ROME : Archaeology.) (T. F.) Natural Economic Resources.—On the asset side of Italy's economic balance-sheet must be placed man-power, brains, geo graphical position, water-power ; on the debit side, the absence of coal and fuel oils in commercial quantities, limited mineral resources, a high percentage of rocky mountainous territory, either unproductive or of low productive value.
For thousands of years Italian land has fed large populations, and its natural fertility would long ago have been exhausted had not human skill, aided in the last century by scientific knowledge, reintegrated the depleted wealth of its soil.
The recently reclaimed marsh lands in Venetia and Romagna possess a high degree of natural fertility, but there are no rich tracts of black alluvial soil as in the Ukraine, Hungary and Ru mania. In Italy soil fertility is largely the work of man, the result of drainage, irrigation, careful tillage, and the copious use of natural and chemical fertilizers. Of these latter 104.7 kg. per hectare of arable land (exclusive of grass lands) were used in North Italy in 1925, 92.1 kg. in Central Italy, 26.5 in the South and the Islands. Their use is steadily increasing.
The output of Italian mines 1876-1927 has been as follows:— 48 and 5o thousand million lire, distributed as follows: Live stock 25%, wine 22%, cereals 19%, oil 5%, industrial plants 4%, roots 3%, legumes 2%, fruits and vegetables 15%, forests 4%.
Italian agriculture is extremely diversified; differences of alti tude, soil, and climate allow the production of all European crops, from rye to rice, from apples to oranges, from hemp to cotton (of which a small quantity is grown in Sicily) while the very varied forms of land tenure prevailing in the different sections exhibit farming in its most evolved and its most primitive forms.
Of the total national area (approximately 310,055 sq.km.) 91•7% is productive, 25.85% being under cereal crops, 3.03% legumes, o.86% industrial crops (hemp, sugar-beet, tobacco, flax and lin seed), 0.92% roots, 0.56% garden truck, 15.02% forage crops. Arable land thus accounts for 4624% of the productive total, 23.96% is under permanent grass and pasture; 4.39% is vated but productive, and a little over one quarter (25.36%) under trees, shrubs, bushes and forests. These latter, including fine chestnut forests, cover 55.854 sq km.
The following table shows that, while the area under cereals declined somewhat in the period 1923-26, as compared to 1909 13, total and per hectare yield increased, and per capita yield rose from 257 to 269 kg.
It will be seen that the production of coal, the former sole basis of modern industry, is insignificant.
The insufficiency of the present production of ores to meet current needs is shown by the fact that in 1927 the output of iron ore was estimated at 426,00o tons against imports of scrap iron and steel amounting to 693,000 tons. Italy produced just over one million tons of coal and lignite and imported over million tons of coal; she produced 5,800 tons of mineral oils and imported over 146.8 thousand tons. It is therefore evident that for these essentials she is dependent on foreign supplies.
Italy is abundantly supplied with excellent stone for all building requirements ; her quarries of white and coloured marbles are famous and well-nigh inexhaustible. She has large supplies of borax and boric acid, and extensive beds of clay, lime, marl, kaoline, etc., for the needs of the brick, cement, porcelain and glass industries.
A national effort, promoted by the Government, was started in 1925 to increase the output of wheat, of which Italy now has to import on an average 2,400,000 tons, or approximately one-third of her annual requirements. Apart from some hundred thousand hec tares, which may yet be added by land reclamation, it is not economically desirable to increase the large acreage already sown to this crop, but it is generally admitted that the yield could be raised from the present average of 1.2 metric tons per ha., to at least 1.5.
Rice, grown almost exclusively in a limited section of north Italy, is the only cereal crop of which Italy is an exporter. The rice area has declined in the last twenty years, but the yield per hectare has increased considerably.
Hemp of fine quality is an important industrial crop, and is exported in considerable quantities. The Sugar Beet crop, intro duced into north Italy since 1895, has spread rapidly, giving rise to a sugar refining industry of considerable importance. Though the area devoted to Tobacco is limited, it has grown rapidly since the war, supplying the Tobacco Monopoly, formerly a large im porter, with all the Kentucky and Levantine varieties it requires and leaving a considerable margin for export.
The average value of agricultural and forestry products for the three year period 1924-26 has recently been estimated between Roots, tomatoes, and fresh vegetables are very important crops, meeting all home requirements and exported in large quantities. They supply the raw material for a large and growing canning and preserving industry. Their steady development is shown by the following figures: Italian climate and soil are pre-eminently suited to fruit grow ing, but heretofore this potential source of wealth has been inade quately considered. This is due to the fact that the farm has been first and foremost a self-supporting unit, but now that agriculture is increasingly thought of in terms of the leading national industry there is evidence that fruit-growing and preserving will take their proper place as important wealth-producing assets. Data for the total area under deciduous fruits are not available. Specialized commercial orchards are a recent development, confined mainly to north Italy, the general practice being to plant fruit trees in union with other crops. The total production of deciduous fruits and nuts in 1926 was estimated by the Ministry of National Economy at some 900,000 metric tons.
In Calabria and Sicily citrus fruit is of great economic impor tance. If Italian oranges rank second on the world's markets to those of Spain, her lemons, accounting for 54% of her citrus crop, hold the first place.
Wine accounts for nearly a quarter of the total money yield of Italian agriculture. Italy ranks next to France for the quantity produced (average 45,200,00o hectolitres) and boasts a great variety of wines, many of choice quality, but little known beyond her own frontiers, the chief exceptions being Marsala, Vermouth, Chianti and Barolo. Large quantities of the ordinary red wine from Apulian vineyards are exported to France for cut ting native wines. Wine making is still mainly a farm industry. The trend is towards improving quality, standardizing types, concentrating and industrializing production.
Olive Oil.—Italy ranks second to Spain as a producer of olive oil. The area planted to olives shows a slight decline since the war, when the fuel famine led to their destruction in some districts. The annual money value of the oil has averaged in the post-war period over 2,000,000,000 lire. Apulia, Calabria, Tuscany and Sicily are the chief oil-producing centres.
Silk.—Some 600,000 farm families, mainly in north Italy and along the eastern coast, are engaged in rearing silk-worms. An abundant supply of mulberry leaves, the food of the worms, is essential, and steps are being taken to encourage the cultivation of this tree in other sections of the country where the industry could flourish. The cocoon crop dropped heavily during 1915-20, hut has since regained the pre-war level, approximating, with seasonal variations, 45 million kilograms.
Fully one-third of the agricultural area (13,200,000 hectares) is under forage crops, three-fourths being natural pastures. As practically no land susceptible of economic cultivation is so used, this large area indicates the extent unsuited to other uses. The average production of torage, expressed in terms ot nay, amounted in to 23.8 million metric tons.
As the latest live stock census was taken in 1918, when the major portion of the Venetian province was in enemy hands, we must go back to the 1908 census for complete data. An enquiry made in 1926, places the total number of cattle at 7.4 million, a 19% increase over the 1908 figures; sheep 12.3 million (106%) ; goats 3.1 million ; pigs 2.85 million (13.6%) ; horses 1.05 million (9.8%), and asses and mules 1,500,00o This estimate gives 26 head of cattle and 43.4 sheep per sq.km. of farm and forest land. The distribution of live stock is very uneven. The 1908 census shows 15.3 head of cattle per sq.km. of farm land in north, 3.5 in central, 2.6 in south Italy, and 2.2 in the islands. This points to one of the causes of the comparative agricultural poverty of the south, i.e., the insufficiency of the live stock on the farm. Sheep and goats are more numerous south than north: 3.9 sheep per sq.km. in north, 12.9 in central, 14.8 in south Italy and 10.8 in the islands.
