These figures include not only the categories of “income and expenditure” proper, but also those known as “movement of capital,” “railway constructions” and “partite di giro” which do not constitute real income and expenditure.6Considering only income and expenditure proper, the approximate totals are:—
Financial Year.Revenue.Expenditure.Surpluses orDeficits.1882£52,064,800£51,904,800£+ 160,0001885-188656,364,00057,304,400− 940,0001890-189161,600,00064,601,600−3,001,6001895-189665,344,00067,962,800−2,618,8001898-189966,352,80065,046,400+1,306,4001899-190066,860,80065,323,600+1,537,2001900-190168,829,20066,094,400+2,734,8001905-190677,684,10075,143,300+2,540,900The financial year 1862 closed with a deficit of more than £16,000,000, which increased in 1866 to £28,840,000 on account of the preparations for the war against Austria. Excepting the increases of deficit in 1868 and 1870, the annual deficits tended thenceforward to decrease, until in 1875 equilibrium between expenditure and revenue was attained, and was maintained until 1881. Advantage was taken of the equilibrium to abolish certain imposts, amongst them the grist tax, which prior to its gradual repeal produced more than £3,200,000 a year. From 1885-1886 onwards, outlay on public works, military and colonial expenditure, and especially the commercial and financial crises, contributed to produce annual deficits; but owing to drastic reforms introduced in 1894-1895 and to careful management the year 1898-1899 marked a return of surpluses (nearly £1,306,400).The revenue in the Italian financial year 1905-1906 (July 1, 1905 to June 30, 1906) was £102,486,108, and the expenditure £99,945,253, or, subtracting thepartite di giro, £99,684,121 and £97,143,266, leaving a surplus of £2,540,855.7The surplus was made up by contributions from every branch of the effective revenue, except the “contributions and repayments from local authorities.” The railways showed an increase of £351,685; registration transfer and succession, £295,560; direct taxation, £42,136 (mainly from income tax, which more than made up for the remission of the house tax in the districts of Calabria visited by the earthquake of 1906); customs and excise, £1,036,742; government monopolies, £291,027; posts, £41,310; telegraphs, £23,364; telephones, £65,771. Of the surplus £1,000,000 was allocated to the improvement of posts, telegraphs and telephones; £1,000,000 to public works (£720,000 for harbour improvement and £280,000 for internal navigation); £200,000 to the navy (£132,000 for a second dry dock at Taranto and £68,000 for coal purchase); and £200,000 as a nucleus of a fund for the purchase of valuable works of art which are in danger of exportation.The state therefore draws its principal revenues from the imposts, the taxes and the monopolies. According to the Italian tributary system, “imposts,” properly so called are those upon land, buildings and personal estate. The impost upon land isTaxation.based upon the cadastral survey independently of the vicissitudes of harvests. In 1869 the main quota to the impost was increased by one-tenth, in addition to the extra two-tenths previously imposed in 1866. Subsequently, it was decided to repeal these additional tenths, the first being abolished in 1886 and the rest in 1887. On account of the inequalities still existing in the cadastral survey, in spite of the law of 1886 (seeAgriculture, above), great differences are found in the land tax assessments in various parts of Italy. Land is not so heavily burdened by the government quota as by the additional centimes imposed by the provincial and communal authorities. On an average Italian landowners pay nearly 25% of their revenues from land in government and local land tax. The buildings impost has been assessed since 1866 upon the basis of 12.50% of “taxable revenue.” Taxable revenue corresponds to two-thirds of actual income from factories and to three-fourths of actual income from houses; it is ascertained by the agents of the financial administration. In 1869, however, a third additional tenth was added to the previously existing additional two-tenths, and, unlike the tenths of the land tax, they have not been abolished. At present the main quota with the additional three-tenths amounts to 16.25% of taxable income. The imposts on incomes from personal estate (ricchezza mobile) were introduced in 1866; it applies to incomes derived from investments, industry or personal enterprise, but not to landed revenues. It is proportional, and is collected by deduction from salaries and pensions paid to servants of the state, where it is assessed on three-eighths of the income, and from interest on consolidated stock, where it is assessed on the whole amount; and by register in the cases of private individuals, who pay on three-fourths of their income, professional men, capitalists or manufacturers, who pay on one-half or nine-twentieths of their income. From 1871 to 1894 it was assessed at 13.20% of taxable income, this quota being formed of 12% main quota and 1.20% as an additional tenth. In 1894 the quota, including the additional tenth, was raised to the uniform level of 20%. One-tenth of the tax is paid to the communes as compensation for revenues made over to the state.Taxes proper are divided into (a) taxes on business transactions and (b) taxes on articles of consumption. The former apply principally to successions, stamps, registrations, mortgages, &c.; the latter to distilleries, breweries, explosives, native sugar and matches, though the customs revenue and octrois upon articles of general consumption, such as corn, wine, spirits, meat, flour, petroleum, butter, tea, coffee and sugar, may be considered as belonging to this class. The monopolies are those of salt, tobacco and the lottery.Since 1880, while income from the salt and lotto monopolies has remained almost stationary, and that from land tax and octroi has diminished, revenue derived from all other sources has notably increased, especially that from the income tax on personal estate, and the customs, the yield from which has been nearly doubled.It will be seen that the revenue is swollen by a large number of taxes which can only be justified by necessity; the reduction and, still more, the readjustment of taxation (which now largely falls on articles of primary necessity) is urgently needed. The government in presenting the estimates for 1907-1908 proposed to set aside a sum of nearly £800,000 every year for this express purpose. It must be remembered that the sums realized by the octroi go in the main to the various communes. It is only in Rome and Naples that the octroi is collected directly by the government, which pays over a certain proportion to the respective communes.The external taxation is not only strongly protectionist, but isapplied to goods which cannot be made in Italy; hardly anything comes in duty free, even such articles as second-hand furniture paying duty, unless within six months of the date at which the importer has declared domicile in Italy. The application, too, is somewhat rigorous,e.g.the tax on electric light is applied to foreign ships generating their own electricity while lying in Italian ports.The annual consumption per inhabitant of certain kinds of food and drink has considerably increased,e.g.grain from 270 ℔ per head in 1884-1885 to 321 ℔ in 1901-1902 (maize remains almost stationary at 158 ℔); wine from 73 to 125 litres per head; oil from 12 to 13 ℔ per head (sugar is almost stationary at 7¼ ℔ per head, and coffee at about 1 ℔); salt from 14 to 16 ℔ per head. Tobacco slightly diminished in weight at a little over 1 ℔ per head, while the gross receipts are considerably increased—by over 2¼ millions sterling since 1884-1885—showing that the quality consumed is much better. The annual expenditure on tobacco was 5s. per inhabitant in 1902-1903, and is increasing.The annual surpluses are largely accounted for by the heavy taxation on almost everything imported into the country,8and by the monopolies on tobacco and on salt; and are as a rule