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INTRODUCTION.

· General Topography.-2. Classical Topography.-3. Agriculture.— 4. Commerce and Manufactures.-5. Fine Arts: A. Ancient Architecture; B. Medieval and Modern Architecture; c. Sculpture; D. Painting.-6. Books on the Country.-7. Maps.-8. Chronological Tables.

1. GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY.

The Southern portion of the Italian peninsula and of the present talian kingdom formerly constituted the Neapolitan provinces or coninental portion of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, known as the Dominj li quà del Faro, bounded on the N.W. by the Papal States, on the N.E. by the Adriatic, on the S.E. by the Ionian, and on the W. by the Mediterranean seas.

In ancient times the Tiber was the boundary between Upper and Lower Italy. The acquisitions of the Holy See in the middle ages changed the ancient landmarks, and transferred a portion of Southern Italy to the Popes. The frontier-line which till lately divided the provinces of Naples from the Papal States, with few trifling exceptions, was before the recent political changes the same as it was at the establishment of the monarchy by the Normans in 1130. It commenced on the Adriatic at the Tronto, and terminated on the Mediterranean, about 2 m. E. of Terracina. The length of this line of frontier, following its numerous windings, was about 210 m.; the direct distance not more than 115.

The area included within these limits was estimated at about 31,595 English square miles. The length of the kingdom, measured along the curved line of the chain of the Apennines, from the Tronto to the Cape of Spartivento, was 350 m., the breadth varying considerably. From the mouth of the Garigliano in the Bay of Gaeta, to the mouth of the Trigno on the Adriatic, is 70 m., and about the same from Salerno to the mouth of the Carapelle; from Capo di Licosa to Bari 112 m., and to Brindisi 150; from the shore N. of Paola to S. of the mouth of the Crati it is 29 m., and only 16 between the Gulfs of Sant' Eufemia and of Squillace.

The chain of the Apennines runs through the centre of the Neapolitan provinces. Their highest peaks are in the Abruzzi, where the Monte Corno, or Gran Sasso d'Italia, between Teramo and Aquila, is 10,154 English ft. above the sea, and Monte Amaro the highest peak of the Maiella group, 9130 ft.; in the province of the Terra di Lavoro, the Monte Miletto, the highest peak of the Matese, 6745; in Basilicata, Monte

Dolcedorme, 6875; in Calabria, Monte Cocuzzo, 5620 ft., and Montal the culminating point of the Aspromonte, 4380 ft.

The principal rivers are,-on the W. coast, the Liris or Gariglian the Volturno, and the Sele. On the Adriatic, the Tronto, Voman Pescara, Sangro, Trigno, Biferno, Fortore, and the Ofanto. On t Ionian sea, the Bradano, Basente, Agri, Sinno, and Crati. The inco siderable amount of tide renders the mouths of these rivers usele as harbours, except for very small vessels.

The principal harbours and roadsteads frequented by shipping are,on the W. coast, Gaeta, Baic, Naples, Castellamare, and the little B of Tropea; on the Ionian sea, Taranto, and Gallipoli; on the easter coasts, Brindisi, greatly deteriorated by accumulations of sand and b years of neglect, but now so much improved as to render it th best harbour of the Italian kingdom on the Adriatic, Bari, Molfett Bisceglie, Trani, Barletta, Manfredonia, Termoli, Ortona, and Pescard but most of the latter are only accessible to vessels drawing litt water.

There are few lakes. The largest are, the Lago di Fucino or di Celan in the Abruzzi, now being gradually drained of its contents, the Lag di Fondi in Terra di Lavoro, the Lago di Lesina and Lago di Salpi i the Capitanata, and the small volcanic lakes of Agnano (also drained Avernus, &c., near Naples.

The principal islands are the Ponza group off the Bay of Gaeta Ischia, Procida, and Capri in the Bay of Naples; the Isola di Dino i the Gulf of Policastro; and the islands of Tremiti in the Adriatic.

This portion of the Peninsula is divided into 16 provinces, of whic Basilicata and Capitanata are the largest, Abruzzo Citeriore and the Pro vince of Naples the smallest. The annexed table shows the distri bution of the population by provinces, when the last Census wa taken, on the 1st Jan., 1873, with the chief towns of each, and the names of the districts (Circondarii) into which they are divided.

PROVINCES, OR PREFECTURES. DISTRICTS, OR SUBPREFECTURES. POPULATION.

