CAMPAGNA DI ROMA, an undulating, uncultivated, and unhealthy plain of Italy surrounding Rome, including the greatest part of ancient Latium, and the late papal delegation of Frosinone and a great part of the Comarca di Roma. Its length is variously stated, arising from the fact that different authorities measure it from different points. But supposing the name to apply to the district extending from cape Linaro, s. of Civita Vecchia, to Terracina, beyond the Pontine marshes, its length is about 90 m. ; and its breadth inland, to the Alban and Sabine hills, isstated at from 27 to 40 miles. A broad strip of sandy plain skirts the Mediterranean. The ground, which never rises above 200 ft. above the sea, is almost entirely volcanic, and the lakes are formed by craters of extinct volcanoes. The vapors rising from this district, and especially from the Solfatara (q.v.), produce the pestilential atmosphere styled aria cattiva. The num ber of inhabitants is very small, and in summer they are driven from the C. by its
pestilent air, and seek shelter in Rome and other neighboring places. In autumn, herdsmen descend from the Apennines to the C. with their herds, the pasturage in some parts being rich and abundant. This distridt was not always uncultivated and depopu lated as we now find it, for Domitian and Hadrian built here their splendid villas. Wars and devastations, the " black-death " (q.v.) in the 14th c., which greatly thinned the population, and inundations from the Tiber, have been the main causes of the present state of the C.; but, according to Livy, it was always an unhealthy district, even when well cultivated. Some of the popes, especially Pius VI., have endeavored to drain the Pontine marshes, and, during the dominion of the French in Italy, gen. Miollis made great improvements in drainage, timber-planting, and cultivation in the Campagna.