MONUMENT OF VICTORY, BERLINErected in the Königs Platz at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. It consists of a circular temple surrounded with a colonnade of sixteen pillars, standing upon a square base or pedestal, and surmounted by a cylindrical shaft bearing a colossal gilt bronze Victory, winged and holding a wreath. The total height is one hundred and ninety-four feet. It may be ascended by an interior staircase. Upon the base are elaborate reliefs of the various campaigns commemorated.
MONUMENT OF VICTORY, BERLIN
Erected in the Königs Platz at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. It consists of a circular temple surrounded with a colonnade of sixteen pillars, standing upon a square base or pedestal, and surmounted by a cylindrical shaft bearing a colossal gilt bronze Victory, winged and holding a wreath. The total height is one hundred and ninety-four feet. It may be ascended by an interior staircase. Upon the base are elaborate reliefs of the various campaigns commemorated.
In 1905 Germany intervened to disturb the French policy in Morocco, resulting in a conference of the powers interested at Algeciras. In 1911 Germany again intervened by sending a warship to Agadir for the protection of German property and German subjects. The action occasioned a complication of the European situation, and all but resulted in war. Germany’s claim for territorial compensation was not entertained by France, and Great Britain, as ally of France, claimed the right to be consulted if territory were to be conceded. The net result, after months of diplomatic intercommunication, was a readjustment of frontiers. (SeeGerman Colonial Possessions.)
The history of the German Empire since 1914 is chiefly that of the leading Teutonic power in the great European war of 1914-1917.
ST. PETER’S, ROMESt. Peter’s is the largest church in the world, covering two hundred and forty thousand square feet. It cost over sixty million dollars, took one hundred and seventy-six years to build; contains many vast and beautiful chapels, tombs of the popes, many paintings by great masters, and sculptures by Bernini, Michaelangelo, Canova and Thorwaldsen.
ST. PETER’S, ROME
St. Peter’s is the largest church in the world, covering two hundred and forty thousand square feet. It cost over sixty million dollars, took one hundred and seventy-six years to build; contains many vast and beautiful chapels, tombs of the popes, many paintings by great masters, and sculptures by Bernini, Michaelangelo, Canova and Thorwaldsen.
Modern Italy occupies the central of the three great peninsulas of southern Europe, together with Sicily, Sardinia, and some smaller islands. The peninsula, which at the Strait of Otranto approaches within less than fifty miles of Albania, is bounded west and south by that portion of the Mediterranean known as the Tyrrhenian Sea, east by the Adriatic, and north by the Alps, separating it from France, Switzerland and Austro-Hungary. The frontier with France is estimated at three hundred and seven miles; with Switzerland at four hundred and seven miles; and with Austria at four hundred and sixty-six miles. Its greatest length is seven hundred and ten miles; the breadth ranges from three hundred and fifty-one miles in the north to about twenty between the Gulfs of St. Eufemia and Squillace, but in most places is about ninety or one hundred miles. The seaboard of the peninsula extends to two thousand two hundred and seventy-two miles.
Mountains and General Configuration.—On the northern frontier the Alps sweep round in a mighty arc from Nice to Trieste, running out in places into Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venice. For the most part they rise steep and abrupt, except where their wall is pierced by long, deep valleys; and some of the loftiest peaks in the system, including Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, belong to this mountain-girdle.
The highest mountain entirely within the kingdom is Gran Paradiso, the culminating point of the Graian Alps, in Piedmont. Between the Alps and the Apennines spreads the broad fertile Lombardo-Venetian plain, a nearly level country, which differs altogether in character from the peninsula to the south, and for a long period was politically distinct from it. Most of this great alluvial tract, which fills nearly the whole of northern Italy, belongs to the basin of the Po; it is irrigated by numerous streams and canals, and is one of the most fruitful and flourishing districts of Italy.
This great northern plain—generally but a few feet above sea-level—round which the Alps rise like a wall, is believed to have been at one period an extension of the Adriatic Gulf, which has been gradually filled up with rich alluvial soil worn down from the steep sides of the mountains by the snow-fed torrents.
The Apennines.—The form of all the more strictly peninsular part of Italy is given by the central range of the Apennines, which extends continuously through its length from the maritime Alps of France, round the head of the Gulf of Genoa, down to Cape Spartivento in the extreme south. The Apennines have their highest part, called the Gran Sasso d’Italia, “the great rock of Italy,” near the center of the long range. The slopes of these heights to the sea, northeast and southwest, are so short as to allow of only small rivers.
Nearly parallel with the southern part of the Apennine range, and westward of it, there appears a more recent chain of isolated volcanic heights. Chief of these, on the peninsula, is the cone of Vesuvius, which rises abruptly from the Campagna of Naples, above the old cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, buried by its lava streams and ashes. North of Rome, in this volcanic region, the round lakes of Bolsena and Bracciano occupy the craters of old volcanoes. Carrying the line southward, across the Tyrrhenian Sea, we come to the volcanic group of the Lipari Islands, with the ever-active volcano of Stromboli; and farther on to Mount Etna, in Sicily, the highest of European volcanoes. Almost all the rest of Sicily, not volcanic, is covered with mountains of moderate elevation, the main line of which extends along the northern side of the island from east to west as if in continuation of the course of the Apennines across the narrow Straight of Messina.
Islands and their Surface.—The island of Sardinia, separated from Corsica by the Strait of Bonifacio, one hundred and fifty miles long from north to south, is for the most part mountainous, especially along the eastern side, in the middle of which rises the granitic Mount Gennargentu.