spent, and well spent, in other ways. Thus, that of 1907-1908 was devoted mainly to raising the salaries of government officials and university professors; even then the maximum for both (in the former class, for an under-secretary of state) was only £500 per annum. The case is frequent, too, in which a project is sanctioned by law, but is then not carried into execution, or only partly so, owing to the lack of funds. Additional stamp duties and taxes were imposed in 1909 to meet the expenditure necessitated by the disastrous earthquake at the end of 1908.The way in which the taxes press on the poor may be shown by the number of small proprietors sold up owing to inability to pay the land and other taxes. In 1882 the number of landed proprietors was 14.52% of the population, in 1902 only 12.66, with an actual diminution of some 30,000. Had the percentage of 1882 been kept up there would have been in 1902 600,000 more proprietors than there were. Between 1884 and 1902 no fewer than 220,616 sales were effected for failure to pay taxes, while, from 1886 to 1902, 79,208 expropriations were effected for other debts not due to the state. In 1884 there were 20,422 sales, of which 35.28% were for debts of 4s. or less, and 51.95 for debts between 4s. and £2; in 1902 there were 4857 sales, but only 11.01% for debts under 4s. (the treasury having given up proceeding in cases where the property is a tiny piece of ground, sometimes hardly capable of cultivation), and 55.69% for debts between 4s. and £2. The expropriations deal as a rule with properties of higher value; of these there were 3217 in 1886, 5993 in 1892 (a period of agricultural depression), 3910 in 1902. About 22% of them are for debts under £40, about 49% from £40 to £200, about 26% from £200 to £2000.Of the expenditure a large amount is absorbed by interest on debt.Expenditure.Debt has continually increased with the development of the state. The sum paid in interest on debt amounted to £17,640,000 in 1871, £19,440,000 in 1881, £25,600,000 in 1891-1892 and £27,560,000 in 1899-1900; but had been reduced to £23,100,409 by the 30th of June 1906. The public debt at that date was composed as follows:—Part I.—Funded Debt.Grand Livre—Amount.Consolidated 5%£316,141,802” 3%6,404,335” 4½% net28,872,511” 4% net7,875,592” 3½% net37,689,880—————Total£396,984,120Debts to be transferred to the Grand Livre60,868Perpetual annuity to the Holy See2,580,000Perpetual debts (Modena, Sicily, Naples)2,591,807Total£402,216,795—————Part II.—Unfunded Debt.Debts separately inscribed in the Grand Livre10,042,027Various railway obligations, redeemable, &c.56,375,351Sicilian indemnities195,348Capital value of annual payment to South Austrian Company37,102,908Long date Treasury warrants, law of July 7, 19011,416,200Railway certificates (3.65% net), Art. 6 of law, June 25, 1905, No. 26114,220,000—————Total£119,351,834Part I.£402,216,795—————Grand Total£521,568,629The debt per head of population was, in 1905, £14, 16s. 3d., and the interest 13s. 5d.In July 1906 the 5% gross (4% net), and 4% net rente were successfully converted into 3¾% stock (to be reduced to 3½% after five years), to a total amount of £324,017,393. The demands for reimbursement at par represented a sum of only £187,588 and the market value of the stock was hardly affected; while the saving to the Treasury was to be £800,000 per annum for the first five years and about double the amount afterwards.Currency.—Thelira(plurallire) of 100centesimi(centimes) is equal in value to the French franc. The total coinage (exclusive of Eritrean currency) from the 1st of January 1862 to the end of 1907 was 1,104,667,116 lire (exclusive of recoinage), divided as follows: gold, 427,516,970 lire; silver, 570,097,025 lire; nickel, 23,417,000 lire; bronze, 83,636,121 lire. The forced paper currency, instituted in 1866, was abolished in 1881, in which year were dissolved the Union of Banks of Issue created in 1874 to furnish to the state treasury a milliard of lire in notes, guaranteed collectively by the banks. Part of the Union notes were redeemed, part replaced by 10 lire and 5 lire state notes, payable at sight in metallic legal tender by certain state banks. Nevertheless the law of 1881 did not succeed in maintaining the value of the state notes at a par with the metallic currency, and from 1885 onwards there reappeared a gold premium, which during 1899 and 1900 remained at about 7%, but subsequently fell to about 3% and has since 1902 practically disappeared. The paper circulation to the debit of the state and the paper currency issued by the authorized state banks is shown below:—Date.Direct Liability of State.Notes issuedby StateBanks.AggregatePaperCurrency.State Notes.Bons deCaisse.*Lire.Lire.Lire.Lire.31st December1881940,000,000..735,579,1971,675,579,197”1886446,665,535..1,031,869,7121,478,535,247”1891341,949,237..1,121,601,0791,463,550,316”1896400,000,000110,000,0001,069,233,3761,579,233,376”1899451,431,78042,138,1521,180,110,3301,673,680,262”1905441,304,7801,874,1841,406,474,8001,848,657,764* These ceased to have legal currency at the end of 1901; they were notes of 1 and 2 lire.Banks.—Until 1893 the juridical status of the Banks of Issue was regulated by the laws of the 30th of April 1874 on paper currency and of the 7th of April 1881 on the abolition of forced currency. At that time four limited companies were authorized to issue bank notes, namely, the National Bank, the National Bank of Tuscany, the Roman Bank and the Tuscan Credit Bank; and two banking corporations, the Bank of Naples and the Bank of Sicily. In 1893 the Roman Bank was put into liquidation, and the other three limited companies were fused, so as to create the Bank of Italy, the privilege of issuing bank notes being thenceforward confined to the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Naples and the Bank of Sicily. The gold reserve in the possession of the Banca d’Italia on September 30th 1907 amounted to £32,240,984, and the silver reserve to £4,767,861; the foreign treasury bonds, &c. amounted to £3,324,074, making the total reserve £40,332,919; while the circulation amounted to £54,612,234. The figures were on the 31st of December 1906:PaperCirculation.Reserve.Banca d’Italia£47,504,352£36,979,235Banca di Napoli13,893,1529,756,284Banca di Sicilia2,813,6922,060,481Total£64,211,196£48,796,000This is considerably in excess of the circulation, £40,404,000, fixed by royal decree of 1900; but the issue of additional notes was allowed, provided they were entirely covered by a metallic reserve, whereas up to the fixed limit a 40% reserve only was necessary. These notes are of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 lire; while the state issues notes for 5, 10 and 25 lire, the currency of these at the end of October 1906 being £17,546,967; with a total guarantee of £15,636,000 held against them. They were in January 1908 equal in value to the metallic currency of gold and silver.The price of Italian consolidated 5% (gross, 4% net, allowing for the 20% income tax) stock, which is the security most largely negotiated abroad, and used in settling differences between large financial institutions, has steadily risen during recent years. After being depressed between 1885 and 1894, the prices in Italy and abroad reached, in 1899, on the Rome Stock Exchange, the average of 100.83 and of 94.8 on the Paris Bourse. By the end of 1901 the price of Italian stock on the Paris Bourse had, however, risen to par or thereabouts. The average price of Italian 4% in 1905 was 105.29; since the conversion to 3¾% net (to be further reduced to 3½ in five more years), the price has been about 103.5. Rates of exchange, or, in other words the gold premium, favoured Italy during the years immediately following the abolition of the forced currency in 1881. In 1885, however, rates tended to rise, and though they fell in 1886 they subsequently increased to such an extent as to reach 110% at the end of August 1894. For the next four years they continuedlow, but rose again in 1898 and 1899. In 1900 the maximum rate