The dairy industry is of great economic importance with an output estimated in 1925 at some 250,000 metric tons of cheese and 5o,00o of butter. Of the 5o odd varieties of Italian cheese, the best known are the hard parmesan and pecorino (the latter made from ewes' milk) and the soft gorgonzola and bel paese, in all of which a large export trade is done for an annual value approximating 450,000,000 lire.
Cash tenancy is prevalent in the rich valley of the Po and in parts of Venetia, Emilia and Piedmont ; but crop-sharing is the more prevalent and characteristic form of tenancy, leading to a highly diversified agriculture, the farm under this system being a self-supporting unit worked by the tenant and his family without hired labour. This form of farming is found in its most typical aspects in Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches.
Italian agriculture suffers from two opposite evils : the latifundia of the south, and the exceedingly small, one might say "pul verised" peasant ownership prevailing in mountain districts and in the south and Sardinia. The latifundia consist of undivided estates, varying from 200 to t,000 hectares, cultivated in the time of the Romans by slave labour, and now by permanent labourers and their families hired by the bailiffs to whom the estates are farmed out by their absentee owners.
Prior to 1922 Italy had no distinct agricultural policy. In the north, agriculture made great progress during the fifty years of national unity, thanks to the energy and self-help of an enter prising population. Land reclamation in the Venetian prov inces and in Romagna, a good network of roads and rails, irriga tion, the spread of education and science all contributed to build up sound rural prosperity. In central Italy agriculture stagnated; some progress was made, but on the whole conditions were unsatisfactory. In the south the tariff war with France in the late '8os, the ravages of the phyloxera and the olive-fly, aggravated by taxation too heavy for its feeble economic re sources, led to widespread and severe depression, accompanied by poverty bordering on destitution among the peasantry. Towards 1885 emigration, mainly to North and South America, was re sorted to, and was soon practised on a scale of alarming propor tions. The first result was to aggravate the economic crisis by rendering labour scarce and relatively expensive, leading to the suspension of farming over considerable areas. But after an in terval of years things began to right themselves. The remittances sent home by emigrants provided a steady influx of capital.
Land reclamation is another item on the programme. Since 1870 900,000 hectares have been drained, mostly in the Venetian provinces, of which approximately one-third since 1922. Much of the land is extremely fertile. Work is now going forward on another 600,000 ha. and plans, already approved, provide for a further 700,000. This will bring the total up to the 2,200,000 hectares requiring such treatment. Not only is provision made for draining these lands, but the work is completed by bringing them under cultivation, providing roads, farm-buildings and water supply, and, where necessary, irrigation. A law enacted in 1927 provides for the "integral" reclamation of all land susceptible of such treatment estimated at some 2,500,000 hectares.
The Italian Alps and pre-Alps cover an area of 32,00o sq.km. and it is estimated that, by utilizing all their available water, 2 kw. per sq.m. could be secured under favourable conditions, equivalent to 16 to 20 thousand million kw.h. of current, or as much power as could be obtained from 20,000,000 tons of coal. According to the same estimates, the Apennines could yield 5 to 6 thousand million kw.h. per annum to swell the potential total.
In Italy the development of the hydro-electric industry fol lowed close on the discovery of the revolving magnetic field by Galileo Ferraris and of the converter by Gaulard. In 1892-95 the important hydraulic power stations supplying electric current to Rome and Milan were erected, and a programme was soon under way for utilizing the watercourses of each hydrological basin. The need of co-ordinating the industrial requirements of each zone with available resources led to the growth of a complex high-tension system, supplying the needs of several consuming centres. Installed units grew rapidly : 86,000 kw. in 1898 ; 426,00o in 1908; 1,240,00o in 1918; 2,370,000 in 1926. At the beginning of 1928 the figure exceeded 2,600,000 kw., out of an estimated potential total of 6 million. About three-quarters of this installed power is derived from the Alps.
The consumption of electric power expressed in millions of kw.h. has grown as follows: 1908, 1,000; 1918, 4,111; 1923, 6,166; 1927, 8,887, of which about one-tenth for lighting.
The power system is based on the exchange of current between the several regions. The water supply in the north is most abundant during the summer months when the Alpine snows melt ; in the central sections the winter rains swell the torrents of the Apennines. By developing long distance high-tension transmission, much has been done to compensate these ups and downs. At the end of 1925 over 45,00o km. of high-tension lines had been laid, besides the hundreds of thousands of kilometres required for local distribution. In 1927 over 1,600 km. of electric cable lines had a voltage exceeding 100,000 volts.
This magnificent power system has been built up by private enterprise with private capital. Under the Act of October 1919, concessions for the use of watercourses, over which the State claims preeminent domain, can be granted to companies for a fixed term of years, a subsidy of 8o lire per kw. installed being paid for a period of 15 years. When the concession lapses, the hydraulic plants revert to the State, which enjoys a right of pre emption on the electric plants connected therewith.
Notwithstanding the remarkable development of hydraulic power, Italy's coal requirements have not fallen below the pre war level; indeed, they tend to increase with the erection of new steam power-stations, the heavier railway traffic, the growing use of gas, and the general development of productive activities. There is considerable talk of utilizing on a larger scale national fuel resources, consisting mainly of lignite of low calorific con tent, but in 1927 they supplied barely one of the 15,00o,000 tons of coal and kindred fuels consumed in that year. War and post war conditions reduced imports from an average of io,80o,000 tons in 1913 to 5,600,000 in 1920; but from that year on they gradually recovered, and in 1927 exceeded 14,000,000 tons, of which Great Britain supplied 6,400,000 (as against 9,400,00o in 1913), while Germany's contribution rose to 5 million, including deliveries on reparation account and from the Saar.
The need for integrating hydraulic by steam-power stations is increasingly felt. In 1926, 200,000 tons of coal were used by such plants with a potential total of about 500,000 kw. ; railway and tram services consumed 3,400,000 tons; steel foundries 1,500, 000; gasometers 1,300,000 and shipping i,000,000 to 1,500,000.
The following table 'shows Italian fuel consumption (coal, liquid fuels and electric power) expressed in terms of coal.
The use of fuel oils as a source of power is hindered by heavy customs and sales duties; nevertheless, the growing importance of motor traffic and the large tonnage fitted with oil engines has greatly raised consumption, and imports have risen from 250,000 tons in 1913 to nearly i,o0o,000 in 1927.
Geographically, north Italy is the industrial section of the country, for although its splendid, intensive agriculture is by far its biggest industry, yet proximity to large export markets, the cheap electric power available for the past 20 years, and the more advanced social status of the population have led to an economy characterised by a fine balance between farming and manufac tures. From central Italy downwards agriculture predominates, though special legislation enacted since 1896 has favoured in dustrial growth in Naples and its vicinity. In the past decade the metal, shipbuilding and textile trades of that section have developed rapidly, and a considerable growth of these activities may be expected in other southern sections as a result of the power which the great hydro-electric plants erected since the war in Calabria and elsewhere are making available.
Industries.—The industrial census taken in Oct. 1927, returns 728,150 industrial establishments occupying 3,965,501 persons. Although a very large aggregate of Italian production comes from small workshops and factories run by their owners, a bird's-eye view of industrial progress is afforded by the following data for joint-stock companies engaged in leading industries, showing growth in the past fifty years. To facilitate comparisons the capital investment is expressed in gold lire: While the large proportion of small and medium sized con cerns continues to be a characteristic feature of Italian industry, there is a growing tendency toward industrial concentration through amalgamations and mergers.
The largest investment is that in the hydro-electric industries : 504 million lire in 1913, 6,656 million paper lire in 1927. The 1927 census returns the number of works engaged in generating or distributing power, light and water at 5,913, in which 62,060 persons were occupied.