The island of Elba, famous as the place of Napoleon’s exile, between Corsica and the peninsula, eighteen miles long, is high, its western part being formed by Mount Capanne, which rises to three thousand three hundred and twenty-three feet. Capri, south of the Bay of Naples, where the Emperor Tiberius passed the last ten years of his life, and Caprera, Garibaldi’s home, on the north coast of Sardinia, are other noteworthy islands.
Rivers and Coast Waters.—The principal rivers are fed from the Alpine lakes. The Po, which descends from Monte Viso, on the western frontier, and, as it sweeps across the plain, receives the contributions of numerous important streams, ranks for its volume of water among the notable rivers of Europe. It is navigable for three hundred and twenty out of its four hundred and twenty miles, and several of its tributaries are also navigable. Many of the Po’s tributaries spread out at the foot of the Alps.
The province of Venice, to the north and east of the Po, is traversed by the Adige, Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento.
Along the coast of the Adriatic, north and south of the Po delta, there exist large tracts of salt water, known as lagoons, in a flat and marshy district. They are separated from the sea by narrow banks of sand in which are inlets, so that the lagoons serve as harbors. The chief of these is that in which Venice is situated. It extends over nearly forty miles from Torcello in the north to Chioggia and Brondolo in the south. The other coast-line of northern Italy is formed by a narrow strip of land, closed in by the steep, abrupt rocks of the Apennines, and known as the Italian Riviera.
The Arno, next to the Tiber the most considerable river of central Italy, rises on Mount Falterona, an offset of the Apennines, at four thousand four hundred and forty-four feet above sea-level, and twenty-five miles north of Arezzo. It flows one hundred and forty miles westward to the sea, eleven miles below[512]Pisa. At Florence it is four hundred feet wide, but is fordable in summer.
The Tiber, the chief river of central Italy, and the most famous in the peninsula, rises in a dell of the Tuscan Apennines, eleven miles north of the village of Santo Stefano, whence it winds two hundred and sixty miles, and enters the Mediterranean by two branches, which enclose the Isola Sacra. Towns on or near its banks are Perugia, Orvieto, Rome and Ostia. It is navigable for boats of fifty tons to the confluence of the Nera, one hundred miles from its mouth. The Tiber is supplied mainly by turbid mountain-torrents, whence its liability to sudden overflowings. Its waters, too, are still discolored with yellow mud, as when the poet Horace described it.
Lakes.—To the south of the Alps, in the north of Lombardy and Venice, lie the beautiful Italian lakes, Lago di Garda, Maggiore, Como, Lugano, and Orto.
Lake of Como, the Lacus Larius of the Romans, is generally considered the most beautiful of the group. It is about thirty-six miles long, and its greatest width is three miles. Its shores are studded with picturesque villages and charming villas, with a background of forest and mountains, some of which are seven thousand feet high. The loveliest point is Bellagio, where the lake divides into two arms. Cadenabbia, on the western shore opposite Bellagio, is also a pleasant place.
Como, at the other extremity, is a thriving town of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, the birthplace of Pliny the Younger and of Volta. The cathedral is one of the best in Northern Italy.
Lake of Lugano, between Como and Maggiore, though much smaller than either, is scarcely their inferior in the loveliness of its scenery. It lies at the southern foot of the Alps, eight hundred and eighty-nine feet above sea-level. Its length is fourteen and one-half miles; average breadth one and one-quarter miles; area nineteen and one-half square miles; maximum depth nine hundred and fifteen feet, and average depth two hundred and forty-six feet.
Lake Maggiore(Madjō´ray), the largest of the Italian lakes, is about forty-five miles in length, averages three miles in breadth, lies six hundred and forty-six feet above sea-level, and has a maximum depth of one thousand two hundred and fifty feet. The river Ticino flows through it. In a southwestern expansion of the lake are the Borromean Isles. On the Isola Bella is the large palace built by Count Vitaleo Borromeo about a century ago, with terraced gardens, fountains, grottoes, etc., all very elaborate and artificial.
Lake Garda, a beautiful, clear lake, lies between Lombardy and Venetia, its northern end extending into the Austrian Tyrol. Situated two hundred and twenty-six feet above sea-level, it has an area of one hundred and fifteen square miles, a greatest length of thirty-five miles, a breadth of two to eleven miles, and a maximum depth of nine hundred and sixty-seven feet. The surface is studded with many islands. It is drained by the Mincio, a tributary of the Po. The mild climate and the beauty of the vicinity have caused its shores to be lined with villas.
Climatic and Landscape Features.—The north of Italy has the excessive climate of the temperate region of continental Europe; in the central parts of the peninsula the climate becomes more genial and sunny, and to the south almost tropical. The plain of Lombardy, with an average temperature of fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, has winters which are as cold as those of the Scottish lowlands, and the lagoons of Venice have been frozen over; but its summers are as hot as those of Rome or Nice. The changes are few; rain lasts for weeks together in autumn, but in summer the blue sky is never clouded except when a violent thunder and hailstorm occurs.
About Florence the winters are much milder, with the same summer heat, and this difference between the seasons decreases still more to southward.
The summer of the Campagna of Rome, when a heat mist rises over the plain, is almost unbearable; in January the sky is blue, the mornings may be frosty, and fresh spring air blows over the land; in March the trees are already leafy, and in June the harvest begins; in July everything withers under the excessive heat, till the autumn rains revive the land.