was 107.32, and the minimum 105.40, but in 1901 rates fell considerably, and were at par in 1902-1909.There are in Italy six clearing houses, namely, the ancient one at Leghorn, and those of Genoa, Milan, Rome, Florence and Turin, founded since 1882.The number of ordinary banks, which diminished between 1889 and 1894, increased in the following years, and was 158 in 1898. At the same time the capital employed in banking decreased by nearly one-half, namely, from about £12,360,000 in 1880 to about £6,520,000 in 1898. This decrease was due to the liquidation of a number of large and small banks, amongst others the Bank of Genoa, the General Bank, and the Società di Credito Mobiliare Italiano of Rome, and the Genoa Discount Bank—establishments which alone represented £4,840,000 of paid-up capital. Ordinary credit operations are also carried on by the co-operative credit societies, of which there are some 700.Certain banks make a special business of lending money to owners of land or buildings (credito fondiario). Loans are repayable by instalments, and are guaranteed by first mortgages not greater in amount than half the value of the hypothecatedAgrarian Credit Banks.property. The banks may buy up mortgages and advance money on current account on the security of land or buildings. The development of the large cities has induced these banks to turn their attention rather to building enterprise than to mortgages on rural property. The value of their land certificates orcartelle fondiarie(representing capital in circulation) rose from £10,420,000 in 1881 to £15,560,000 in 1886, and to £30,720,000 in 1891, but fell to £29,320,000 in 1896, to £27,360,000 in 1898, and to £24,360,000 in 1907; the amount of money lent increased from £10,440,000 in 1881 to £15,600,000 in 1886, and £30,800,000 in 1891, but fell to £29,320,000 in 1896, to £27,360,000 in 1899, and to £21,720,000 in 1907. The diminution was due to the law of the 10th of April 1893 upon the banks of issue, by which they were obliged to liquidate the loan and mortgage business they had previously carried on.Various laws have been passed to facilitate agrarian credit. The law of the 23rd of January 1887 (still in force) extended the dispositions of the Civil Code with regard to “privileges,”9and established special “privileges” in regard to harvested produce, produce stored in barns and farm buildings, and in regard to agricultural implements. Loans on mortgage may also be granted to landowners and agricultural unions, with a view to the introduction of agricultural improvements. These loans are regulated by special disposition, and are guaranteed by a share of the increased value of the land after the improvements have been carried out. Agrarian credit banks may, with the permission of the government, issuecartelle agrarie, or agrarian bonds, repayable by instalments and bearing interest.Internal Administration.—It was not till 1865 that the administrative unity of Italy was realized. Up to that year some of the regions of the kingdom, such as Tuscany, continued to have a kind of autonomy; but by the laws of the 20th of March the whole country was divided into 69 provinces and 8545 communes. The extent to which communal independence had been maintained in Italy through all the centuries of its political disintegration was strongly in its favour. The syndic (sindaco) or chief magistrate of the commune was appointed by the king for three years, and he was assisted by a “municipal junta.”Local government was modified by the law of the 10th of February 1889 and by posterior enactments. The syndics (or mayors) are now elected by a secret ballot of the communal council, though they are still government officials. In the provincial administrations the functions of the prefects have been curtailed. Each province has a prefect, responsible to and appointed by the Ministry of the Interior, while each of the regions (called variouslycircondariianddistretti) has its sub-prefect. Whereas the prefect was formerlyex-officiopresident of the provincial deputation or executive committee of the provincial council, his duties under the present law are reduced to mere participation in the management of provincial affairs, the president of the provincial deputation being chosen among and elected by the members of the deputation. The most important change introduced by the new law has been the creation in every province of a provincial administrative junta entrusted with the supervision of communal administrations, a function previously discharged by the provincial deputation. Each provincial administrative junta is composed, in part, of government nominees, and in larger part of elective elements, elected by the provincial council for four years, half of whom require to be elected every two years. The acts of communal administration requiring the sanction of the provincial administrative junta are chiefly financial. Both communal councils and prefects may appeal to the government against the decision of the provincial administrative juntas, the government being guided by the opinion of the Council of State. Besides possessing competence in regard to local government elections, which previously came within the jurisdiction of the provincial deputations, the provincial administrative juntas discharge magisterial functions in administrative affairs, and deal with appeals presented by private persons against acts of the communal and provincial administrations. The juntas are in this respect organs of the administrative jurisprudence created in Italy by the law of the 1st of May 1890, in order to provide juridical protection for those rights and interests outside the competence of the ordinary tribunals. The provincial council only meets once a year in ordinary session.The former qualifications for electorship in local government elections have been modified, and it is now sufficient to pay five lire annually in direct taxes, five lire of certain communal taxes, or a certain rental (which varies according to the population of a commune), instead of being obliged to pay, as previously, at least five lire annually of direct taxes to the state. In consequence of this change the number of local electors increased by more than one-third between 1887-1889; it decreased, however, as a result of an extraordinary revision of the registers in 1894. The period for which both communal and provincial councils are elected is six years, one-half being renewed every three years.The ratio of local electors to population is in Piedmont 79%, but in Sicily less than 45%. The ratio of voters to qualified electors tends to increase; it is highest in Campania, Basilicata and in the south generally; the lowest percentages are given by Emilia and Liguria.Local finance is regulated by the communal and provincial law of May 1898, which instituted provincial administrative juntas, empowered to examine and sanction the acts of the communal financial administrations. The sanction of theLocal finance.provincial administrative junta is necessary for sales or purchases of property, alterations of rates (although in case of increase the junta can only act upon request of ratepayers paying an aggregate of one-twentieth of the local direct taxation), and expenditure affecting the communal budget for more than five years. The provincial administrative junta is, moreover, empowered to order “obligatory” expenditure, such as the upkeep of roads, sanitary works, lighting, police (i.e.the so-called “guardie di pubblica sicurezza,” the “carabinieri” being really a military force; only the largest towns maintain a municipal police force), charities, education, &c., in case such expenditure is neglected by the communal authorities. The cost of fire brigades, infant asylums, evening and holiday schools, is classed as “optional” expenditure. Communal revenues are drawn from the proceeds of communal property, interest upon capital, taxes and local dues. The most important of the local dues is the gate tax, ordazio di consumo, which may be either a surtax upon commodities (such as alcoholic drinks or meat), having already paid customs duty at the frontier, in which case the local surtax may not exceed 50% of the frontier duty, or an exclusively communal duty limited to 10% on flour, bread and farinaceous products,10and to 20% upon other commodities. The taxes thus vary considerably in different towns.In addition, the communes have a right to levy a surtax not exceeding 50% of the quota levied by the state upon lands and buildings; a family tax, orfuocatico, upon the total incomes of families, which, for fiscal purposes, are divided into various categories; a tax based upon the rent-value of houses, and other taxes upon cattle, horses, dogs, carriages and servants; also on licences for shopkeepers, hotel and restaurant keepers, &c.; on the slaughter of animals, stamp duties, one-half of the tax on bicycles, &c. Occasional sources of interest are found in the sale of communal property, the realization of communal credits, and the contraction of debt.The provincial administrations are entrusted with the management of the affairs of the provinces in general, as distinguished from those of the communes. Their expenditure is likewise classed as “obligatory” and “optional.” The former category comprises the maintenance of provincial roads, bridges and watercourse embankments; secondary education, whenever this is not provided for by private institutions or by the state (elementary education being maintained by the communes), and the maintenance of foundlings and pauper lunatics. “Optional” expenditure includes the cost of services of general public interest, though not strictly indispensable. Provincial revenues are drawn from provincial property, school taxes, tolls and surtaxes on land and buildings. The provincial surtaxes may not exceed 50% of the quotas levied by the state. In 1897 the total provincial revenue was £3,732,253, of which £3,460,000 was obtained from the surtax upon lands and buildings. Expenditure amounted to £3,768,888, of which the principal items were £760,000 for roads and bridges, £520,000 for lunatic asylums, £240,000 for foundling hospitals, £320,000 for interest on debt and £200,000 for police. Like communal revenue, provincial revenue has considerably increased since 1880, principally on account of the increase in the land and building surtax.The Italian local authorities, communes and provinces alike, have considerably increased their indebtedness since 1882. The ratio of communal and provincial debt per inhabitant has grownfrom 30.79 lire (£1, 4s. 7½d.) to 43.70 lire (£1, 14s. 11d.), an increase due in great part to the need for improved buildings, hygienic reforms and education, but also attributable in part to the manner in which the finances of many communes are administered. The total was in 1900, £49,496,193 for the communes and £6,908,022 for the provinces. The former total is more than double and the latter more than treble the sum in 1873, while there is an increase of 62% in the former and 26% in the latter over the totals for 1882.SeeAnnuario statistico italiano(not, however, issued regularly each year) for general statistics; and other official publications; W. Deecke,Italy; a Popular Account of the Country, its People and its Institutions(translated by H. A. Nesbitt, London, 1904); B. King and T. Okey,Italy to-day(London, 1901); E. Nathan,Vent’ Anni di vita italiana attraverso all’ Annuario(Rome, 1906); G. Strafforello,Geografia dell’ Italia(Turin, 1890-1902).
The financial year 1862 closed with a deficit of more than £16,000,000, which increased in 1866 to £28,840,000 on account of the preparations for the war against Austria. Excepting the increases of deficit in 1868 and 1870, the annual deficits tended thenceforward to decrease, until in 1875 equilibrium between expenditure and revenue was attained, and was maintained until 1881. Advantage was taken of the equilibrium to abolish certain imposts, amongst them the grist tax, which prior to its gradual repeal produced more than £3,200,000 a year. From 1885-1886 onwards, outlay on public works, military and colonial expenditure, and especially the commercial and financial crises, contributed to produce annual deficits; but owing to drastic reforms introduced in 1894-1895 and to careful management the year 1898-1899 marked a return of surpluses (nearly £1,306,400).
The revenue in the Italian financial year 1905-1906 (July 1, 1905 to June 30, 1906) was £102,486,108, and the expenditure £99,945,253, or, subtracting thepartite di giro, £99,684,121 and £97,143,266, leaving a surplus of £2,540,855.7The surplus was made up by contributions from every branch of the effective revenue, except the “contributions and repayments from local authorities.” The railways showed an increase of £351,685; registration transfer and succession, £295,560; direct taxation, £42,136 (mainly from income tax, which more than made up for the remission of the house tax in the districts of Calabria visited by the earthquake of 1906); customs and excise, £1,036,742; government monopolies, £291,027; posts, £41,310; telegraphs, £23,364; telephones, £65,771. Of the surplus £1,000,000 was allocated to the improvement of posts, telegraphs and telephones; £1,000,000 to public works (£720,000 for harbour improvement and £280,000 for internal navigation); £200,000 to the navy (£132,000 for a second dry dock at Taranto and £68,000 for coal purchase); and £200,000 as a nucleus of a fund for the purchase of valuable works of art which are in danger of exportation.
The state therefore draws its principal revenues from the imposts, the taxes and the monopolies. According to the Italian tributary system, “imposts,” properly so called are those upon land, buildings and personal estate. The impost upon land isTaxation.based upon the cadastral survey independently of the vicissitudes of harvests. In 1869 the main quota to the impost was increased by one-tenth, in addition to the extra two-tenths previously imposed in 1866. Subsequently, it was decided to repeal these additional tenths, the first being abolished in 1886 and the rest in 1887. On account of the inequalities still existing in the cadastral survey, in spite of the law of 1886 (seeAgriculture, above), great differences are found in the land tax assessments in various parts of Italy. Land is not so heavily burdened by the government quota as by the additional centimes imposed by the provincial and communal authorities. On an average Italian landowners pay nearly 25% of their revenues from land in government and local land tax. The buildings impost has been assessed since 1866 upon the basis of 12.50% of “taxable revenue.” Taxable revenue corresponds to two-thirds of actual income from factories and to three-fourths of actual income from houses; it is ascertained by the agents of the financial administration. In 1869, however, a third additional tenth was added to the previously existing additional two-tenths, and, unlike the tenths of the land tax, they have not been abolished. At present the main quota with the additional three-tenths amounts to 16.25% of taxable income. The imposts on incomes from personal estate (ricchezza mobile) were introduced in 1866; it applies to incomes derived from investments, industry or personal enterprise, but not to landed revenues. It is proportional, and is collected by deduction from salaries and pensions paid to servants of the state, where it is assessed on three-eighths of the income, and from interest on consolidated stock, where it is assessed on the whole amount; and by register in the cases of private individuals, who pay on three-fourths of their income, professional men, capitalists or manufacturers, who pay on one-half or nine-twentieths of their income. From 1871 to 1894 it was assessed at 13.20% of taxable income, this quota being formed of 12% main quota and 1.20% as an additional tenth. In 1894 the quota, including the additional tenth, was raised to the uniform level of 20%. One-tenth of the tax is paid to the communes as compensation for revenues made over to the state.
