CAMPAGNA DI ROMA, Italy, a terri tory which comprehends the greater part of Old Latium, from 30 to 40 miles wide and 100 long. By it is usually understood the desert plain which begins near Ronciglione or Viterbo, and including the Pontine Marshes, extends to Ter racina. In the middle of this region lies Rome, on its seven hills, and on the Tiber. A sandy plain stretches along the Mediterranean. The ground is never more than 200 feet above sea level and is entirely volcanic. The lakes of the Campagna are evidently craters of extinct volcanoes. Thus the Lake Regillus above Frascati lies at the bottom of an inverted cone of hard, black lava, rising in wild and naked masses from 40 to 60 feet high. The craters containing the lakes of Albano and Nemi have a very regular conical form. The Lake of Albano is also remarkable for its aqueduct, or emissarium, one of the most ancient and ex cellent works of the Romans, which discharges the waters of the lake through the mountains. It answers its original purpose even at the present day. There are, also, many sulphur springs here, particularly between Rome and Tivoli, where the water issues almost boiling from the earth, and forms the Lake of Solfa tara, which contains floating islands, consisting of a calcareous deposit, that collects round substances thrown into the water. The vapors which rise from the ground all over the Cam pagna, and especially in the neighborhood of this lake, render the whole district unhealthy. The soil of the Campagna is in general dry, but very fertile in the lower parts. In the middle of the summer, when fevers render a residence in the Campagna very dangerous, all the inhabit ants who can do so take refuge in the neigh boring towns or in Rome itself ; or they may retire with their cattle to the mountains. Be
sides huts, innumerable ruins of temples, cir cuses and monuments are scattered over the Campagna, particularly near the Via Appia; and long rows of aqueducts, some in ruins, some in a state of preservation, are overgrown with ivy and other plants. In the winter flocks of sheep pasture in these solitudes; during the summer they are driven up the Apennines. Herds of half-wild cattle remain during the whole year in the Campagna. The herdsmen are mounted, and armed with long lances, with which they manage the cattle very skilfully. Scarcely a ninth part of the Campagna is culti vated, the rest is used for pasturage. In the times of the ancient Romans, this dreary soli tude exhibited a smiling picture of abundance and fertility. Yet even in those times the cli mate was far from being a healthy one. Strabo, Livy, Cicero, Horace and others agree in de scribing the districts in the neighborhood of Rome, Ardea and other towns which stood in what is now the Campagna di Roma, as ex tremely unwholesome, especially at certain sea sons of the year; and it was only through the greatest exertions on the part of the ancient cultivators, and the numerous aids to cultivation that stood at their command, that this tract, now so desolate, was then made so productive. Several of the popes, particularly Pius VI, have attempted to lessen the insalubrity of the air by the draining of the Pontine Marshes which form the southern portion of the tract. In recent years the Italian government has taken up the problem, and has accomplished much in the way of reclamation by planting eucalyptus trees, and by drainage and other works, thereby increasing the healthfulness of this historic region.