In Naples and South Italy the sky is cloudless for months together, and the air is so pure that distant plains appear to be close at hand.
The chief faults of the Italian climate are the cold mountain winds called the Tramontana, like the mistral of south France, and the Bora of the north Adriatic, and, in contrast, the hot Sirocco, which occasionally blows from the African deserts, besides the malaria of the western coast marshes and of the Venetian lagoons.
Round the lakes at the base of the steep southern slope of the Alps, Mediterranean forms of vegetation appear; the chestnut reaches up to two thousand five hundred feet; above that comes the belt of beeches and oaks, still higher the pine woods, then the pretty alpine plants and high pastures. Scarcely any part of the world is so covered with irrigating canals as the highly cultivated plain of Lombardy, so that the whole of it appears like a great garden. At the northern base of the Apennines the Mediterranean flora of laurels and myrtles, cork oak and cypress, covers the first slopes; above that groups of oaks appear, then beech woods and the extensive summer pastures which reach all over the Apennine range. The Apennines have no permanent snows, but their highest summits are frequently snow-clad between October and May, and send down cold breezes into the warm valleys.
In Sicily the vegetation takes an African character, and many tropical forms flourish; it is not a well-wooded island, but forests occur here and there.
Riviera(Ree-vee-ay´ra“seashore”), is a term applied to the narrow strip of coast-land bordering the Gulf of Genoa, strictly from Nice to Spezzia, but generally understood to include the whole coast of the Alps Maritimes, and the Italian coast as far as Leghorn.
West of Genoa, and extending into France, it is called the Riviera di Ponente, or western coast, and beyond Genoa the Riviera di Levante, or eastern coast. From Hyères to Genoa is two hundred and three miles; from Genoa to Leghorn one hundred and twelve miles. Sheltered on the north by mountains, the district enjoys an exceptionally favored[513]climate, no other region north of Palermo and Valencia being so mild in winter.
The western section is the mildest and most frequented. It abounds in the most striking and beautiful scenery, and is planted with numerous health and fashion resorts—Nice, Monaco, Mentone, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Bordighera, etc.; and west of Nice are Hyères, Fréjus, Cannes, Gresse, Antibes.
The famous Corniche (Ital.Cornice) road, widened by Napoleon I., leads along the Mediterranean coast from Nice to Genoa, and commands magnificent views.
Products and Industries.—Of the whole surface of Italy it is estimated that eighty-three per cent is suitable for cultivation. The greatest proportion of agricultural land, however, lies in the great plain of Lombardy and the Campagna Felice of Naples. Notwithstanding this, the supply of corn grown in Italy is not sufficient for its wants, and more is imported from Russia, Egypt and North America. Maize and wheat afford the staple food of the lower classes, as polenta and macaroni.
Agriculture and Stock-Raising.—A sixth of the area of the kingdom is covered with wood or bush, the island of Sardinia having the largest forests of all the kingdom—the districts of Lake Como, of southern Tuscany, and Genoa, being the best wooded parts of the mainland. The olive grows all over peninsular Italy, and enormous quantities of oil are produced, much being exported.
All parts of the country are suited to vine-growing. Most wine, however, is made in south Italy and Sicily. Most horses are bred in Lombardy, where cattle are also numerous on the dairy farms, which supply enormous quantities of cheese. Tuscany has most sheep; Sicily the finest mules and asses; Umbria the greatest number of swine. Coral fishers go out from Naples, Leghorn (Livorno), and Genoa to the coasts of the Balearic Isles and of Algeria and Tunis in large numbers.
Minerals.—The most important mineral product of Italy is the sulphur of Sicily; iron is widely distributed, but is obtained in most considerable quantity in Lombardy and Liguria; lead is an important product of Tuscany; sea salt of the vicinity of Cagliari, the chief town of the island of Sardinia. Famous pure white marble is quarried at Carrara and Massa, on the northwest coast-land of Tuscany.
Manufactures.—The zenith period of Italian manufactures, when Milan was famous for its wool-workers, Venice for its dyes, Florence for its cloth, has long since passed away, and in this respect Italy now occupies a low position.
Silk-growing, spinning, and weaving it, is now the most important branch, and in this the towns of Lombardy—Bergamo, Como, Milan, Turin—take the lead, followed by those in the plain round Naples, and by Catania and Palermo in Sicily. Glass-making has also fallen from its old position; the works at Intra, on Lake Maggiore, and the manufacture of beads and mosaics at Venice, are, however, still very important. Porcelain is made chiefly at Milan and Florence; straw hats at Vicenza, in Venetia, and in Tuscany, whence they come to us as Leghorn hats, from the port at which they are shipped.
People and Language.—The present Italian people have arisen from a perfect chaos of races. The ancient Ligurians of Iberian race and the Umbrians of the north were joined, from an unknown quarter, by the strange people called Etruscans or Tuscans by the Romans, who exercised such an immense influence on European civilization. The Greeks peopled the south, and held Sicily along with the Phœnicians; the Romans spread out from the center of the peninsula to extend their conquests far beyond its limits; then the Goths and Franks poured in from the north, and after them the Longobards, who gave their name to Lombardy. The Savoyards and Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont along the French border appear to be of Gallic descent. Insular Sardinia was free from the irruptions of the northern people, but came under the influence of the Greeks, the Arabs, and then of the Spaniards.