Taxes proper are divided into (a) taxes on business transactions and (b) taxes on articles of consumption. The former apply principally to successions, stamps, registrations, mortgages, &c.; the latter to distilleries, breweries, explosives, native sugar and matches, though the customs revenue and octrois upon articles of general consumption, such as corn, wine, spirits, meat, flour, petroleum, butter, tea, coffee and sugar, may be considered as belonging to this class. The monopolies are those of salt, tobacco and the lottery.
Since 1880, while income from the salt and lotto monopolies has remained almost stationary, and that from land tax and octroi has diminished, revenue derived from all other sources has notably increased, especially that from the income tax on personal estate, and the customs, the yield from which has been nearly doubled.
It will be seen that the revenue is swollen by a large number of taxes which can only be justified by necessity; the reduction and, still more, the readjustment of taxation (which now largely falls on articles of primary necessity) is urgently needed. The government in presenting the estimates for 1907-1908 proposed to set aside a sum of nearly £800,000 every year for this express purpose. It must be remembered that the sums realized by the octroi go in the main to the various communes. It is only in Rome and Naples that the octroi is collected directly by the government, which pays over a certain proportion to the respective communes.
The external taxation is not only strongly protectionist, but isapplied to goods which cannot be made in Italy; hardly anything comes in duty free, even such articles as second-hand furniture paying duty, unless within six months of the date at which the importer has declared domicile in Italy. The application, too, is somewhat rigorous,e.g.the tax on electric light is applied to foreign ships generating their own electricity while lying in Italian ports.
The annual consumption per inhabitant of certain kinds of food and drink has considerably increased,e.g.grain from 270 ℔ per head in 1884-1885 to 321 ℔ in 1901-1902 (maize remains almost stationary at 158 ℔); wine from 73 to 125 litres per head; oil from 12 to 13 ℔ per head (sugar is almost stationary at 7¼ ℔ per head, and coffee at about 1 ℔); salt from 14 to 16 ℔ per head. Tobacco slightly diminished in weight at a little over 1 ℔ per head, while the gross receipts are considerably increased—by over 2¼ millions sterling since 1884-1885—showing that the quality consumed is much better. The annual expenditure on tobacco was 5s. per inhabitant in 1902-1903, and is increasing.
The annual surpluses are largely accounted for by the heavy taxation on almost everything imported into the country,8and by the monopolies on tobacco and on salt; and are as a rule spent, and well spent, in other ways. Thus, that of 1907-1908 was devoted mainly to raising the salaries of government officials and university professors; even then the maximum for both (in the former class, for an under-secretary of state) was only £500 per annum. The case is frequent, too, in which a project is sanctioned by law, but is then not carried into execution, or only partly so, owing to the lack of funds. Additional stamp duties and taxes were imposed in 1909 to meet the expenditure necessitated by the disastrous earthquake at the end of 1908.
The way in which the taxes press on the poor may be shown by the number of small proprietors sold up owing to inability to pay the land and other taxes. In 1882 the number of landed proprietors was 14.52% of the population, in 1902 only 12.66, with an actual diminution of some 30,000. Had the percentage of 1882 been kept up there would have been in 1902 600,000 more proprietors than there were. Between 1884 and 1902 no fewer than 220,616 sales were effected for failure to pay taxes, while, from 1886 to 1902, 79,208 expropriations were effected for other debts not due to the state. In 1884 there were 20,422 sales, of which 35.28% were for debts of 4s. or less, and 51.95 for debts between 4s. and £2; in 1902 there were 4857 sales, but only 11.01% for debts under 4s. (the treasury having given up proceeding in cases where the property is a tiny piece of ground, sometimes hardly capable of cultivation), and 55.69% for debts between 4s. and £2. The expropriations deal as a rule with properties of higher value; of these there were 3217 in 1886, 5993 in 1892 (a period of agricultural depression), 3910 in 1902. About 22% of them are for debts under £40, about 49% from £40 to £200, about 26% from £200 to £2000.
Of the expenditure a large amount is absorbed by interest on debt.Expenditure.Debt has continually increased with the development of the state. The sum paid in interest on debt amounted to £17,640,000 in 1871, £19,440,000 in 1881, £25,600,000 in 1891-1892 and £27,560,000 in 1899-1900; but had been reduced to £23,100,409 by the 30th of June 1906. The public debt at that date was composed as follows:—
The debt per head of population was, in 1905, £14, 16s. 3d., and the interest 13s. 5d.
In July 1906 the 5% gross (4% net), and 4% net rente were successfully converted into 3¾% stock (to be reduced to 3½% after five years), to a total amount of £324,017,393. The demands for reimbursement at par represented a sum of only £187,588 and the market value of the stock was hardly affected; while the saving to the Treasury was to be £800,000 per annum for the first five years and about double the amount afterwards.
Currency.—Thelira(plurallire) of 100centesimi(centimes) is equal in value to the French franc. The total coinage (exclusive of Eritrean currency) from the 1st of January 1862 to the end of 1907 was 1,104,667,116 lire (exclusive of recoinage), divided as follows: gold, 427,516,970 lire; silver, 570,097,025 lire; nickel, 23,417,000 lire; bronze, 83,636,121 lire. The forced paper currency, instituted in 1866, was abolished in 1881, in which year were dissolved the Union of Banks of Issue created in 1874 to furnish to the state treasury a milliard of lire in notes, guaranteed collectively by the banks. Part of the Union notes were redeemed, part replaced by 10 lire and 5 lire state notes, payable at sight in metallic legal tender by certain state banks. Nevertheless the law of 1881 did not succeed in maintaining the value of the state notes at a par with the metallic currency, and from 1885 onwards there reappeared a gold premium, which during 1899 and 1900 remained at about 7%, but subsequently fell to about 3% and has since 1902 practically disappeared. The paper circulation to the debit of the state and the paper currency issued by the authorized state banks is shown below:—
Banks.—Until 1893 the juridical status of the Banks of Issue was regulated by the laws of the 30th of April 1874 on paper currency and of the 7th of April 1881 on the abolition of forced currency. At that time four limited companies were authorized to issue bank notes, namely, the National Bank, the National Bank of Tuscany, the Roman Bank and the Tuscan Credit Bank; and two banking corporations, the Bank of Naples and the Bank of Sicily. In 1893 the Roman Bank was put into liquidation, and the other three limited companies were fused, so as to create the Bank of Italy, the privilege of issuing bank notes being thenceforward confined to the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Naples and the Bank of Sicily. The gold reserve in the possession of the Banca d’Italia on September 30th 1907 amounted to £32,240,984, and the silver reserve to £4,767,861; the foreign treasury bonds, &c. amounted to £3,324,074, making the total reserve £40,332,919; while the circulation amounted to £54,612,234. The figures were on the 31st of December 1906:
This is considerably in excess of the circulation, £40,404,000, fixed by royal decree of 1900; but the issue of additional notes was allowed, provided they were entirely covered by a metallic reserve, whereas up to the fixed limit a 40% reserve only was necessary. These notes are of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 lire; while the state issues notes for 5, 10 and 25 lire, the currency of these at the end of October 1906 being £17,546,967; with a total guarantee of £15,636,000 held against them. They were in January 1908 equal in value to the metallic currency of gold and silver.