2. CLASSICAL TOPOGRAPHY.

There is no country in Europe whose population is composed of a greater variety of races than the South of Italy. They were never extinguished or absorbed by the conquests of Rome, or by the political changes during the middle ages. In Naples there has always been a mixture of many nations; but in the provinces we still find the descendants of the Marsi, the Samnites, the Bruttii, the Lucanians, the Calabri, the Greeks, and other races of antiquity. The wars of these tribes with Rome thinned their numbers, and deprived them of their independence, but did not destroy their nationality. Even the Latin colonies planted among them failed to effect more than a temporary fusion. Long after the allied states had compelled Rome to admit them to the rights of citizenship, their national customs were regarded with curiosity by the Roman men of letters; and the most striking proofs which we possess that their ancient habits were never extinguished are to be found in the poets and historians of the empire. The Greeks resisted even more successfully all the efforts of Rome to amalgamate them with her own people. When the Samnite and the Oscan languages had ceased to be spoken, Greek remained the language of the inhabitants of the coasts, and survived the downfall of the Roman empire. It appears that when the inhabitants of the Greek cities of Apulia found it necessary for the purposes of trade to speak Latin, they still used their native tongue in their intercourse with each other, a fact which explains the epithet bilingues, applied by the Romans to the citizens of Canusium. During the Byzantine rule the kingdom received the greatest infusion of foreign blood and foreign habits since the period of the ancient colonisation; but these Greek settlements were confined chiefly to the coasts of Apulia and to certain districts of Calabria. Such were the circumstances of the Neapolitan provinces when they were invaded by the Barbarians of the North. These tribes overran the country without occupying it. The Lombards, who followed, left but little impression on the national character. The Normans, by the foundation of the existing monarchy on the basis of feudal institutions, amalgamated the mixed races into one people without destroying their distinctive features. Hence we find that amidst all the changes of dynasty, from the Norman conquest to our own times, the varied elements of the population have retained the national character, the domestic habits, the amusements, and even in some instances the language, of the ancient races they are descended from. In the neighbourhood of the Lake of Celano the traveller will find the descendants of the Marsi, still known for their skill as serpentcharmers, as they were in the time of Virgil. In the neighbourhood of the Pelasgic cities he will find the Greek costumes still worn as gracefully by the female peasantry as on the paintings on the vases of Magna Græcia. In many of the cities of Greek origin on the coast he will see the hair of the young maiden coiled as on the statues of the Grecian sculptors. In Apulia and in Calabria he will frequently find articles of costume of which he will recognise the prototypes in the bas-reliefs and paintings of Pompeii and Herculaneum. At Naples he will observe the Mimica of the Greeks still in use, as the

unspoken but expressive language of the great mass of the people. At Ischia and Procida he may still perhaps chance to see the national dance performed as of old to the sound of the timbrel, and in Greek costumes. In the agricultural districts, at a distance from the capital, he will find implements as primitive and prejudices as inveterate as those which characterised the farmer of Roman times. In all the ports of the S. coast he will recognise in the Phrygian cap and the capote of the sailors the patterns represented in the paintings of the Pompeii taverns. In some districts he will find the Greek and in others the Latin element predominating in the language of the peasantry; in others he will be struck by the prevalence of Oscan words. The great festival of Monte Vergine will remind him of the Dionysiac procession; and half a century has scarcely passed since the remnants of the worship of Priapus were extirpated from Isernia. We shall now take a brief and rapid survey of the ancient geography of the country.

The

Beginning with the northern provinces, two of the Abruzzi formed portions of countries which were until lately divided between Naples and the Papal States.-ABRUZZO ULTERIORE I. in its upper portion formed part of Picenum, whose territory extended as far N. as Ancona, and whose capital, Asculum Picenum, bore nearly its modern name-Ascoli. central portion of the province was the country of the Prætutii, whose capital, Interamna Prætutiana, is the modern Teramo. The lower districts between the Vomanus and the Aternus were inhabited by the Vestini, whose capital, Pinna, is the present Civita di Penne. ABRUZZO ULTERIORE II. includes part of Sabina and Samnium. In the Sabine portion the principal city was Amiternum, of which ruins still exist at San Vittorino. The central district was inhabited by the Marsi, within whose territory were the Lacus Fucinus and Alba Fucensis. In the valleys of the Imele and the Salto, in what is now the Cicolano district, were the cities of the Aborigines and Arcadian Pelasgi, described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus as in ruins and deserted in his time. Between the E. shore of the Fucinus and the mountains of Maiella was the territory of the Peligni, whose chief cities were Corfinium and Sulmo. ABRUZZO CITERIORE comprises the territory of the Marrucini and Frentani. Their capital, Teate, is the modern Chieti. The Frentani occupied that portion of the province which lay between the Sagrus and the Fronto. Their territory therefore included the entire coast of the present province of Molise and part of Capitanata. MOLISE, sometimes called SANNIO, in commemoration of the Samnite races which constitute the bulk of its population, comprises that portion of the territory of the Frentani, in which their capital, Larinum, was situated. The W. districts of Molise were occupied by the Caraceni and the Pentri, whose cities of Aufidena and sernia still bear the names of Alfidena and Isernia. TERRA DI LAVORO, extending from the Liris to the range of mountains which bounds the Gulf of Naples on the E., includes the greater part of Campania Felix. The S. limit of that territory was the Silarus, now the Sele, near Pæstum ; but the modern province is bounded by the Sarno, the ancient Sarnus, near whose S. bank Pompeii was situated. Between the frontier at Terracina and the valley of the Liris, the Terra di Lavoro includes a part of the Volscian territory. In that district, watered by the Liris and Fibrenus, were Sora and Arpinum.