In 1913 the mining industry had an output valued at 191.5 million lire and employed some 120,000 workers, of whom 19,00o in the sulphur mines. American competition has since led to a severe crisis in the Italian sulphur industry, whose output fell from an average of 511,040 tons a year for the 1 o year period 1900-09 to 167,339 tons in 1922, a crisis only partially remedied by a subsequent marketing agreement. The war greatly stimulated the output of Italian iron and fuel ores, but in 1919 depression set in, and notwithstanding the additional mines acquired in the annexed territories, output in 1922 fell far below pre-war levels in quantity and value. Since 1925 conditions have improved. The 1927 census returns 5,107 concerns engaged in mining and quarry ing, employing 96,479 persons; the reduction in number as corn pared to 1913 is essentially due to the situation in the sulphur mines.
The importance of the Italian metal industries is limited. In this field Italy aims at becoming self-sufficient, but here her am bitions cease. Under the stimulus of war needs important modern plants were erected and productive capacity greatly enlarged. With peace came industrial deflation and keen depression, fol lowed since 1923 by a moderate revival. At the end of 1927 the steel industry had a potential output of 1 million tons of pig iron and 2,500,00o tons of steel. The actual output of Italian steel-works in the 3 year period 1925-27 averaged 1.7 million tons, while imports averaged 0.9 million. The iron and steel industries consume an annual average of 1 million tons of ore, of which 754,000 tons are Italian; 2 million tons of coal; 1,500,000 tons of scrap of which 700,00o Italian; 480,00o tons of pig iron of which 380,00o Italian. Some 40,000 men are employed at an annual wage cost of 200 million lire. The fixed and circulating capital investment is estimated at 2,000 million lire. The high cost of coal and the limited market, unsuited to standardized mass production, account for high production costs.
Since the war Italy is smelting her zinc ores, formerly exported. The production of aluminium is another recent development ; large new works have been erected for treating Italian bauxite, and others for obtaining alumina from the large volcanic leucite beds, and it is expected that Italy in the next few years will become independent of foreign supplies of aluminium.
The 1927 census returns 2,225 establishments employing 111,263 persons engaged in the metal industries.
The output of iron and steel, mercury and refined sulphur, 1876-1927, has been, in metric tons : After a period of war expansion, the engineering trade ex perienced a severe deflation crisis in 1922, potential production having greatly outstripped demand. The more important branches of the industry are shipbuilding with 220,000 tons of shipping in 1926 as against an average of 29,400 tons in 1909-13, or 64,900 including the tonnage built in the important yards then under Austrian rule and since annexed to Italy; automobile construction, with an annual output of some 6o,000 cars in 1927 as against a pre-war 5 to 6 thousand; railway rolling stock and locomotives supplying all home needs and exporting a small margin. The manufacture of textile machinery has greatly developed since 1919 and is rendering Italy independent of foreign supplies. The trend is toward amalgamation and standardization, the goal in view being quality production. The 1927 census returns 80,277 engineering shops occupying 469,185 persons.
Cotton spinning and weaving has been carried on in all its branches for the past 5o years, the period of most rapid growth being that comprised within the years 1904-08. In 1926 the in dustry was equipped with 5 million spindles, 150,000 power looms, and 160 printing machines. The 'average output is estimated at 18o,000 metric tons of yarn and 165,000 metric tons of cloth, valued around 6,000 million lire. Some 272,000 workers are employed in the mills which produce all qualities and descriptions of yarns and materials, the trend being toward higher counts and finer fabrics.
In 1926 the Italian woollen and worsted mills had 63o combing machines, 600,000 carding spindles, 20,500 power looms, the num ber having more than doubled since 1907. Some 6o,000 workers are engaged in this industry, the output of which has greatly im proved in quality during the last 15 years. It was valued in 1926 at 2,500 million lire.
The 1927 census returns for the textile industries, inclusive of artificial silk, show that they are carried on in 10,355 establish ments employing 636,687 persons.
The clothing industries covering those engaged in the manu facture of hats, shoes, gloves, hosiery, ready made clothing, dress making, etc., employ nearly half a million people; 339,52o are employed in the food industries, inclusive of the important canning and preserving industry, working largely for the export market, and large sugar refineries with aui average output in 1923-25 of 350,00o metric tons of sugar.
The importance of the small and artistic industries is evidenced by the figure of 1,200,000 artisans, returned by the recent census taken in connection with the professional organization of the artisan class under the guild law.
Transport and Communications.-The topography of the Italian peninsula, cut off from Europe by the Alpine massif, trav ersed from north to south by the Apennines, with no navigable rivers, places great natural difficulties in the way of transport and communications. These have been enhanced by the difference in wealth and general progress between north and south, a differ ence reflected in road and railway development.
Roads.-The north is well supplied with roads while the eco nomic life of the south has been greatly hampered by their insuffi ciency. In 1926 Italy had 62,00o km. of main roads, of which 19,759 were national highways financed by the Government. An important road-building programme is now being put into effect in the southern provinces.
Railways.-Formidable natural difficulties had to be overcome to provide the country with an adequate railway system. Italian railway engineers had to tunnel great mountains ; build railroads at steep gradients very often in sharp zig-zag curves along narrow ledges overhanging the sea and passing through an almost uninterrupted series of tunnels, as in the case of the Spezia Genoa line. The eastern and western coasts, separated, as they are, by high mountain chains, had to be connected through a series of tunnels.
The Italian railway system was built by private initiative and, with the exception of 1,600 km., since 1860. In 1905 the main lines (13,422 km.) were nationalized, 3,053 km. remaining in the hands of private companies. In 1925 the State and pi ivate railways had a total length of 23,042 km. ; 52.8 km. per ioo,000 inhabitants and 6.8 km. per ioo sq.km. In that year the State rail ways carried 114 million passengers and 65.2 million metric tons of goods, the traffic varying from a maximum of 8.8 million tons for the Milan district to a minimum of o.6 million for that of Reggio Calabria. To intensify traffic between north and south and offset the economic disadvantage to southern agriculture of the long haul, differential tariffs were introduced when the rail ways were nationalized, the rate per km. being lower as the dis tance traversed increases.
Electric traction is of special importance to Italy as offering an escape from her dependence on foreign coal supplies. This was recognized before the war and a beginning had been made. In 1922, 689 km. had been electrified. In 1928 the length so run had risen to 1,700 km. for the State and 1,005 km. for private rail ways. The programme in hand provides for the electrification of a further 65o km. by 1930. Inter-urban electric tram lines are a very important subsidiary service, running a total length of 4,501 km.
Motor Traffic.-The growth of motor traffic is retarded in Italy by low per capita income, high cost of petrol, and heavy taxation of motor cars. This is reflected in the comparatively small num ber of motor vehicles in circulation : 104,449 automobiles, 16,767 taxi-motors in 1927. Nevertheless public automobile services play an important part in the transport of passengers and goods, con necting up the more remote localities with railway stations and urban centres. In 1926, 3,295 autobuses ran regularly along 61,847 km. of road, in the ratio of one for each 19 km. Practically all the important roads are served by automobile lines, often running in competition with electric trams and railway services.
Shipping.-The possession of a strong merchant marine is a matter of vital importance to a country with so long a sea-coast as Italy. Progress in this direction has been constant: in 1881 net D.W. tonnage 93,698 tons, in 1913 876,885 tons. Heavy losses occurred during the war and in 1919 tonnage had been reduced to 631,822 tons. In that year Italy acquired the shipping belong ing to the registers of the ports of Julian Venetia, building went on steadily, and in 1927 the net steam tonnage stood at 1,750,997 tons and net motor tonnage at 162,122 tons, mostly built in Italian yards. Regular services are run to all parts of the world, and the percentage of cargo entering and clearing Italian ports in Italian bottoms rose from 51.60 in 1913 to 67.78 in 1927.
Ports.-There are over i 5o sea ports in Italy, of which 66 have an annual goods traffic exceeding 250,000 tons. At the close of the war a credit of 90o million lire, payable in 70 annual instal ments, was voted for enlarging and improving the leading ports. By far the most important is Genoa, with a goods traffic of 7.7 million metric tons in 1927, followed at a distance by Trieste (2.5 million tons), Naples (2.3 million tons), Venice (2.5 million tons), Leghorn (2.2 million tons), Savona (1.4 million tons), and Palermo (0.8 million tons).
