West of Genoa, and extending into France, it is called the Riviera di Ponente, or western coast, and beyond Genoa the Riviera di Levante, or eastern coast. From Hyères to Genoa is two hundred and three miles; from Genoa to Leghorn one hundred and twelve miles. Sheltered on the north by mountains, the district enjoys an exceptionally favored [513] climate, no other region north of Palermo and Valencia being so mild in winter.
The western section is the mildest and most frequented. It abounds in the most striking and beautiful scenery, and is planted with numerous health and fashion resorts—Nice, Monaco, Mentone, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Bordighera, etc.; and west of Nice are Hyères, Fréjus, Cannes, Gresse, Antibes.
The famous Corniche (Ital. Cornice) road, widened by Napoleon I., leads along the Mediterranean coast from Nice to Genoa, and commands magnificent views.
Products and Industries.—Of the whole surface of Italy it is estimated that eighty-three per cent is suitable for cultivation. The greatest proportion of agricultural land, however, lies in the great plain of Lombardy and the Campagna Felice of Naples. Notwithstanding this, the supply of corn grown in Italy is not sufficient for its wants, and more is imported from Russia, Egypt and North America. Maize and wheat afford the staple food of the lower classes, as polenta and macaroni.
Agriculture and Stock-Raising.—A sixth of the area of the kingdom is covered with wood or bush, the island of Sardinia having the largest forests of all the kingdom—the districts of Lake Como, of southern Tuscany, and Genoa, being the best wooded parts of the mainland. The olive grows all over peninsular Italy, and enormous quantities of oil are produced, much being exported.
All parts of the country are suited to vine-growing. Most wine, however, is made in south Italy and Sicily. Most horses are bred in Lombardy, where cattle are also numerous on the dairy farms, which supply enormous quantities of cheese. Tuscany has most sheep; Sicily the finest mules and asses; Umbria the greatest number of swine. Coral fishers go out from Naples, Leghorn (Livorno), and Genoa to the coasts of the Balearic Isles and of Algeria and Tunis in large numbers.
Minerals.—The most important mineral product of Italy is the sulphur of Sicily; iron is widely distributed, but is obtained in most considerable quantity in Lombardy and Liguria; lead is an important product of Tuscany; sea salt of the vicinity of Cagliari, the chief town of the island of Sardinia. Famous pure white marble is quarried at Carrara and Massa, on the northwest coast-land of Tuscany.
Manufactures.—The zenith period of Italian manufactures, when Milan was famous for its wool-workers, Venice for its dyes, Florence for its cloth, has long since passed away, and in this respect Italy now occupies a low position.
Silk-growing, spinning, and weaving it, is now the most important branch, and in this the towns of Lombardy—Bergamo, Como, Milan, Turin—take the lead, followed by those in the plain round Naples, and by Catania and Palermo in Sicily. Glass-making has also fallen from its old position; the works at Intra, on Lake Maggiore, and the manufacture of beads and mosaics at Venice, are, however, still very important. Porcelain is made chiefly at Milan and Florence; straw hats at Vicenza, in Venetia, and in Tuscany, whence they come to us as Leghorn hats, from the port at which they are shipped.
People and Language.—The present Italian people have arisen from a perfect chaos of races. The ancient Ligurians of Iberian race and the Umbrians of the north were joined, from an unknown quarter, by the strange people called Etruscans or Tuscans by the Romans, who exercised such an immense influence on European civilization. The Greeks peopled the south, and held Sicily along with the Phœnicians; the Romans spread out from the center of the peninsula to extend their conquests far beyond its limits; then the Goths and Franks poured in from the north, and after them the Longobards, who gave their name to Lombardy. The Savoyards and Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont along the French border appear to be of Gallic descent. Insular Sardinia was free from the irruptions of the northern people, but came under the influence of the Greeks, the Arabs, and then of the Spaniards.