ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE FROM THE PLAZA
Turin was the ancient capital of the Taurini (whence the name); was captured by Hannibal in 218 B. C.; and has played an important part in the history of Europe. It figured prominently in the national movements of the nineteenth century, and was the capital of the kingdom of Italy 1859-1865.
Venice (ven’is Ital. Venezia), capital of the province of Venice, is situated in the Laguns (lagoons) in a bay of the Adriatic. Now Venice covers more than seventy-two islets, or rather mud-banks, its foundations being piles (“time-petrified”) and stone. Through its two unequal portions winds for over two miles the Grand Canal, spanned by the Rialto Bridge (of stone) and two others (of iron), and into it flow one hundred and forty-six lesser canals, all bridged at frequent intervals. This vast network of waterway is patrolled by countless gondolas, while the pedestrian has his choice of innumerable lanes (calli). A railway viaduct, two and one-eighth miles long, connects Venice with the mainland.
The Piazza di San Marco, a square five hundred and seventy-six feet long and one hundred and eighty-five to two hundred and seventy feet wide, [524] paved with gray trachyte and white Istrian marble, surrounded by time-stained marble palaces and St. Mark’s Church is the picturesque center of Venetian life, especially at evening, when the bands play, and the cafés are crowded by thousands. Flocks of fat pigeons have been fed here by the city daily for seven hundred years. Palaces enclose three sides and the palace arcades are occupied by cafés and bric-à-brac shops.
Of its public buildings the following are the principal: the Ducal Palace, standing on the site of a former official residence of the Doges, which was burned in 976. Besides its painted ceilings and walls there are many pictures by the Italian masters; the Academy of Fine Arts whose twenty rooms are filled with some of the finest works of the Old Masters. Its principal churches are St. Marco, St. Giorgio Maggiore, and Sta. Maria della Salute, are all most highly decorated with frescoes, mosaics, and carvings, besides containing many world-famed pictures. The Campanile of St. Marco has been rebuilt since its fall, on July 14, 1902, after standing a thousand years. The palaces of the nobility on the Grand Canal and other canals contain priceless collections of pictures. The Arsenal contains many models of the old Venetian ships, armor, collections of weapons, and spoils of war.
Venice was noted for its textile manufactures as early as the fifteenth century; the principal manufactures at the present time are tapestry, brocades, Venetian laces, wood carving, artistic wrought-iron work, jewelry, bronzes, machinery, and clocks, and at Murano glass and glass beads.
Italian Seaports.—The chief seaports of Italy after Genoa, “the Superb,” which is the busiest of all, are in order round the coast—Livorno, or Leghorn, the port of Tuscany and Florence; Civita Vecchia, the port of Latium; Naples, with Castellamare on the south side of its bay; Messina, on the Sicilian side of the Strait named after it, with one of the finest harbors in Europe, beside the eddy which was feared as the whirlpool of Charybdis in ancient times; Palermo, “la Felice,” in the vale of the Golden Shell, on the north coast of Sicily; Catania, on the east coast of the island. Coming round to the Adriatic coasts we reach the port of Brindisi, a notable point in the most direct route from western Europe to Egypt and the East. The most important line of railway in Italy, that leads from the plain of Lombardy all down the east side of the peninsula, has the port of Brindisi as its objective point. Farther north in the middle of this coast is Ancona, the port of the Marches. Lastly we come to Chioggia and Venice, the city of canals and bridges, described above.
HISTORY OF ITALY
The ancient history of Italy will be found under [Rome]. The modern history begins with 476 A. D., when Odoacer, chief of the Herulians, a German tribe who had invaded the country, was proclaimed king of Italy. After a reign of twelve years he and his followers were overpowered by the Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great. The Ostrogoths were in turn subdued by Byzantine troops, and Italy came under the dominion of the Eastern emperors, who ruled through an exarch residing at Ravenna.