An average annual tonnage of 113.2 million tons entered and cleared Italian ports during the years 1911-13, and 31.0 million tons of goods were handled; for the period 1925-27 the figures stood respectively at 127.7 and 34.7 million tons. Free zones exist in the fourteen leading ports.
Inland navigation is of very limited importance. Since the war a canal system connecting the Lombard and Venetian provinces with the Port of Venice has been completed, known as the Victory Canal, and there is some local traffic on the Italian Lakes. In cen tral and southern Italy such communications are practically non-extant.
Air Lines.-A beginning has been made with air transport. In April 1928 four regular air lines were open to the public : Rome Venice-Vienna, Genoa-Rome-Naples-Palermo, Rome-Cagliari, and Brindisi-Vallona-Constantinople. Lines are being organized connecting Rome with Munich, Barcelona, and Bengasi, besides a daily Rome-Milan return service. Italian air lines carried 12,506 passengers in 1927.
Posts and telegraphs (including wireless) are Government services. So were the telephones until 1923 when, with the excep tion of international and a few inter-urban lines, they were leased to private companies. In 1922 there were 1,470 inter-urban tele phone lines covering circuits of 73,426 km. In 1927 the number had risen to 2,72o and the length of the circuits to 121,273 km.; international lines rose from 20 to 58, and their length from 1,195 to 3,408 km. The number of urban lines rose from 439 to 757.
In 1927 the development of broadcasting and radio telephony was still in its infancy, hut active measures were being taken under Government auspices to encourage its expansion through more general use.
The industrial census (1927) returns the total number of con cerns engaged in transport and communications of all descriptions by land and sea (inclusive of Government services and State rail ways) at 106,897 employing 508,587 persons.
Fisheries.-The yield of the Italian fishing industry does not suffice to meet home requirements, as shown by the fact that Italy imports annually from 5 to 6 thousand tons of fresh, and some 70,00o tons of dried, smoked, and salted fish. Tunny fish is caught in considerable quantities off Sicily and sardine fisheries are of importance. Some sponges and coral are also obtained. But the waters of the Mediterranean and Adriatic are poor as compared to those of the North and other seas. Over 42,000 men are engaged in the fishing trades, carried on mostly as a small industry, though here again the trend, encouraged by the Govern ment, is towards organization on modern industrial lines, not only of fishing but of the fish market.
The per capita difference between imports and exports in the three periods considered was as follows (excess of imports = ; excess of exports = —) : The modified economic situation is reflected and confirmed by the percentage figures showing the participation of agriculture and manufactures : share of Europe had fallen from five-sixths to less than two-thirds, 6.6% was sold to African countries, and a small percentage went to Australia. As regards imports, the United States has become the chief source of supply since 1915, far out-distancing any other country. In Europe the Italian import trade is distributed fairly equally between France, Germany and Great Britain. Imports from Argentina and India are increasing. The predominating position of the United States is largely due to the elimination of Russia as a leading grain exporting country. The difficulties met with in securing coal have led Italy to distribute her purchases of this commodity among several countries, instead of relying almost exclusively on Great Britain, as in pre-war days.
Italy has a second and very effective remedy in the increasing use of "white coal," through the rapid development of hydro electric generation in her mountain streams.
Two items account for Italy's unfavourable trade balance, wheat and coal. In 1927 the trade deficit amounted to 4,753 million lire. In that year Italy imported 3,535 million lire of wheat, and 1,918 million lire of coal, apart from the quantities obtained on account of German reparations. Thus the cost of imported wheat and coal exceeded the total trade deficit by 700 million lire. Hydro-electric development and electric traction notwithstanding, coal imports are likely to increase rather than decline; the efforts to increase the yield of wheat will have achieved much if they avoid the need of expanding imports ds population grows. The probabilities of increasing exports depend largely on the possi bility of reducing costs by further rationalization of production and more especially by improved credit facilities and the better organization of the export market. To promote these ends the Government established in 1926 the National Export Institute, a semi-official body placed under the direction of eminent business men. Among other matters it is promoting the determination of official standards for staple exports and the grading of farm prod ucts sent abroad under a national export mark.
The distribution of Italy's foreign trade between the several markets has also changed considerably. In 1871-73 five-sixths of her exports were sold on European markets, France absorbing over one-third of all Italian exports. In 1913 Germany had taken the place of France both for imports and exports. In 1925 the Ameri can continents took over one-fifth of total Italian exports, the In 1913, according to calculations made by the Credito Italiano Bank, the balance of debits and credits closed for Italy with a surplus of 56 million lire, of which 5o million invested abroad.
A recent study (Pasquale Jannaccone, La Bilancia del dare e dell'avere internazionale, 1927) shows the following situation for the war years 1915-18: Banking and Credit.—The latest statistical data available for banks are those for 1926, which give 430 ordinary joint-stock, 53o co-operative, 307 private, 162 savings and 4,00o rural co operative banks: a total of 5,429. Besides these there are the non-profit making public utility pledge banks and special institu tions for agricultural and land credit.
The ordinary joint-stock banks fall into three classes : national, regional, and provincial or local. The growth of joint-stock bank ing is shown by the figures for the capital investment in such companies, expressed, for purposes of comparability, in gold lire: Capital Invested in Banks This statement shows a big economic deficit, payments being bal anced by the creation of a debt of 26,83o million lire.
In 1919 and 192o the situation became yet more serious; the trade deficit, according to the recently revised figures of the Cen tral Statistical Institute, amounted to 19,400 million lire, the cost of foreign charters stood at 2,000 million, offset by barely Io,000 million for net receipts from ocean freights, emigrant re mittances and tourist expenditure. The deficit was covered by further creation of foreign debt and by the sale of Government securities abroad.
An improvement set in with 1921 as shown by the following situation for the 3 years 1922-24: On Dec. 31, 1914, there were 197 joint-stock banks with a capital of 800 million lire, on Dec. 31, 1927, 508 banks with 5,262.6 million lire (paper) capital.
The movement of leading items on balance sheets of a group of banks (about half the total) is given at the bottom of this page. Although the number considered differs, the growth shown by the several items holds good as the increase in the number con sidered is approximately proportionate to the increase in the total number existing, which grew from 189 at the end of 1913 to 416 at the end of These figures show growth, despite the progressive depreciation of the lira. Taking ioo as the index in 1913, capital and reserves stood at 444 in 1924, bank deposits at 747, cheques in circulation at 2,113; debts to correspondents at 1,657; cash balances and dis counts at 1,076; brokers' loans and advances at 1,046 and se curities at 912.
The recent rapid growth of banking activities is reflected in the following figures : This statement shows an economic balance, the trade deficit being covered by invisible exports.
As the above tables show, the decade 1915-24 closed with an economic deficit of over 40,000 million lire, and the creation of a like amount of foreign debt, of vhich 30,00o million national and 10,000 million private indebtedness.
In 1925 and 1926 Italy once more closed her international bal ance of debits and credits with an economic surplus, according to the studies made by Prof. Borgatta and quoted by the Minister of Finance, the trade deficit for those years being more than offset by invisible exports. In 1926 a new asset item was provided by the large loans secured by Italian business enterprises in the United States and in Great Britain, amounting by the end of 1927 to L.5,756,9o4,639, at the stabilized rate of 19 lire to the dollar. As these loans have been made for productive purposes, more es pecially the further development of hydro-electric enterprises, they may fairly be considered as a source of wealth rather than as a drain on national resources.