Here, as in France and Spain, the Roman language endured and prevailed over all others, and now the people of Italy have one language and literature, the Italian, descended from the Latin. Its dialects show traces of the mixture of nationalities, but the Tuscan has now become classic, for the great writers, like Dante and Boccassio were Tuscans.
Religion.—The Roman Catholic Church is reorganized as the state church, but toleration is granted to all creeds. Over ninety-seven per cent of the population is Roman Catholic. By the Act of 1871 the rank of the Pope as a sovereign prince is recognized, the Vatican and Lateran palaces and the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo having the privilege of exterritoriality. Protestants number about sixty-six thousand, which include some twenty-two thousand Waldensians; and there are about thirty-eight thousand Jews, and about two thousand five hundred members of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Educationis controlled by the state under a minister of public instruction, assisted by a council. Primary education is free and compulsory, and the state also maintains, partly or wholly, secondary, technical schools, and the universities. There are thirteen universities. Private schools may not be opened without state authorization.
Cities.—The largest city is Naples. Rome is the capital. Milan, Turin, Palermo, Genoa, Florence, rank next. There are four others with about one hundred and fifty thousand, and twenty-three towns over fifty thousand.
ROME, the “city of the seven hills,” contains more objects of interest than any other city in the world. It is situated mainly on the left or east bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth. The river, which has here an average breadth of two hundred feet, is spanned by eleven bridges in its course from north to south through the city.
The Seven Hills.—On the left bank rise the famous seven hills of ancient Rome, which, from north to south, are the Aventine, Cœlian, Palatine, Capitoline, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal. These hills rise from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet above the river and the intervening valleys.
VIEW OF ROME FROM ST. PETER’S
VIEW OF ROME FROM ST. PETER’S
The Royal Palace and chief public offices are upon, or adjoin, the Quirinal Hill. The Aventine and the Cœlian are, in large part, not built upon. The Esquiline and Viminal are modern industrial quarters. The Palatine, with the Forum below it on the east, are covered with important ancient ruins. The Capitoline, crowned by the Capitol, the most imposing of the hills, the center of ancient life and worships, has, apart from the new monument of Victor Emmanuel, suffered little change since the sixteenth century.
Mediæval and Romeoccupies chiefly the plain, known as the Campus Martius of ancient times, nearer the river, and on the slopes of the Pincian Hill, to the north, extending thence eastward to the Quirinal and Viminal. The smaller part of Rome, on the right or west bank, comprises the Borgo, or district, containing St. Peter’s, the Vatican, the Castle of St. Angelo, and the Janiculum Hill, to the north, with the Trastevere quarter, to the south.
The entire city is surrounded by a wall fourteen miles in circuit, with thirteen gates, the wall on the left bank being substantially identical with Aurelian’s Wall, built in the third century; while the Leonine Wall round the Borgo was extended in the early sixteenth century.
Modern Features and Districts.—The business part of the city occupies the plain on the bank between the hills and river, traversed by the Via del Corso, the principal thoroughfare in Rome, about a mile in length, leading from the Porto del Popolo to the foot of the Capitoline Hill, where is situated the great National Monument to Victor Emmanuel. From the Piazza del Popolo two great streets diverge on either side of the Corso, the Via di Ripetta to the right, skirting the Tiber, and to the left the Via del Babuino, leading to the Piazza di Spagna, whence the Scala di Spagna, the resort of artists’ models, ascends to the Pincian Gardens, on the site of the gardens of Lucullus, which command a splendid view of the city, and form the fashionable drive and promenade.
Of the new streets the most important are the Via Venti Settembre, the Via Cavour, and the Via Nazionale. The older foreign quarter lay at the foot of the Pincian, around the Piazza di Spagna, but the healthier sites on the slopes and summits of the Quirinal and Esquiline are now more frequented.
Rome abounds in open Squares (Piazzas) adorned with fountains, obelisks, or statues. Eleven Egyptian obelisks still ornament the gardens and piazzas of Rome, brought by Augustus and others. That in the Piazza of St. John Lateran, one hundred and four feet in height, is the largest in existence. It was erected at Thebes by Thothmes III., and removed by Constantine to the Circus Maximus. The triumphal arches of Septimius Severus, of Titus, and of Constantine are still conspicuous. Of the bridges over the Tiber, three are ancient.
The antiquities are legion, some of the most interesting are clustered within the area from the Colosseum to the crest of the Capitoline Hill.
SITE OF THE FORUM OF TRAJANThe Forum consisted of three parts: the forum proper, the huge Basilica Ulpie, and the temple of Trajan, with it colonnaded inclosure. It was once the grandest building in Rome. Trajan’s Column, still standing, is a Roman Doric column of marble, on a square basement, the total height, exclusive of the present statue of St. Peter, being one hundred and twenty-seven and one-half feet. The entire shaft is occupied by vigorous and lifelike reliefs ascending in a spiral, representing Trajan’s campaigns. The reliefs contain about two thousand five hundred human figures, besides those of animals and inanimate objects.
SITE OF THE FORUM OF TRAJAN
The Forum consisted of three parts: the forum proper, the huge Basilica Ulpie, and the temple of Trajan, with it colonnaded inclosure. It was once the grandest building in Rome. Trajan’s Column, still standing, is a Roman Doric column of marble, on a square basement, the total height, exclusive of the present statue of St. Peter, being one hundred and twenty-seven and one-half feet. The entire shaft is occupied by vigorous and lifelike reliefs ascending in a spiral, representing Trajan’s campaigns. The reliefs contain about two thousand five hundred human figures, besides those of animals and inanimate objects.