The price of Italian consolidated 5% (gross, 4% net, allowing for the 20% income tax) stock, which is the security most largely negotiated abroad, and used in settling differences between large financial institutions, has steadily risen during recent years. After being depressed between 1885 and 1894, the prices in Italy and abroad reached, in 1899, on the Rome Stock Exchange, the average of 100.83 and of 94.8 on the Paris Bourse. By the end of 1901 the price of Italian stock on the Paris Bourse had, however, risen to par or thereabouts. The average price of Italian 4% in 1905 was 105.29; since the conversion to 3¾% net (to be further reduced to 3½ in five more years), the price has been about 103.5. Rates of exchange, or, in other words the gold premium, favoured Italy during the years immediately following the abolition of the forced currency in 1881. In 1885, however, rates tended to rise, and though they fell in 1886 they subsequently increased to such an extent as to reach 110% at the end of August 1894. For the next four years they continuedlow, but rose again in 1898 and 1899. In 1900 the maximum rate was 107.32, and the minimum 105.40, but in 1901 rates fell considerably, and were at par in 1902-1909.
There are in Italy six clearing houses, namely, the ancient one at Leghorn, and those of Genoa, Milan, Rome, Florence and Turin, founded since 1882.
The number of ordinary banks, which diminished between 1889 and 1894, increased in the following years, and was 158 in 1898. At the same time the capital employed in banking decreased by nearly one-half, namely, from about £12,360,000 in 1880 to about £6,520,000 in 1898. This decrease was due to the liquidation of a number of large and small banks, amongst others the Bank of Genoa, the General Bank, and the Società di Credito Mobiliare Italiano of Rome, and the Genoa Discount Bank—establishments which alone represented £4,840,000 of paid-up capital. Ordinary credit operations are also carried on by the co-operative credit societies, of which there are some 700.
Certain banks make a special business of lending money to owners of land or buildings (credito fondiario). Loans are repayable by instalments, and are guaranteed by first mortgages not greater in amount than half the value of the hypothecatedAgrarian Credit Banks.property. The banks may buy up mortgages and advance money on current account on the security of land or buildings. The development of the large cities has induced these banks to turn their attention rather to building enterprise than to mortgages on rural property. The value of their land certificates orcartelle fondiarie(representing capital in circulation) rose from £10,420,000 in 1881 to £15,560,000 in 1886, and to £30,720,000 in 1891, but fell to £29,320,000 in 1896, to £27,360,000 in 1898, and to £24,360,000 in 1907; the amount of money lent increased from £10,440,000 in 1881 to £15,600,000 in 1886, and £30,800,000 in 1891, but fell to £29,320,000 in 1896, to £27,360,000 in 1899, and to £21,720,000 in 1907. The diminution was due to the law of the 10th of April 1893 upon the banks of issue, by which they were obliged to liquidate the loan and mortgage business they had previously carried on.
Various laws have been passed to facilitate agrarian credit. The law of the 23rd of January 1887 (still in force) extended the dispositions of the Civil Code with regard to “privileges,”9and established special “privileges” in regard to harvested produce, produce stored in barns and farm buildings, and in regard to agricultural implements. Loans on mortgage may also be granted to landowners and agricultural unions, with a view to the introduction of agricultural improvements. These loans are regulated by special disposition, and are guaranteed by a share of the increased value of the land after the improvements have been carried out. Agrarian credit banks may, with the permission of the government, issuecartelle agrarie, or agrarian bonds, repayable by instalments and bearing interest.
Internal Administration.—It was not till 1865 that the administrative unity of Italy was realized. Up to that year some of the regions of the kingdom, such as Tuscany, continued to have a kind of autonomy; but by the laws of the 20th of March the whole country was divided into 69 provinces and 8545 communes. The extent to which communal independence had been maintained in Italy through all the centuries of its political disintegration was strongly in its favour. The syndic (sindaco) or chief magistrate of the commune was appointed by the king for three years, and he was assisted by a “municipal junta.”
Local government was modified by the law of the 10th of February 1889 and by posterior enactments. The syndics (or mayors) are now elected by a secret ballot of the communal council, though they are still government officials. In the provincial administrations the functions of the prefects have been curtailed. Each province has a prefect, responsible to and appointed by the Ministry of the Interior, while each of the regions (called variouslycircondariianddistretti) has its sub-prefect. Whereas the prefect was formerlyex-officiopresident of the provincial deputation or executive committee of the provincial council, his duties under the present law are reduced to mere participation in the management of provincial affairs, the president of the provincial deputation being chosen among and elected by the members of the deputation. The most important change introduced by the new law has been the creation in every province of a provincial administrative junta entrusted with the supervision of communal administrations, a function previously discharged by the provincial deputation. Each provincial administrative junta is composed, in part, of government nominees, and in larger part of elective elements, elected by the provincial council for four years, half of whom require to be elected every two years. The acts of communal administration requiring the sanction of the provincial administrative junta are chiefly financial. Both communal councils and prefects may appeal to the government against the decision of the provincial administrative juntas, the government being guided by the opinion of the Council of State. Besides possessing competence in regard to local government elections, which previously came within the jurisdiction of the provincial deputations, the provincial administrative juntas discharge magisterial functions in administrative affairs, and deal with appeals presented by private persons against acts of the communal and provincial administrations. The juntas are in this respect organs of the administrative jurisprudence created in Italy by the law of the 1st of May 1890, in order to provide juridical protection for those rights and interests outside the competence of the ordinary tribunals. The provincial council only meets once a year in ordinary session.
The former qualifications for electorship in local government elections have been modified, and it is now sufficient to pay five lire annually in direct taxes, five lire of certain communal taxes, or a certain rental (which varies according to the population of a commune), instead of being obliged to pay, as previously, at least five lire annually of direct taxes to the state. In consequence of this change the number of local electors increased by more than one-third between 1887-1889; it decreased, however, as a result of an extraordinary revision of the registers in 1894. The period for which both communal and provincial councils are elected is six years, one-half being renewed every three years.
The ratio of local electors to population is in Piedmont 79%, but in Sicily less than 45%. The ratio of voters to qualified electors tends to increase; it is highest in Campania, Basilicata and in the south generally; the lowest percentages are given by Emilia and Liguria.
