SARDINIA is likewise a fragment of the Tyrrhenian block. The interior is wild and forested, but on the lower slopes of the hills the usual products of the Mediterranean region are grown. Oranges and lemons thrive, especially on the volcanic soils of Monte Ferru. The chief economic products of the island are minerals, lead and zinc being the most important.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The growth of the railway system of Italy, and more especially the construction of the Alpine tunnels, has influenced the economic development of the country in a marked degree. The Alps, although they never offered an effective barrier, either in war or commerce, yet presented a considerable obstacle to that free movement of heavy goods, which is so striking a feature of modern trade. Since the opening of the tunnels, the industrial region of Italy has been brought into easy com munication with the most important industrial regions of Central Europe. The chief lines are as follows. One railway connected with the Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean system enters the country from France by the Mont Cenis tunnel and descends the Dora Riparia to Turin. Of the lines from Switzerland, that from Lausanne passes through the Simplon tunnel and follows the course of the Toce to Novara, while that from Basel enters the Val Leventine by the St. Gothard tunnel and runs alongside the Ticino to the head of Lake Maggiore, whence it goes by Lugano and Como to Milan. The line from Innsbruck passes over the Brenner, and utilises the valleys of the Eisak and the Etsch, or Adige, as far as Verona. Further east, a line from Venice joins the line that runs from Vienna to Trieste by the Semmering pass. The towns which have been mentioned—Turin, Novara, Milan, Verona, and Venice—are all connected by a railway which follows the general direction of the ancient highway upon which they stand, a highway which ran from east to west sufficiently near the meeting place of mountain and plain to be free from the occasional floods along the Po and the lower courses of its tributaries. Another important line runs from Turin by Alessandria, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua, and Padua to Venice, while a third, breaking off at Piacenza, follows the Emilian way to Rimini, and touches those towns which have grown up where the Apennine valleys open out on to the plains of North Italy. Lines from Milan and Turin pass through tunnels in the Apennines, and place Lombardy and Piedmont in communi cation with the port of Genoa ; and Savona is also connected by rail with the North Italian lowlands. The general configuration of peninsular Italy forces many of the railways of that region to run at no great distance inland, and from Genoa to Rimini, round the south of Italy, all the towns which stand on or near the coast are linked together by lines which are seldom more, and frequently much less, than twenty miles from the sea. Notwithstanding the
difficulties presented by the Apennines, a number of railways now connect the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sides of the peninsula. One runs from Pisa to Bologna by way of Pistoja, taking advantage of the valleys of the Ombrone and the Reno. Another runs along side of the Arno from Pisa to Florence, passes through several tunnels, and descends the valley of the Lamone to Faenza. From Rome a railway follows the route indicated by the Tiber, the Nera, and the Topino, and, after descending the eastern slope of the Apennines by the valley of the Esino, runs to Ancona. In the south of the peninsula several lines cross from Naples to the east coast.
The Italian rivers are of little use for navigable purposes. Numbers of small boats are found on the Po as well as on some of its tribu taries, and on the irrigation and other canals, but all these are alike unsuitable for larger craft. On the other hand, the great length of the peninsula has led to the development of a considerable coasting trade in which sailing ships are chiefly engaged.
COMMERCE.-Silk is the most important element in the foreign trade of Italy at the present time. Much of the native product is exported to Switzerland, France, Germany, and the United States, while considerable quantities are imported from the Levant and the East. Of importance, also, is the export of manufactured silk, which goes mainly to the countries of Central Europe, to the United Kingdom, and to the United States. Cotton goods, as already mentioned, find their market in the Levant and in South America. The exportation of wine suffered a severe check a few years ago as the result of an increase in the Austro-Hungarian tariff on that commodity, but a new market for it appears to be opening up among the Italian population of the Argentine. Of the other exports, olive oil is sent to France ; butter, eggs, and cheese to the United Kingdom and elsewhere ; and macaroni to the United States. Of the articles imported into the country, coal comes chiefly from Great Britain, but to some extent from Germany, and the latter country has, since the opening of the Alpine tunnels, been able to capture the greater part of the trade in iron and steel goods, including machinery. Wheat comes from Russia, the Argentine, the United States, and Roumania. Within the last few years Germany has advanced to the first place in the list of countries from which Italy obtains her imports, the United Kingdom being second, and the United States third. On the other hand, Switzerland is still the chief consumer of Italian produce, Germany comes second, the United States third, and France fourth. For the years 1906-10 the imports for home consumption were valued at £117,000,000, and the exports of domestic produce at £76,000,000.