Famous Architectural Edifices, Ancient and Modern.—The remains of ancient Rome have suffered severely from the vandalism and the neglect of past centuries, but they are now carefully preserved. The Forum, in some places nearly forty feet below the present street level, has been in great part excavated, and near it are many vestiges of by-gone Roman splendor, including columns, arches and ruins of temples.
Roman Forum.—In remote times, the marshy ground which later became the site of this famous Forum served asneutral territorywhereon both the Romans (who occupied the Palatine Hill), and the Sabines (who occupied the Capitoline Hill) could meet. Gradually it became a market-place and an exchange, till, at length, all the important business of Rome and of the Empire came to be concentrated in and about the Forum.
A portico was built around the Forum, the first story being devoted to shops and the second to offices for the collection of taxes. After some centuries, these were destroyed by fire, when various basilicas and temples were erected in their places. The Forum existed as such till the eleventh century, A. D., when it was totally destroyed by Robert Guiscard. Becoming then a waste, the rubbish of the city was thrown there until the entire space was filled to the depth of twenty-four feet and the location and names of the ancient buildings lost. In the revival of learning, in the sixteenth century, interest began to be awakened in the ruins of ancient Rome, and, in 1547, excavations of the Forum were commenced, under Paul III., which, with much irregularity have continued to the present day.
ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUSAn arch in the Roman Forum, dedicated 203 A. D., in commemoration of victories over the Parthians. It is of Pentelic marble, with a central arch and two side arches, flanked by four Corinthian columns on each face. There are panels over the side arches and a frieze above all with reliefs of Roman triumphs.
ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
An arch in the Roman Forum, dedicated 203 A. D., in commemoration of victories over the Parthians. It is of Pentelic marble, with a central arch and two side arches, flanked by four Corinthian columns on each face. There are panels over the side arches and a frieze above all with reliefs of Roman triumphs.
ARCH OF CONSTANTINEBuilt in 312 A. D. in honor of Constantine’s triumph over Maxentius. Much of its abundant sculpture was taken from the destroyed church of Trajan.
ARCH OF CONSTANTINE
Built in 312 A. D. in honor of Constantine’s triumph over Maxentius. Much of its abundant sculpture was taken from the destroyed church of Trajan.
The most conspicuous remains of the Forum are the columns of the Temple of Saturn, the temples of Castor and Pollux and of Vesta, and on its northern side the arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia, the Basilica Æmilia, and the temples of Antoninus and Faustina and of Romulus. In the middle of the eastern part rose the temple and forum of Julius Cæsar. The more ancient and famous forum from which Cicero spoke was at the western end.
The latest excavations in the Roman Forum, including the stele and black stone of Romulus, the Basilica Æmilia, the Chapel of Santa Maria Antiqua, and the House of the Vestal Virgins, are of extraordinary interest.
It was traversed by theVia Sacra, a winding road which led from the southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and was the route by which triumphal processions passed to the Temple of Jupiter. The Arch of Titus was at its summit. The great blocks of lava with which this road was paved still, for the most part, remain.
Beyond it stands the great Column of Trajan, one hundred and twenty-four feet in height, with spiral bas-reliefs representing[516]scenes from Trajan’s campaigns against the Dacians, forming the most instructive historical monument in Rome.
Palaces and Art Collections.—The Vatican Palace, the residence of the pope, adjoining St. Peter’s, enjoys along with the Lateran the privilege of “exterritoriality.” The massive building, said to include eleven thousand apartments, contains the finest extant collection of ancient sculpture, with many celebrated statues, a rich gallery of paintings, a famous library, and other collections, besides the Sistine Chapel, adorned with frescoes by Michaelangelo and other masters, and the Stanze and Loggie, with paintings by Raphael and his contemporaries.
VATICAN PALACE AND GARDENS
VATICAN PALACE AND GARDENS
THRONE ROOM OF THE POPE, VATICAN PALACE
THRONE ROOM OF THE POPE, VATICAN PALACE
The Quirinal Palace, another huge pile on the hill of that name, is occupied by the king. In the Piazza del Quirinale are two famous marble groups of Horse-Tamers.
The Villa Umberto Primo, formerly Borghese, outside the Porta del Popolo, is noted for its beautiful grounds, which are a favorite promenade connecting with that on the Pincian Hill by an embankment and bridge opened in 1908. The Casino contains the picture-gallery formerly in the Palazzo Borghese. It is now an important National Museum, and is arranged according to schools. Among the masterpieces are Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael’s Entombment, Correggio’s Danaë, etc.
The Palazzo Barberini, built by Urban VIII., is a large and magnificent structure, but chiefly notable for a small picture-gallery, the gems of which are Raphael’s Fornarina, and Guido’s Beatrice Cenci. The library contains seven thousand manuscripts, many of which are rare.
Villa Medici(ma´de-che), was built in 1540, south of the Pincio, for Cardinal Ricci. About 1600 it came into the possession of the Medici family, and afterward into that of the grand dukes of Tuscany. Galileo was confined there 1630-1633. The French Academy of Art, founded by Louis XIV., was transferred to it in 1801, and it has a fine collection of casts.