Prior to 1926 no special legislation regulated banking activities , since then, the consent of the Minister of Finance must be had for amalgamating existing banks and for opening new ones or branches thereof. National joint-stock banks must have a capital of not less than 5o million lire, regional banks of not less than Jo million, provincial banks of not less than 5 million. The ratio between capital and deposits and the maximum credit assignable to one customer is laid down, and joint-stock banks are placed under the supervision of the bank of issue. (See BANCA D'ITALIA.) Co-operative Banking has played an important part in Italian agricultural and industrial development. The movement started in 1864, when Luigi Luzzatti was instrumental in organizing the first Banca Popolare (Peoples' Bank) on the lines of the German Schultz Delitzsche Banks, modified to meet Italian requirements by introducing the principle of limited liability. Besides supply ing credit to small manufacturers and traders, the Banche Popolari make a special feature of short term agricultural credit. In 1924
they numbered 827, with 495,00o members, and a share capital of L. property valued at L. 218,665,00o, deposits stand ing at 4,168,247,00o and discounts at L. 2,742,841,00o.
Rural co-operative banks, introduced in 1883 mainly through the efforts of Senator Leone Wollem'borg, on the pattern of the Raiffesen banks of Germany, provide personal credit for small farmers on the collective guarantee of all their members. They have played a valuable part in freeing the peasant farmer from usury. The latest available figures show an aggregate of 3,50o, with deposits of over 1,000 million lire and outstanding loans for 700 million lire.
The following figures for the 10 Italian Clearing Houses reflect the growth of banking activity: A series of laws enacted between 1897 and 1914 organized special regional agricultural credit banks to supply circulating capital and credit for farm improvements. The results secured were, however, inadequate. The total loans amounted in 1926 to 515.7 million lire. In 1927 the whole system was revised and unified. A National Consortium for farm improvement credit was formed with the participation of the State, the banks, social in surance funds, land credit, and similar institutes. An initial capital of 275 million lire was subscribed and the Consortium empowered to issue bonds up to ten times that amount against loans ex tinguishable by annuities in 3o years. Regional agricultural credit institutes were formed to provide circulating capital against a lien on growing crops, stocks and equipment. The capital mobil ized for this form of credit amounts approximately to 2,000 million lire.
Land credit is provided by special departments of the leading savings banks and by the Istituto Italiano di Credito Fondiario in Rome. In 1926 their outstanding bonds amounted to 1,630 million lire, outstanding loans to 1,669.4 million, mortgage se curities to 2,944 million.
The Istituto Nazionale di Credito Edilizio finances the build ing of dwelling houses for the working and middle classes.
The Post Office Savings Banks, established in 1875, collect the small savings of the working and lower middle classes. The deposits have grown steadily: 1,773.2 million lire in 1910; 1,971.8 million in 1915, million in 1920; 10,056.0 million in 1927. These funds are deposited with the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which also holds security deposits made with the Courts, the capital held for civil service and other pensions, and similar funds, with which it makes loans to provinces, municipalities and consortiums for public works (roads, aqueducts, sanitation, school buildings, etc.) for an amount which, at the end of 1926, totalled 4,505 million lire out of total available funds amounting at the same date to 12,823.5 millions.
Yet in spite of this the lira maintained its gold parity within narrow limits until 1892, when the unfortunate Abyssinian war, coinciding with a banking crisis and economic depression, caused lira exchange to fall, averaging 27.94 to the pound sterling in 1894. From 1901 until 1914 the lira was again at par, the dollar quotation in that year averaging 5.28. With the World War, de preciation set in, checked by official pegging. At the end of 1919 the dollar was quoted at 8.7o, but as soon as the market re acquired its freedom the quotation soared to an average of 21.12 in 1920. In July 1926 the bottom was touched, the dollar being quoted that month at an average of 30.53. The Government had recourse to resolute credit and currency deflation, the exchange market was strictly controlled, imports checked, foreign travel curtailed. The market reacted, and in June 1927 the dollar was quoted at 17.93, a gain of nearly 5o%. The rapid upward trend, which was dislocating production and trade, was then checked by the Treasury, which had accumulated a large masse de manoeuvre of foreign valuta, and the lira remained stable around 18.20 to the dollar until the new legal parity was fixed at 19.46 in December 1927, and the currency once more placed on a gold or gold exchange basis. (See BANCA D'ITALIA.) Prices.—The first decade of the loth century witnessed in Italy as elsewhere a steady rise in the trend of commodity prices, consequent on the falling value of gold. The wholesale index number in 1910 had risen to '11.8 (I oo = average 1901-5). The two years 1911-2 witnessed a further rise (13.68%) accounted for by the abnormal conditions arising from Italy's war with Turkey; in 1914 prices had returned to the 1910 level. From then onwards war conditions and progressive currency depreciation demoralized the markets and prices soared, as shown by the following table: National Finance.—The first twelve years of Italian unity (1862-74) witnessed the administrative consolidation of the new Kingdom and the initial stages of its economic growth, entailing heavy capital outlay on railroads and other essential equipment. During this period the budget closed year after year with a gradually declining deficit until in 1875, as a result of parsimoni ous and able financial administration, it was balanced. During the next decade economic conditions improved and expenditure was met out of receipts until the financial year 1885-6 opened a new series of deficits, coinciding with acute economic depression. This difficult' period closed in 1897-8 when the budget was once more balanced, followed by twelve years of slow but steady progress, notably assisted by the steady inflow of emigrant remittances which had become an important item of national income. The budget closed each year with a substantial surplus, the lira rose to par and stood even at a premium on gold, and in 1906 8,000 million lire of consolidated debt were converted from 4% to 3.75 and subsequently to 3.5o% stock. The war declared in 1911 with Turkey for the acquisition of Italy's North African colony of Lybia, initiated a new series of deficits, which from 1914-5 on wards rose to dizzy heights; shown by the table on page 787.
The remedy applied was simple and in keeping with the prin ciples of classic finance : revenue was increased, mainly by ex tending income tax to farmers until then exempted, by keying up the administration, simplifying taxation, checking evasions, and at the same time reducing expenditure. The deficit was pro gressively reduced to 3,028.8 million lire in 1922-23 and to million in 1923-24; 1924-25 closed with a surplus of 417.2 million lire, the first for 13 years. The mass of Treasury liabilities were revised, settled, and written off. The financial year 1925-26 closed with the conspicuous surplus of 2,268 million lire, of which however 1,800 million were invested in capital outlay to ensure economic reconstruction and national defence, leaving a net surplus of 468.8 million available for the reduction of debt. The National Accounts closed on 31st June 1927 as follows: Revenue L.21,449.8 million, Expenditure L.21,014.0 million, Surplus L.435.7 million.
To finance her purchases of munitions and other provisions in the United States and Great Britain, Italy had recourse during the war to loans from those countries, which she funded at the end of 1925 in the amount of $2,042.3 million and £250 million respectively, payable in 62 annuities. Her liabilities under the agreements are met by an Autonomous Sinking Fund into which all payments from Germany in cash or kind under the Dawes plan on account of reparations are paid, and which provides the funds required for the annual instalments covering interest and capital amortization. The Government estimates that these reparation receipts suffice to cover its war debt liabilities, and has repeatedly stated, both in and out of Parliament, that no further demand can be made of the Italian taxpayer on this account beyond the in tegral transfer of all reparation receipts to its two allied creditors.
Apart from these war-debts, the service of which is not a budget liability, the only foreign debt is the ioo million dollar loan obtained in 1925 from Morgan and Company, the proceeds of which were used to refund part of the Treasury debt to the Bank of Italy as a preliminary step toward currency stabilization.
In comparing pre- and post-war figures the progressive depre ciation of the lira must, of course, be borne in mind, but if this reduces the gold value of the deficits and the debt, it must also be remembered that the depreciation itself represents the heaviest toll which the war has taken of the nation's accumulated wealth.
