It is to be noted that Italy is perhaps the only country where forest influence on health conditions was legally recognized, by the laws of 1877 and 1888. The belief that deforestation of the maremnae, the marshy lowlands between Pisa and Naples, had produced the malarial fever which is rampant here, led the Trappist monks of the cloister at Tre Fontane to make plantations of Eucalyptus (84,000) beginning in 1870, the State assisting by cessions of land for the purpose. A commission, appointed to investigate the results, in 1881, threw doubt on the effectiveness of the plantation, finding the observed change in health conditions due to improvement of drainage; and lately, the mosquito has been recognized as the main agency in propagating the fever. The new propositions, however, did not any more recognize this claimed influence as a reason for public intervention. Incidentally it may be stated that to two Italians is due the credit of having found the true cause of salubriousness of forest air, namely in the absence of pathogenic bacteria.
3. Education and Literature.
The first forest school was organized by Balestrieri, who had studied in Germany, at the Agricultural School near Turin about 1848, transferred to the Technical Institute in Turin in 1851. This school continued until 1869, and from 1863 on, had been recognized by the State, assuring its graduates employment in State service. In 1869, the State established a forest school of its own (Institute Forestale) at Vallambrosa near Florence, with a three years’ course (since 1886, four years) and, in 1900, with eleven professors and 40 students. In spite of the State subvention of $8,500, it appears that some peculiar economies are necessary, for owing to the absence of stoves the school is closed from Nov. 1 to March 1. In spite of the existence of this school, the State Service is recruited also from men who have not passed through this school.
The legislative propositions brought forward in 1910 also provide for transfer of this school to Florence, leaving only the experiment station in Vallambrosa, and also for raising the standard of instruction. At the same time, however, there was at the old institution ordered a “rush course” to be finished in 15 months, since it appeared that not enough foresters were in existence to carry out the proposed re-organization.
In 1905, a school of silviculture for forest guards was instituted in Cittaducale, the course being 9 months.
Besides the technical school at Vallambrosa, agricultural schools have chairs of forestry or arboriculture, as for instance the Royal school at Portici. As an educational feature, the introduction of Arbor Day, in 1902, la festa dei alberi, should also be mentioned.
The existence of a forest school naturally produces a literature. While a considerable number of popular booklets attempt the education of the people, who are the owners of the forest, there is no absence of professional works. Among these should be mentioned Di Berenger’s Selvicoltura, a very complete work, which also contains a brief history of forestry in the Orient, Greece and Italy. G. Carlos Siemoni’s Manuele d’arte forestale (1864), and the earlier Scienza selvana by Tondi (1829) are encyclopedias of inferior quality.
In 1859, R. Maffei, a private forester, began to publish the Revista forestale del regno d’ Italia, an annual review, for the purpose of popularizing forestry in Italy, afterwards changed into a monthly, which continued for some time under subventions from the government.
A number of propagandist forestry associations were formed at various times, publishing leaflets or journals, one of these L’Alpe, a monthly, in 1902. In 1910, the two leading societies combined into a federation Pro montibus ed enti affini, merging also the Rivista forestale italiana with L’Alpe, which serves both propagandist and professional needs.