Palaces of the Emperors.—On the western side of the Forum Romanum rises the Palatine Hill, its summit covered with the substructures of the Palaces of the Emperors, the Houses of Augustus, of Tiberius, of Livia, of Caligula, of Domitian, and of Hadrian. Most magnificent of all is the Palace of Septimius Severus, rising in seven stages of massive masonry, which form a southern extension of the Palatine Hill.
Besides these imperial palaces, the Palatine included a magnificent Stadium, the most perfect in existence, imperial reception halls, several temples, with gardens, baths, barracks for soldiers, and a basilica or hall of justice, in which St. Paul must have pleaded before the emperor.
The Golden House of Nero, built on the opposite side of the Forum, and occupying the greater portion of the Oppian Hill, was demolished to make room for the Colosseum and the Baths of Titus.
The Coliseum(or Colosseum), originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, was begun by Vespasian in A. D. 72, and dedicated by Titus eight years later. It was built for gladiatorial exhibitions and for the combats of wild beasts. It is the largest structure of the kind ever built, being capable of seating from forty to fifty thousand spectators. Though scarcely a third of the[517]original edifice remains, it is by far the most imposing monument of antiquity that the Imperial City has to show.
The Pantheonis the most perfect of the ancient buildings in Rome. It was built B. C. 27 by M. Agrippa, and restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla about A. D. 202, and has suffered much since. The vast round walls of brick, twenty feet thick, were once covered with marble. The portico (now below, but once above, the square) has sixteen huge monolithic columns of Oriental granite, thirty-nine feet high, with Corinthian capitals of famed beauty. Statues of Augustus and Agrippa once stood here. The circular interior is very impressive, and is lighted from a place twenty-eight feet across in the center of the dome, open to the sky.
This unrivalled dome is one hundred and forty feet high and one hundred and forty feet across. The gilded bronze roof-tiles were carried to Constantinople in 655; and all the other bronzes were used in making cannon for the citadel and the canopy in St. Peter’s. The seven niches in which statues of the gods stood are now occupied by altars. Raphael is buried here, near his betrothed, Cardinal Bibiena’s niece; and here is the tomb of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.
The Capitol, which is one hundred and sixty feet above the sea level and is best approached by the grand staircase known as La Cordonnata. At its foot are two lions of Egyptian porphyry; at its head the ancient colossal statues of Castor and Pollux. Beyond these on either side are the sculptures misnamed “the Trophies of Marius” and the statues of Constantine and his son from the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal. The open space here is the Piazza del Campidoglio, the ancient Intermontium, where Brutus harangued the people after the murder of Cæsar. In the center is the celebrated statue of Marcus Aurelius, “the only perfect ancient equestrian statue in existence.” It owes its preservation to the fact that it was long supposed to be a statue of Constantine. On the right is the Palace of the Conservatori, on the left the Museum of the Capitol, both designed by Michaelangelo; between the two, occupying the third side of the square, is the Palace of the Senator, on the site of the ancient Tabularium. The fountain at the foot of the stairs is adorned with statues of river-gods, the Tiber and the Nile. The tower contains the great bell which is rung only to announce the opening of the carnival or the death of a pope.
The Capitoline Museumcontains some of the most famous sculptures extant, as the Dying Gladiator, the Venus of the Capitol, the Faun of Praxiteles, the Antinous, etc. There is also the rich collection of busts and statues of Roman emperors and empresses, statesmen, philosophers, etc., “perhaps the most interesting portrait gallery in the world.”
VILLA UMBERTO PRIMO (FORMERLY VILLA BORGHESE), ROMEHas art collections considered only second in importance to that of the Vatican, and, despite the removal of many works, the number of really great paintings retains for the collection its old pre-eminence.
VILLA UMBERTO PRIMO (FORMERLY VILLA BORGHESE), ROME
Has art collections considered only second in importance to that of the Vatican, and, despite the removal of many works, the number of really great paintings retains for the collection its old pre-eminence.
THE MAGNIFICENT VILLA MEDICI, ROME
THE MAGNIFICENT VILLA MEDICI, ROME
Famous Churches.—Ancient Rome contained about three hundred temples, and modern Rome has about as many churches, eighty of which are dedicated to the Virgin. St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, S. Maria Maggiore on the top of the Esquiline, S. Paolo fuori le Mura (“outside the walls”), perhaps the most gorgeously decorated church in Rome, and S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura are the five Patriarchal churches, to one or other of which all believers throughout the world are supposed to belong. With Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and S. Sebastiano, they make up the famous “Seven Churches of Rome” frequented by pilgrims. They are also unsurpassed in their rich architectural and art interests.
St. Peter’s, adjoining the Vatican, perhaps the most famous and certainly the largest church in the world, has an area nearly twice that of St. Paul’s in London, while its dome rises to the height of four hundred and three feet.
Many architects were concerned in the building of the Cathedral of St. Peter, but the principal credit is assigned to Bramante, the creator of the design, and to Michaelangelo, whose chief work is the dome. To the spectator, approaching from the Piazza di San Pietro, the majesty of the dome is lost behind the façade, erected at the instance of Pope Paul V. at the end of the nave lengthened by him in order to work out the idea of a Latin cross; the design of Bramante was a Greek cross.
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN LATERAN, ROME, THE MOTHER CHURCH OF CHRISTENDOM
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN LATERAN, ROME, THE MOTHER CHURCH OF CHRISTENDOM
The building was commenced in 1506, but was not completed until 1626; the total cost of erection was about fifty million dollars, and its maintenance absorbs annually about forty thousand dollars.