The ratio in which the several sources of revenue contributed to the total in 1926-27 is as follows: Income from national property (State railways, etc.) . 2.38% Direct taxation . . . . 27•49% Stamp and registration duties on business . . . . 16.87% Tax on note currency and transports . . . . . 1.09% Stamp duty on consumption . . . . . . 0•64% Excise and Customs • • • • Surtax on income for war cripples . . . . 0.17% State monopolies ....... . . 20•60% Sundry . ........ . . 4.77% I00.0.3% In response to popular demand a capital levy was enacted in 1919 on fortunes exceeding 50,000 lire at rates ranging from 4.5 to 5o per cent. In practice this amounts to a tax on wealth levied over a period of 3o years. Another law of the same period taxed war super-profits at the rate of i00%, a demagogic measure which caused a maximum of trouble to industry, hindering its transition from a war to a peace basis, while yielding a minimum of benefit to the Treasury.
Since 1923 the Government has repealed the innumerable taxes enacted during the war period and simplified the whole fiscal system. Recognizing the need of encouraging the accumulation of wealth in a country which suffers from scarcity of capital, all death duties have been repealed on property transmitted within the family circle up to the third degree of kinship; proportionate rates have replaced progressive in income and other taxes, and the rates themselves are being gradually lowered. A surtax on total income, and a tax on bachelors (this last to finance the cost of benevolent legislation in favour of mothers and children) are the two new taxes imposed ; wheat growing has been encouraged by the re-enactment of an import duty on wheat and flour.
An effort has been made to reform local taxation by attributing a percentage of certain Government taxes to the provinces and municipalities and curtailing their right to levy rates. Strict control of local government expenditure by the central authority which appoints the Podestas and the town secretaries who have taken the place of the elected mayors and councils is a feature of the programme for placing local finance on a sound basis.
In most of the leading Italian industries the pay of the worker generally consists of a basic wage, corresponding to an average nor mal level of production, plus a premium for output in excess of this normal; in the period of currency fluctuations it became custom ary to add to the wage a high cost of living bonus fluctuating with the cost of living index. This index fell considerably in 1927 and toward the close of that year a 2o% wage reduction covering this bonus was effected in almost all occupations.
Under recent legislation wages are regulated by collective agreements valid at law for all workers engaged in a given occupa tion. (See FASCISM, ECONOMICS OF.) It is estimated that the cost of labour represents from 15% to 2o% of total production costs in Italian manufacturing industries.
compulsory as from 1928. These various forms of insurance are on a contributory basis, integrated by Treasury endowments, and are administered by the Social Insurances Fund which in 1926 held on this account 3,565 million lire. A further extension of the system to cover general sickness and other risks is under con sideration. (See FASCISM, ECONOMICS OF.) The cost of social insurance to industry has grown steadily since the war : figures available for 1926 place it at of which 58% for old age, invalidity and unemployment insurance, 26% for industrial accident insurance (met out of a separate fund), 3% for sickness insurance in the annexed provinces, 2% for accident insurance in agriculture, 0.4% for maternity benefits, and 8% for sundry special forms of insurance. In 1926 1,249,400 workers were insured with the Social Insurances Fund, and the average per capita cost to the nation was L.20.7o.
The number of unemployed in Italy declined from the high point of 1922 to a minimum in the summer season of 1925, but in creased again to a high level in the winter of 1927. Detailed figures for the different branches of industry are given in the above table:— Labour Legislation.—Immediately after the war the eight hour day was adopted by agreement in almost all occupations. In 1923 the normal working hours were fixed by law at 8 per day or 48 per week, subject to exceptions for seasonal industries, and over time was regulated. In 1924 Italy ratified the Washington 8 hour Convention under the proviso that it would come into force only when ratified by Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Since 1907 the worker is entitled by law to a weekly rest of 24 hours.
Italy has ratified the Washington Convention on night work for women and children ; the employment of women before and after childbirth is regulated by law. Children under 12 may not be em ployed in industry, and between the ages of 12 and 15 employ ment is conditional on a 6th grade (lower in country districts) school certificate, and on a medical certificate of fitness for the proposed occupation. In heavy or dangerous occupations, speci fied in the act, the age of admission is higher.
In 1927 the several municipal regulations in force regarding hygienic and other conditions in factories and workshops were re placed by a general law requiring inter alia the provision, in large works, of baths, refectories, rest rooms, rooms where mothers can nurse their infants at fixed intervals, and, when conditions require it, temporary or permanent dormitories, all of which must come up to specified standards.
Social Insurances.—Since 1894 a law makes the employer responsible for accidents befalling his workers in connection with their occupation, for which they are entitled to compensation. In 1898 provision for voluntary old age and invalidity insurance was enacted for industrial workers, in 1919 it was made compul sory and extended to unemployment and maternity. General sick ness insurance is at present limited to the provinces acquired from Austria under the Peace Treaties, where it was already in force. In 1927 insurance of workers against tuberculosis was made Relief Work.—From the early middle ages onwards a very great number of charitable works have been founded in Italy to relieve the poor, the sick, the aged, orphans, foundlings, deficients, etc., and vast wealth has been assigned for these purposes, placed almost exclusively under the auspices or the direct administration of the Roman Catholic Church. The unification of Italy in 1859 was followed by legislation to regulate these charitable founda tions, which by the laws of 1862 and 1890, subsequently amended and codified in the law of 1927, are placed under municipal Boards of Charity (Congregazioni di Carita) now consisting of members appointed by the Podesta and of representatives nominated by the registered occupational unions or syndicates. (See FASCISM, ECONOMICS OF.) The whole system is placed under the super vision of a spe.cial division of the Ministry of the Interior whose budget in 1926-27 carried an item of 45 million lire fin. integrat ing the cost of relief work. In 1927 there were in Italy approxi mately 30,000 legally recognized charitable institutions, owning some 3,00o million lire worth of property, engaged in the care of the sick (hospitals, convalescent homes, sea-bathing sanitoriums, etc.), the aged, the infirm, physical or moral defectives, orphans and foundlings. The indigent sick are entitled to hospital care, the cost of their maintenance being refunded to the hospitals by the municipalities to which they belong. Besides this, the care of the sick and necessitous poor is provided for by doctors, midwives, and district nurses paid by the Ministry of the Interior.
Under a law of 1927 all the institutions for the relief and pro tection of mothers and children have been grouped under a spe cial official Work for the Relief of Maternity and Childhood. Act ing directly or through its subsidiary organs, it provides for des titute or deserted mothers, extends help to infants and children under 5 years of age belonging to needy families, cares for physically or mentally defective children, and materially or mor ally neglected or delinquent minors who are placed under its guardianship until the age of 18. It is financed by endowments, donations, Government grants (3o million lire in 1928-29), and the proceeds of the tax on bachelors.
Three other incorporated Works care, one for war invalids, another for war orphans, the third for children orphaned by earthquakes.
Recent legislation in the field of relief and welfare work aims at securing through Government control the co-ordination of all charitable efforts so as to avoid duplication and overlapping, and to ensure efficient and economic administration, while respecting the fundamentally voluntary character which has always been the distinguishing trait of Italian charitable works.
Sanitation.—National health services are placed under the General Direction of Public Health of the Ministry of the In terior, which enforces pure food laws, compulsory vacciration and compulsory notification of infectious disease. Provision is made for organized effort for the prevention of malaria by ;and and agricultural reclamation, the destruction of mosquitoes and the free distribution of quinine to workers in malarious districts. Deaths from this scourge still average some 4,000 a year, and whole populations, more especially in Sardinia, Latium and southern Italy, are enfeebled by it. The anti-malaria campaign is entrusted to the Red Cross Association. The table which follows shows the prevalence of the more common infectious diseases dur ing the period 1922-1927, inclusive: sale of narcotics is strictly regulated. A law of 1927 provides for the opening of municipal and provincial hygiene laboratories for research work in hygiene.