Local finance is regulated by the communal and provincial law of May 1898, which instituted provincial administrative juntas, empowered to examine and sanction the acts of the communal financial administrations. The sanction of theLocal finance.provincial administrative junta is necessary for sales or purchases of property, alterations of rates (although in case of increase the junta can only act upon request of ratepayers paying an aggregate of one-twentieth of the local direct taxation), and expenditure affecting the communal budget for more than five years. The provincial administrative junta is, moreover, empowered to order “obligatory” expenditure, such as the upkeep of roads, sanitary works, lighting, police (i.e.the so-called “guardie di pubblica sicurezza,” the “carabinieri” being really a military force; only the largest towns maintain a municipal police force), charities, education, &c., in case such expenditure is neglected by the communal authorities. The cost of fire brigades, infant asylums, evening and holiday schools, is classed as “optional” expenditure. Communal revenues are drawn from the proceeds of communal property, interest upon capital, taxes and local dues. The most important of the local dues is the gate tax, ordazio di consumo, which may be either a surtax upon commodities (such as alcoholic drinks or meat), having already paid customs duty at the frontier, in which case the local surtax may not exceed 50% of the frontier duty, or an exclusively communal duty limited to 10% on flour, bread and farinaceous products,10and to 20% upon other commodities. The taxes thus vary considerably in different towns.
In addition, the communes have a right to levy a surtax not exceeding 50% of the quota levied by the state upon lands and buildings; a family tax, orfuocatico, upon the total incomes of families, which, for fiscal purposes, are divided into various categories; a tax based upon the rent-value of houses, and other taxes upon cattle, horses, dogs, carriages and servants; also on licences for shopkeepers, hotel and restaurant keepers, &c.; on the slaughter of animals, stamp duties, one-half of the tax on bicycles, &c. Occasional sources of interest are found in the sale of communal property, the realization of communal credits, and the contraction of debt.
The provincial administrations are entrusted with the management of the affairs of the provinces in general, as distinguished from those of the communes. Their expenditure is likewise classed as “obligatory” and “optional.” The former category comprises the maintenance of provincial roads, bridges and watercourse embankments; secondary education, whenever this is not provided for by private institutions or by the state (elementary education being maintained by the communes), and the maintenance of foundlings and pauper lunatics. “Optional” expenditure includes the cost of services of general public interest, though not strictly indispensable. Provincial revenues are drawn from provincial property, school taxes, tolls and surtaxes on land and buildings. The provincial surtaxes may not exceed 50% of the quotas levied by the state. In 1897 the total provincial revenue was £3,732,253, of which £3,460,000 was obtained from the surtax upon lands and buildings. Expenditure amounted to £3,768,888, of which the principal items were £760,000 for roads and bridges, £520,000 for lunatic asylums, £240,000 for foundling hospitals, £320,000 for interest on debt and £200,000 for police. Like communal revenue, provincial revenue has considerably increased since 1880, principally on account of the increase in the land and building surtax.
The Italian local authorities, communes and provinces alike, have considerably increased their indebtedness since 1882. The ratio of communal and provincial debt per inhabitant has grownfrom 30.79 lire (£1, 4s. 7½d.) to 43.70 lire (£1, 14s. 11d.), an increase due in great part to the need for improved buildings, hygienic reforms and education, but also attributable in part to the manner in which the finances of many communes are administered. The total was in 1900, £49,496,193 for the communes and £6,908,022 for the provinces. The former total is more than double and the latter more than treble the sum in 1873, while there is an increase of 62% in the former and 26% in the latter over the totals for 1882.
SeeAnnuario statistico italiano(not, however, issued regularly each year) for general statistics; and other official publications; W. Deecke,Italy; a Popular Account of the Country, its People and its Institutions(translated by H. A. Nesbitt, London, 1904); B. King and T. Okey,Italy to-day(London, 1901); E. Nathan,Vent’ Anni di vita italiana attraverso all’ Annuario(Rome, 1906); G. Strafforello,Geografia dell’ Italia(Turin, 1890-1902).
(T. As.)
History
The difficulty of Italian history lies in the fact that until modern times the Italians have had no political unity, no independence, no organized existence as a nation. Split up into numerous and mutually hostile communities, they never, through the fourteen centuries which have elapsed since the end of the old Western empire, shook off the yoke of foreigners completely; they never until lately learned to merge their local and conflicting interests in the common good of undivided Italy. Their history is therefore not the history of a single people, centralizing and absorbing its constituent elements by a process of continued evolution, but of a group of cognate populations, exemplifying divers types of constitutional developments.
The early history of Italy will be found underRomeand allied headings. The following account is therefore mainly concerned with the periods succeedingA.D.476, when Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer. Prefixed to this are two sections dealing respectively with (A) the ethnographical and philological divisions of ancient Italy, and (B) the unification of the country under Augustus, the growth of the road system and so forth. The subsequent history is divided into five periods: (C) From 476 to 1796; (D) From 1796 to 1814; (E) From 1815 to 1870; (F) From 1870 to 1902; (G) From 1902 to 1910.
A. Ancient Languages and Peoples
The ethnography of ancient Italy is a very complicated and difficult subject, and notwithstanding the researches of modern scholars is still involved in some obscurity. The great beauty and fertility of the country, as well as the charm of its climate, undoubtedly attracted, even in early ages, successive swarms of invaders from the north, who sometimes drove out the previous occupants of the most favoured districts, at others reduced them to a state of serfdom, or settled down in the midst of them, until the two races gradually coalesced. Ancient writers are agreed as to the composite character of the population of Italy, and the diversity of races that were found within the limits of the peninsula. But unfortunately the traditions they have transmitted to us are often various and conflicting, while the only safe test of the affinities of nations, derived from the comparison of their languages, is to a great extent inapplicable, from the fact that the idioms that prevailed in Italy in and before the 5th centuryB.C.are preserved, if at all, only in a few scanty and fragmentary inscriptions, though from that date onwards we have now a very fair record of many of them (see,e.g.Latin Language,Osca Lingua,Iguvium,Volsci,Etruria: sectionLanguage, and below). These materials, imperfect as they are, when combined with the notices derived from ancient writers and the evidence of archaeological excavations, may be considered as having furnished some results of reasonable certainty.
It must be observed that the name “Italians” was at one time confined to the Oenotrians; indeed, according to Antiochus of Syracuse (apudDion. Hal.Ant. Rom.ii. 1), the name of Italy was first still more limited, being applied only to the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (now known as Calabria). But in the time of that historian, as well as of Thucydides, the names of Oenotria and Italia, which appear to have been at that period regarded as synonymous, had been extended to include the shore of the Tarentine Gulf as far as Metapontum and from thence across to the gulfs of Laus and Posidonia on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It thus still comprised only the two provinces subsequently known as Lucania and Bruttium (see references s.v. “Italia” in R. S. Conway’sItalic Dialects, p. 5). The name seems to be a Graecized form of an ItalicVitelia, from the stemvitlo-, “calf” (Lat.vitulus, Gr.ἰταλός), and perhaps to have meant “calf-land,” “grazing-land”; but the origin is more certain than the meaning; the calf may be one of the many animals connected with Italian tribes (seeHirpini,Samnites).