It covers about eighteen thousand square yards; the length is two hundred and thirty-two yards, of the transept one hundred and fifty yards; height of the nave one hundred and fifty-one feet; height of the dome from the pavement to the summit of the lantern four hundred and four feet; to the summit of the cross four hundred and thirty-four feet.
Besides the high altar there are twenty-nine other altars; the high altar being immediately over the Tomb of St. Peter. Round the Confessio are ninety-five lamps, always lighted. The bronze statue of St. Peter, on white marble, under a canopy, is by a pillar; the right foot of which is worn smooth by the kisses of worshipers.
St. John Lateran. (It.San Giovanni in Laterano), adjoining the papal palace of the Lateran, claims to be the mother-church of all Christendom. It was originally named from the Roman family Lateranus. Beside it are its ancient Baptistery and a building enclosing the Scala Santa, brought from Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem in 326.
Many other of the Roman churches contain treasures of art or are interesting for their structure or history. S. Maria Sopra Minerva is the only ancient Gothic church in the city. S. Pietro in Vincoli contains Michaelangelo’s famous statue of Moses; and S. Maria delle Pace Raphael’s beautiful frescoes of the Sibyls. The Gesù is the chief church of the Jesuits. San Carlo al Corso is the fashionable church.
Roads.—The roads leading out of Rome beyond the Servian Walls were bordered by tombs, many of which, on the erection of the Aurelian Wall, were included within the city. The most famous of these celebrated roads was the:
Appian Way(called Regina Viarum) was begun B. C. 312 by Appius Claudius, and ran to Capua, and afterwards to Brindisi, forming main route to southern Italy, Greece and Egypt. There are beautiful views all along, of Campagna, aqueducts, and Alban Mountains.
APPIAN WAYA famous Roman military road, the skill with which it is taken through difficult country, over hills, ravines, and marshes, is remarkable. Horace, in his first satire, describes a journey along it, and St. Paul came this way into Rome (Acts xxviii. 15).
APPIAN WAY
A famous Roman military road, the skill with which it is taken through difficult country, over hills, ravines, and marshes, is remarkable. Horace, in his first satire, describes a journey along it, and St. Paul came this way into Rome (Acts xxviii. 15).
On Via Appia are Catacombs of S. Calixtus, with tombs of St. Cecilia and many second and third century popes and martyrs, and seventh-century Byzantine paintings. A quarter of a mile beyond is very ancient S. Sebastiano Church under which are extensive catacombs. On a hill still beyond stands the famous Tomb of Cæcilia Metella, round, sixty-five feet in diameter, and in thirteenth century a tower of now vanished castle of the Gaetani. Beyond, the Way is bordered by ancient tombs on either side, and the old Latin pavement is the road-bed.
At Trivoli is Hadrian’s Villa (Villa Adriana) an extensive ruin, with the gardens covering about 170 acres.
POPE PIUS X. IN THE BED IN WHICH HE DIED(Picture by Cav. G. Felici)
POPE PIUS X. IN THE BED IN WHICH HE DIED
(Picture by Cav. G. Felici)
PROCLAMATION OF POPE BENEDICT XV.(Cardinal della Chiesa)IN FRONT OF ST. PETER’S, ROME(From a Painting)
PROCLAMATION OF POPE BENEDICT XV.(Cardinal della Chiesa)IN FRONT OF ST. PETER’S, ROME
(From a Painting)
Florence(Lat.FlorentiaItal.Firenze), one of the most famous of Italian cities, is situated fifty miles from the sea, in the valley of the Arno, and is built on both sides of the river, but chiefly on the north. The outlying suburbs are singularly beautiful, and are surrounded by finely wooded hills, bright with gay villas and charming gardens. The old city itself is characterized by a somber grandness, and is full of fine buildings of historic and artistic interest.
The chief building in the city is the Duomo, or Cathedral, the foundations of which were laid with great solemnity in 1298; but not until 1887 was the completed façade uncovered. The church[520]contains sculptures by Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, Michælangelo, Sansovino, Bandinelli, and other famous artists.
At the side of the cathedral springs up the light and elegant Campanile, detached, according to the custom of the times. In front is the Baptistery in the form of an octagon, supporting a cupola and lantern. Three bronze gates in basso rilievo are a great additional adornment of the Baptistery; the two by Ghiberti have been immortalized by Michælangelo, with the name of Gates of Paradise.
The church of the Santa Croce, the Pantheon of Florence (built in 1294), contains monuments to Galileo, Dante, Macchiavelli, Michælangelo, Alfieri and others.
Among the numerous palaces Il Bargello, long a prison, but now restored and opened as a national museum, is one of the most ancient.
The Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the republican government from its establishment till its abolition in 1530, is an imposing mass of building. Adjoining the palace is the Piazza della Signoria, a square containing a fine collection of statues, and a noble arcade, the Loggia dei Lanzi.
The Uffizi Palace is a handsome building adjoining the Palazzo Vecchio, founded by Cosmo I. On the second floor is contained the famous Florentine gallery of art. A splendid apartment, known as the Tribuna, contains the rarest treasures of the collection.
The Pitti Palace, formerly the grand-ducal residence, boasts of a superb gallery of paintings. Behind it are the beautiful Boboli Gardens royal. The Strozzi Palace is a fine type of Tuscan architecture.
Florence is the city of Dante, Petrarch, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Galileo and many more of Italy’s great men, and has a history of exceptional interest. It is an educational center, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk, sculptures, jewelry, and exquisite mosaics in rare stones.