A great and sustained effort has been made to provide all parts of the country with adequate drainage and water services. The greatest feat of hydraulic engineering accomplished in this direc tion in Italy and one of the greatest in the world is the building of the Apulian aqueduct which carries water from the western slopes of the Apennines, above Naples, over and through that mountain chain, to the waterless Apulian provinces. The work of building the 1,60o km. of the main aqueduct was begun in 1906 and completed in 1915. From this main line the water is conveyed to 25o municipalities, previously without water supply. The work is rapidly approaching completion. Minor though important aque ducts have been or are now being built in a great many parts of the south and on the islands, notably in the rich and prosperous island of Sardinia.
Insurance in its several branches is a form of saving expanding rapidly of late years, the participation of Italian companies in the total rising from 58% in 1912 to over 90% in 1924, due partly to the acquisition of the important insurance companies of Trieste, and partly to the growth of the State Life Insurance Institute which in 1924 accounted for 22% of all the premiums issued. The latest available figures for the whole of the insurance movement are those for 1924.
The prevention and treatment of venereal diseases has been intensified. A special, nation-wide anti-tuberculosis campaign has been started, working through provincial associations regulated by an act of 1927. Through them, all the efforts in this direction are co-ordinated, and special dispensaries, sea and mountain sani toriums, hospital accommodation, and open-air schools for pre disposed children are provided. The funds hitherto assigned are proving inadequate and means to enlarge them are being studied, in connection also with the compulsory insurance of industrial workers against tuberculosis recently enacted. In 1926-27 laws were enacted providing a special Institute for cancer research work and the study of radiotherapeutics. The manufacture and That insurance is becoming more and more popular in Italy is shown by the fact that in 1924 the State Life Insurance Institute collected 193.8 million lire in premiums, and 338.1 million in 1926.
In £926 the Social Insurances Fund collected 479.1 million lire in premiums on account of compulsory insurance against inva lidity, old age, and unemployment ; the National Accident Insur ance Fund held 130.5 million at the same date.
The funds held by the State Life Insurance Institute, the So cial Insurances and the Accident Insurance Funds are loaned under law for financing works of public utility and land and agricultural credit. (0. R. A.) The defence of Italy will be treated in three sections: Military, Naval and Air Force, in accordance with the several branches of the defensive services concerned.
In her 2,000 years of history, Italy can boast of a proud mili tary tradition, which endured even when the country was divided and occupied by the foreign invader. At the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was overrun and devastated for a long period by invading barbarians, but towards the end of the nth and the beginning of the 12th century, an effort was made, in the cities, against feudalism, militia being formed in each town and armed for the defence of their independence. It was the militia who de feated the German legions of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at Legnano in 1176, and it was the Communal Militia of the City of Siena who fought and won a brilliant victory over the troops of the Florentine Guelphs.
The Communes, later, were turned into principalities in whose service arose the "Compagnie di Ventura" some of which soon became famous, among which the most famous is that of St. George, founded by Alberico da Barbiano in the 14th century from which emanated such noted leaders as Uguccione della Fag iola, Braccio da Montone, it Gatamelata; Muzio Attendolo Sforza, Count di Carmagnola and above all Bartolomeo Colleoni. Amongst the various Princes only the head of the house of Savoy, then ruling over Piedmont, formed and personally commanded his army. The Duke Emanuel Filibert was the founder in 156o. Other notable commanders, unable to find a field for their activi ties in Italy, gave their services to the great powers, then waging war in Europe, and amongst these warriors we find the names of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Alessandro Farnese and Ambrogio Spinola in the service of Spain, Raimondo Montecucculi and Prince Eugene of Savoy in the service of Austria.
At the outbreak of the French Revolution, the only national army in existence in Italy was that of Piedmont, and later when Napoleon constituted the Cisalpine Republic, Lahor, his lieuten ant, formed a nucleus of Italian troops, who in 1797 defeated the Pontifical army. In 1804 an army commanded by General Lechi was formed, composed solely of Italians ; this legion together with the troops of the kingdom of Naples took part in nearly all the Napoleonic campaigns. In 1812 it was the legions of Lechi and Pino which saved the great army from disaster, by overpower ing the Russians at Malojaroslavetz on Oct. 24.
Later the idea of Independence caused the initiation of the wars against Austria (1848-49) and attempts at liberation were made by such volunteers as Garibaldi, Manara, Dandolo, Moro sini and Bixio. In 1855-56 Piedmont took part in the Crimean War and in 1859, with sturdy help from France, Lombardy was liberated from the Austrians. In 1860-61 Garibaldi with his leg endary r,000 men, crushed the Bourbons in Sicily and Naples, and the Piedmont army wrested the provinces of Marche and Umbria from the Pontifical States. In 1866 the third War of Independence, although meeting with disaster at first, led to the annexation of Venice and in 187o the kingdom of Italy was formed with Rome as its capital.
The modern army began with the reunion of the Sardinian and Neapolitan forces, with which in the campaign of 1859-6o the contingents of Lombardy, Tuscany, Emilia, Garibaldi and the survivors of the Bourbon army joined forces. In 188o Italy started her colonial policy with the conquest of Eritrea, where the scanty preparations and the inferiority of the numbers of her troops, resulted in the unfortunate, but nevertheless valourous battles of Dogali, Amba Alagi, and Adua. Very soon after Somali land was conquered, and in 1911 the expedition of Tripoli and Cirenaica terminated with the victory at Sid Bilal on September 20, 1912 which persuaded the Turks to make peace. On May 1915 Italy entered the European conflict on the side of the Allies. Her army fought for 42 months under extremely difficult condi tions on the arid stones of the Carso, and amid the glaciers of the Cadore and Adamello, gaining numerous successes, amongst them the conquest of Gorizia.
In October 1917 a vast Austro-German offensive resulted in a breach of the Italian front at Caporetto (q.v.), and in conse quence the whole of the Italian army had to fall back on to the line of the Piave where all further attacks were successfully re sisted and repulsed. On this line took place the abortive Aus trian offensive of June 1918 and subsequently the final decisive victory of the Italians at Vittorio Veneto. Italian troops co operated with those of the Allies in Albania, Macedonia, France, Palestine, Murmansk, Serbia and Siberia. In the last few years the army has engaged in small but important colonial operations in Somaliland, in Lybia and in Cirenaica for the dispersion of rebels.
The Army is divided into :—(a) Permanent Army and (b) Re serve force. The high military authorities are Ministry of War, r Army Council, 4 Army Commands (Chiefs of which take over commands only in time of war).
The Ministry of War is composed of :—The Minister of the Cabinet, the Command of the General Staff, various general direc torates and inspectors of the various units.
The Cabinet co-ordinates the work of all the various branches of the Ministry. The Command of the General Staff has the care of all technical questions for the preparation for war. It is composed of :—The Chief of the General Staff, Assistant-Chief of the General Staff, 1 Major General, various officers. The Army Council exists solely for consultative purposes to advise the Min ister on military questions of great importance.
The composition of the various corps is : Infantry Regiments: 87 Infantry of the Line, 3 Grenadier, 12 Bersaglieri Cyclists, 9 Alpine, I Tank. Cavalry Regiments:—I 2 Cavalry. Artillery Regi ments:-30 Field Artillery, 3 Mountain Artillery (Pack Artillery), I Horse Artillery, 12 Heavy Field Artillery, 5 Heavy Artillery, 3 Regiments and I group Coast Artillery, 12 Units Anti-aircraft Artillery, Direction and Artillery Works. Engineer Regiments:- I 2 Engineer, I Bridging, I Railway Engineers, 2 Wireless Teleg raphists, Fortification Bureau and Engineer Works.
Artillery Service:—I 2 Directions of Artillery, 3 Arsenals, Small Arms factory, 1 pyrotechnic factory, r fuse factory, r pow der factory, I optical research laboratory, 1 range table office, 2 centres for artillery practice.