Taking the term Italy to comprise the whole peninsula with the northern region as far as the Alps, we must first distinguish the tribe or tribes which spoke Indo-European languages from those who did not. To the latter category it is now possible to refer with certainty only the Etruscans (for the chronology and limits of their occupation of Italian soil seeEtruria: sectionLanguage). Of all the other tribes that inhabited Italy down to the classical period, of whose speech there is any record (whether explicit or in the form of names and glosses), it is impossible to maintain that any one does not belong to the Indo-European group. Putting aside the Etruscan, and also the different Greek dialects of the Greek colonies, like Cumae, Neapolis, Tarentum, and proceeding from the south to the north, the different languages or dialects, of whose separate existence at some time between, say, 600 and 200B.C., we can be sure, may be enumerated as follows: (1) Sicel, (2) South Oscan and Oscan, (3) Messapian, (4) North Oscan, (5) Volscian, (6) East Italic or “Sabellic,” (7) Latinian, (8) Sabine, (9) Iguvine or “Umbrian,” (10) Gallic, (11) Ligurian and (12) Venetic.
Between several of these dialects it is probable that closer affinities exist. (1) It is probable, though not very clearly demonstrated, that Venetic, East Italic and Messapian are connected together and with the ancient dialects spoken in Illyria (q.v.), so that these might be provisionally entitled the Adriatic group, to which the language spoken by the Eteocretes of the city of Praesos in Crete down to the 4th centuryB.C.was perhaps akin. (2) Too little is known of the Sicel language to make clear more than its Indo-European character. But it must be reckoned among the languages of Italy because of the well-supported tradition of the early existence of the Sicels in Latium (seeSiculi). Their possible place in the earlier stratum of Indo-European population is discussed underSabini. How far also the language or languages spoken in Bruttium and at certain points of Lucania, such as Anxia, differed from the Oscan of Samnium and Campania there is not enough evidence to show (seeBruttii). (3) It is doubtful whether there are any actual inscriptions which can be referred with certainty to the language of the Ligures, but some other evidence seems to link them with the -CO- peoples, whose early distribution is discussed underVolsciandLiguria. (4) It is difficult to point to any definite evidence by which we may determine the dates of the earliest appearance of Gallic tribes in the north of Italy. No satisfactory collection has been made of the Celtic inscriptions of Cisalpine Gaul, though many are scattered about in different museums. For our present purpose it is important to note that the archaeological stratification in deposits like those of Bologna shows that the Gallic period supervened upon the Etruscan. Until a scientific collection of the local and personal names of this district has been made, and until the archaeological evidence is clearly interpreted, it is impossible to go beyond the region of conjecture as to the tribe or tribes occupying the valley of the Po before the two invasions. It is clear, however, that the Celtic and Etruscan elements together occupied the greater part of the district between the Apennines and the Alps down to its Romanization, which took place gradually in the course of the 2nd centuryB.C.Their linguistic neighbours were Ligurian in the south and south-west, and the Veneti on the east.
We know from the Roman historians that a large force of Gauls came as far south as Rome in the year 390B.C., and that some part of this horde settled in what was henceforward known as theAger Gallicus, the easternmost strip of coast in what was later known as Umbria, including the towns of Caesēna, Ravenna and Arīminum. A bilingual inscription (Gallic and Latin) ofthe 2nd centuryB.C.was found as far south as Tuder, the modern Todi (Italic Dialects, ii. 528; Stokes,Bezzenberger’s Beiträge, 11, p. 113).
(5) Turning now to the languages which constitute the Italic group in the narrower sense, (a) Oscan; (b) the dialect of Velitrae, commonly called Volscian; (c) Latinian (i.e.Latin and its nearest congeners, like Faliscan); and (d) Umbrian (or, as it may more safely be called, Iguvine), two principles of classification offer themselves, of which the first is purely linguistic, the second linguistic and topographical. Writers on the ethnology of Italy have been hitherto content with the first, namely, the broad distinction between the dialects which preserved the Indo-European velars (especially the breathed plosiveq) as velars or back-palatals (gutturals), with or without the addition of aw-sound, and the dialects which converted the velars wholly into labials, for example, Latinianquiscontrasted with Oscan, Volscian and Umbrianpis(see furtherLatin Language).
This distinction, however, takes us but a little way towards an historical grouping of the tribes, since the only Latinian dialects of which, besides Latin, we have inscriptions are Faliscan and Marsian (seeFalisci,Marsi); although the place-names of the Aequi (q.v.) suggest that they belong to the same group in this respect. Except, therefore, for a very small and apparently isolated area in the north of Latium and south of Etruria, all the tribes of Italy, though their idioms differed in certain particulars, are left undiscriminated. This presents a strong contrast to the evidence of tradition, which asserts very strongly (1) the identity of the Sabines and Samnites; (2) the conquest of an earlier population by this tribe; and which affords (3) clear evidence of the identity of the Sabines with the ruling class,i.e.the patricians, at Rome itself (seeSabini; andRome:Early History and Ethnology).
Some clue to this enigma may perhaps be found in the second principle of classification proposed by the present writer at the Congresso Internationale di Scienze Storiche at Rome (Atti del Congresso, ii) in 1903. It was on that occasion pointed out that the ethnica or tribal and oppidan names of communities belonging to the Sabine stock were marked by the use of the suffix -NO- as inSabini; and that there was some linguistic evidence that this stratum of population overcame an earlier population, which used, generally, ethnica in -CO- or -TI- (as inMarruci,Ardeates, transformed later intoMarrucini,Ardeatini).
The validity of this distinction and its results are discussed underSabiniandVolsci, but it is well to state here its chief consequences.
1. Latin will be counted the language of the earlier plebeian stratum of the population of Rome and Latium, probably once spread over a large area of the peninsula, and akin in some degree to the language or languages spoken in north Italy before either the Etruscan or the Gallic invasions began.
2. It would follow, on the other hand, that what is called Oscan represented the language of the invading Sabines (more correctly Safines), whose racial affinities would seem to be of a distinctly more northern cast, and to mark them, like the Dorians or Achaeans in Greece, as an early wave of the invaders who more than once in later history have vitally influenced the fortunes of the tempting southern land into which they forced their way.
3. What is called Volscian, known only from the important inscription of the town of Velitrae, and what is called Umbrian, known from the famous Iguvine Tables with a few other records, would be regarded as Safine dialects, spoken by Safine communities who had become more or less isolated in the midst of the earlier and possibly partly Etruscanized populations, the result being that as early as the 4th centuryB.C.their language had suffered corruptions which it escaped both in the Samnite mountains and in the independent and self-contained community of Rome.