Genoa(Ital.Genova), is situated on the Mediterranean gulf of the same name, at the foot of the Apennines, and is an important seaport. By rail it is eight hundred and one miles southeast of Paris, one hundred and seventy-one miles northeast of Marseilles, and ninety-three miles southwest of Milan. The slopes of the hills behind the city down to the shore are covered with buildings, terraced gardens, and orange and pomegranate groves; while the bleak summits of the loftier ranges, rising still farther back, are capped with strong forts, batteries, and outworks.
While strikingly grand as viewed from the sea, and so far worthy of being entitled “Genoa the Superb,” is in reality built awkwardly on irregular rising ground, and consists of a labyrinth of narrow and intricate lanes. Of the palaces the most famous are the former palace of the doges, now the meeting-place of the senate; and the Doria, presented in 1529 to the great Genoese citizen Andrea Doria. Foremost among the churches stands the Cathedral, a grand twelfth-century pile in the Italian Gothic style. The marble Municipal Palace and the palace of the Dogana must also be mentioned.
To Columbus and Mazzini, Genoa’s most famous sons, there are fine monuments.
It is the commercial outlet for a wide extent of country, of which the chief exports are rice, wine, olive-oil, silk goods, coral, paper, macaroni and marble. The principal industrial establishments of the city embrace ironworks, cotton and cloth mills, macaroni-works, tanneries, sugar-refineries, and vesta-match, filigree, and paper factories. Genoa benefited greatly by the opening of the St. Gothard Railway.
Milan(me-lan´,mil´an. Ital.Milano,mee-lah´no), the capital of Lombardy, is one of the largest and wealthiest cities of Italy. It was an important town under the Romans, was sacked by Attila in 452, totally destroyed by Frederic Barbarossa in 1162, and has figured prominently in more recent history.
The city, nearly circular in shape, is surrounded on three sides by walls, has a circuit of nearly eight miles, and is entered by fourteen gates.
Of the numerous churches the magnificent Gothic Cathedral is the most famous. It is second only to St. Peter’s and Seville Cathedrals in size and was built principally during the period 1386-1500. After many delays and interruptions, work was resumed under Napoleon I. in 1805, but is not yet fully completed. The façade has recently been restored. It is cruciform, with double aisles and transept-aisles, separated by fifty-two pillars, each twelve feet in diameter, with niches crowded with statues. Interior four hundred and seventy-seven feet long, one hundred and eighty-three feet wide and one hundred and fifty-five feet high. It contains six thousand statues, a pavement of marble mosaic, vast granite monoliths, superb stained windows, many tombs of magnates, St. Carlo Borromeo’s wooden crucifix and gorgeous tomb, and life-size silver statues of saints. The wonderful marble roof is studded with ninety-eight Gothic turrets, hundreds of pinnacles, and over two thousand life-size marble statues.
Of the other churches S. Maria delle Grazie (fifteenth century), partly the work of Bremante, was originally an abbey church, and the refectory in the rear contains Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated fresco of the Last Supper, which, in 1909, was successfully restored.
The Brera Palace (twelfth century), formerly a Jesuit college, has now a great gallery of paintings by Raphael, Da Vinci, Luini, Mantegna, the Bellinis, Titian, Vandyck, and others, an academy of art, a collection of casts, the magnificent monument of Gaston de Foix, the National Library, an archaeological museum, and an observatory.
The colonnade of Victor Emmanuel Gallery is the finest arcade in the world, and was built in 1865-1867 at a cost of one million six hundred thousand dollars. It is nine hundred and sixty feet long, forty-eight feet wide, ninety-four feet high, surrounded by handsome shops, richly frescoed, and adorned with statues of Raphael, Galileo, Dante, Cavour, and twenty other famous Italians. The octagon under the dome (one hundred and eighty feet high) is brilliantly lighted at night, when it forms a favorite promenade.
On the adjacent Piazza della Scala is Leonardo da Vinci’s monument, and the massive Municipal Palace. The Arch of Peace, built of white marble, commemorates the exploits of Napoleon. The Della Scala Opera House is the second in size (after San Carlo at Naples) in Italy; and the Milan conservatoire is the most famous school of music in Europe.
Beccaria, Manzoni, the popes Pius IV. and Gregory XIV. were natives of Milan. The city now carries on a vast trade, much increased since the opening of the Gothard railroad, in raw silk, cotton, grain, rice, and cheese, and manufactures silks, velvets, gold, silver, and iron wares, railroad carriages, tobacco, porcelain, electrical apparatus, and is an active center of the printing trade.
Naples(Ital. Napolinä´pō-lē´).—The capital of the province of Naples has a lovely situation within the bend of Naples Bay, spreading from the foreshore back upon wooded hills and rising terraces, behind which lie the snow-clad Apennines. To the east lies the old town with its historic Via di Roma and narrow crowded thoroughfares; the newer portion to the west is more spaciously laid out, and much has been done in recent years over the whole city to improve the sanitation and water supply. The[521]National Museum, rich in Pompeii relics, the University, the National Library, the Cathedral and the four mediæval gateways are the chief architectural features.
Large quantities of wine, olive-oil, chemicals, perfumery, etc., are exported, while woolen, silk, linen, glove and other factories carry on a good home trade.
Naples became incorporated in the kingdom of Italy in 1861 after the Bourbon dynasty had been swept away by Garibaldi.