Engineer Service :—I3 fortification offices (with various num bers of offices detached) ; 1 Construction Works of Military En gineering; I Centre for studies for sappers, miners, teleferists, bridging engineer ; 1 Centre for Railway studies ; r Centre for Telegraphists and Wireless Telegraphists and Telephonists ; Centr3 for Aerostatics ; 'Military Institute of Wireless Telegraphy and Electrotechnics; r Wireless and Electrotechnic Works; 34 fixed Military Pigeon Houses.
Medical Corps Services :—I2 principal Military Hospitals ; 12 secondary Military Hospitals ; 8 Garrison Infirmaries ; 1 Military Chemist Institute; 2 Bathing Establishments; r Military Climatic Camp; I Military Chemical Bromatological Laboratory; r Med ical Stores.
Military Commissariat Service :-4 Central Stores for Clothing and Equipment ; r Factory for Clothing and Equipment ; 2 estab lishments for the preparation of preserved foodstuffs; a large number of bakeries, mills, etc.
Compulsory service is the rule for all citizens with the follow ing exceptions:—(I) Those who have not full Italian citizenship, (2) Subjects of the Dodecanese Isles, (3) Natives of the Col onies. Those who have been condemned to imprisonment for cer tain crimes are also excluded from military service.
The periods for active service are :—ordinary (i8 months), reduced (not less than 6 months), minimum (3 months). The reduced and minimum periods are applied for certain family reasons or for special services rendered to the country by some member of the family. Those who live abroad are exempted tem porarily or definitely, as well as Catholic missionaries and parish priests.
Service is sometimes delayed for students, and for those who have a brother already serving. The period of conscription for the ranks is from 21 to 39 years of age. The number of :oung men to be incorporated every year in the various corps is fixed by the War Ministry. The recruiting system used is regional for the Alpine troops, national for certain specialities (Railways, Aero statics, Armoured cars and Chemical Services), mixed but almost regional for all the other troops. Mobilisation is almost entirely regional with few exceptions. With this system it is easier to unify the various and different elements of the regions of Italy, and at the same time to allow for a rapid mobilisation.
The whole of the state is subdivided in 13 Military Regions:— I I Regions of Territorial Army Corps Commands; 2 Insular Regions (Sicily and Sardinia). These are in their turn subdi vided into 2 or 3 Divisional Zones (altogether 29 zones) com prising in their turn a certain number of Districts (altogether 105). The following organs of Command have no Territorial juris diction :-3 superior Commands of Cavalry ; 3o Commands of Infantry Brigades ; 3 Commands of Alpine Brigades.
In the attack, the action of the artillery must begin very early, and the artillery commanders must have a double system of liaison, that is, with their own superior commands and with those of the infantry commands, so that the centralisation and de centralisation of the artillery fire should be made possible. The infantry are taught to advance as far as they can without firing and if possible use only the rifle-grenades to overcome the last resistance of the enemy and to hurl themselves against the enemy lines.
In the defence a position is organized in 3 zones I) post zone, (2) position of resistance zone, (3) deployment zone.
The Italo-Austrian frontier runs from Piz Lat to Monte Forno, following the geographical confine between the 2 slopes of the Alps. The frontier line is crossed by 3 railways (Brennero, Dobbiaco and Tarvisio) and 5 international roads.
The Italo-Jugoslavian Frontier goes from Monte Forno to Fiume following the crests of the Alps. It is crossed by 4 rail ways (Tarvisio-Jesenice ; Piedicolle ; Postumia-Lubiana ; Fiume Sussak) and II international roads.
The whole frontier is a mountainous one, of great height, which explains why Italy must of a necessity keep an army specially trained and equipped for mountain warfare; and the greater im portance given to infantry than to mechanised forces, can be readily understood. All the permanent fortifications existing on the frontiers are now obsolete and without any military value.
(A. G. C.) The Italian Navy is a comparatively modern creation. Its rapid growth may be traced from the efforts of the Mingetti Cabinet and more particularly of Admiral Saint-Bon and Signor Brin, who found the naval defences of Italy almost non-existent after the disaster of Lissa (q.v.). During his three years of office the ad miral laid the foundation upon which Brin afterwards built up the new fleet.
Realising that she could not hope to rival France in numbers, of Austro-Hungary. The eyes of the Italian people and Govern ment turned as naturally to a possible aggressor across the Adriatic as those of the English turned across the Channel in the days before the entente with France. When Italy came into the World War on May 2 2, 1915, the naval forces of these hostile neigh bours were composed as follows:— It will be seen that Italy had an appreciable preponderance of strength in heavy ships, and this proved most valuable both to herself and her allies in neutralising any effective activities on the part of the main Austro-Hungarian fleet.
In the course of the War the Italian Navy lost five battleships, one scout, eight destroyers, six torpedo boats, eight submarines and II auxiliary vessels. It was responsible for the destruction of three Austrian battleships, two destroyers, two torpedo boats and eight submarines. Two of the Austrian battleships were sunk in harbour ; one in a daring raid with motor launches under Capt. Rizzo Luigi and the second by Surgeon-captain Paulucci Raffaele, who swam into the port of Pola and fixed a mine to the hull of the Austrian flagship. The energies of the Italian Navy were also devoted to maintaining an anti-submarine barrage across the Otranto channel in conjunction with British naval forces, and in coastal operations. (See SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN.) As a result of the Washington Conference (q.v.), Italy agreed to accept a ratio of two in capital ships as compared with five for Great Britain and the United States, three for Japan and two for France.
Since the War she, like France, has concentrated such re sources as she can devote to her fleet on modernising her cruiser, destroyer and submarine forces, and on providing for her naval air needs.
In 1928 the Italian fleet was composed as follows:— Italy devoted her engineering and constructive genius to the crea tion of individual warships of great strength ; in fact, it may be said that she set the example of building monster ships armed with monster guns.
As early as 1901 two battleships had been laid down, carrying two 12 in. and twelve 8 in. guns. It is true that the first Italian "Dreadnought," the "Dante Alighieri," was not laid down until 1909, whereas the first all-12 in. British ship was on the stocks in 1905, but the celebrated Italian designer, Col. Cuniberti, had got out a contemporary design for a ship of twelve 1 2 in. as corn pared with the ten I 2 in. of the British "Dreadnought." In the period immediately prior to the World War Italy was pursuing a modest but methodical naval policy dictated primarily by the necessity for maintaining a fleet capable of meeting that Of the cruisers "building," two are of I o,000 tons and four of 5,00o. Two more Io,000 ton cruisers were projected at that date.
Administration.—The Italian Navy is administered by a Min istry of Marine consisting of the Department of the minister, the Directorates of naval personnel and naval duties, of civil personnel and general questions, of ordnance and armament sup ply and of naval construction, medical services, accountancy and of naval engineering and works. There is a chief and assistant chief of staff and the naval staff is divided into eight bureaux.
The board of admirals consists of a president, two ordinary members, ten extraordinary members (admirals and generals), a certain number of non-voting extraordinary members (directors of general and central services) and certain officers, not below the rank of captain, whom the minister of marine and the presi dent of the board of admirals may desire to consult.
The Supreme council of the Navy consists of a president, four ordinary members, seven extraordinary members (five militar5 and two civil), a certain number of non-voting extraordinary members (the director and the directors of general and central services).
The principal naval commands are three in number:— (1) Commander-in-chief of the upper Tyrrhenian naval de partment, headquarters at Spezia.
(2) Commander-in-chief of the lower Tyrrhenian naval de partment, headquarters at Naples.
(3) Commander-in-chief of the Ionian and Adriatic naval de partment, headquarters at Taranto.
Enlistment.—All Italian subjects are liable to military servile and of those who are called up a certain number may be posted to the Royal Navy. These recruits are chosen from men of less than 1.6o metres in height. The higher ratings are engaged on a long service system. (E. A.)