ABUT ZO, a district of Italy, was formerly the n.e. corner of the kingdom of Na ples, and divided into three parts—Abruzzo Ulteriore I. and II., and Abruzzo Cite riore. These three divisions correspond to the present Italian provinces Chieti, Teramo, and Aquila respectively. The whole district contains about 5000 sq m., and 920,000 in habitants. Its chief towns are Chieti, Teramo, Aquila, Sulmona. It forms the wildest and loftiest portion of the Apennines. The streams are numerous, but the only river of any consequence is the Pescara, which flows into the Adriatic. The rent and jagged mountain groups arrange themselves in picturesque shapes, reaching in II Gran Sasso d Italia, or " the great rock of Italy," which is the highest of the chain, the elevation of 9800 feet. The highlands slope precipitously on all sides, but especially towards the n.e. shore. The climate of A. is raw in the higher regions; snow rests on the hills from Oct. to April, and on some of the peaks all the year round; but the val leys are extremely fertile, though husbandry is in a wretched condition, and the low, open plains are left without the slightest protection from inundations of the rivers in spring, or means for irrigation in the arid summer. Dense forests of oak and
fir clothe the sides of the mountains; at the base, almond, walnut, and other fruit-trees grow abundantly; olives in the deeplying valleys. Fine cattle pasture in these regions: herds of swine roam through the lofty pine-woods; and the remoter fastnesses are the haunt of bears, wolves, and boars. The chief importance of A. used to be its military position as a defence of the kingdom of Naples. There are few roads into it, so that it is very difficult for an enemy to reach Naples from the n. It is admirably suited for the purpose of guerilla warfare. But the people have ceased to possess a reputation as banditti. No trace of the old spirit which made their ancestors, the Marsi, Sabines, and taconites so terrible to the Romans, and which in modern times manifested itself in a love of petty plundering, is to be found. They have become a race of rude and simple shepherds, fondly attached to their mountain homes, musical, superstitious, and hospitable, but they are robust and powerful, and during the French invasion of Naples, in 1799, displayed a vigorous courage in opposing the soldiers of the revolution.