Italy 2 Essay, Research Paper
Italy (Italian Italia), republic in southern Europe, bounded on the
north by Switzerland and Austria; on the east by Slovenia and the
Adriatic Sea; on the south by the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea;
on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ligurian Sea, and the
Mediterranean Sea; and on the northwest by France. It comprises, in
addition to the Italian mainland, the Mediterranean islands of Elba,
Sardinia, and Sicily and many lesser islands. Enclaves within mainland
Italy are the independent countries of San Marino and Vatican City; the
latter is a papal state mostly enclosed by Rome, the capital and largest
city of Italy. The area of Italy is 301,302 sq km (116,333 sq mi).
Land and Resources
More than half of Italy consists of the Italian Peninsula, a long
projection of the continental mainland. Shaped much like a boot, the
Italian Peninsula extends generally southeast into the Mediterranean
Sea. From northwest to southeast, the country is about 1145 km (about
710 mi) long; with the addition of the southern peninsular extremity,
which extends north to south, it is about 1360 km (about 845 mi) long.
The maximum width of the mainland portion of Italy is about 610 km
(about 380 mi) in the north; the maximum width of the peninsula is
about 240 km (about 150 mi). On the northern frontiers are the Alps,
which extend in a wide arc from Ventimiglia on the west to Gorizia on
the east, and include such high peaks as Monte Cervino (4478 m/14,692
ft) and Monte Rosa, which rises to its highest point (4634 m/15,203 ft)
in Switzerland just west of the border. The highest point in Italy is near
the summit of Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco), on the border of Italy,
France, and Switzerland; the peak, located in France, is 4807 m (15,771
ft). Between the Alps and the Apennines, which form the backbone of
the Italian Peninsula, spreads the broad Plain of Lombardy, comprising
the valley of the Po River. The northern Apennines project from the
Maritime Alps along the Gulf of Genoa to the sources of the Tiber
River. Monte Cimone (2163 m/7097 ft) is the highest summit of the
northern Apennines. The central Apennines, beginning at the source of
the Tiber, consist of several chains. In the eastern portion of this rugged
mountain district is Monte Corno (2914 m/9560 ft), the highest
Apennine peak. The southern Apennines stretch southeast from the
valley of the Sangro River to the coast of the Gulf of Taranto, where
they assume a more southerly direction. High peaks of the Apennine
ranges of the Calabrian Peninsula, as the southern extremity of the
Italian Peninsula is known, include Botte Donato (1929 m/6329 ft) and
Montalto (1957 m/6422 ft). The Apennines form the watershed of the
Italian Peninsula. The main uplifts are bordered by less elevated districts,
known collectively as the sub-Apennine region.
Only about one-third of the total land surface of Italy is made of plains,
of which the greatest single tract is the Plain of Lombardy. The coast of
Italy along the northern Adriatic Sea is low and sandy, bordered by
shallow waters and, except at Venice, not readily accessible to
oceangoing vessels. From a point near Rimini southward, the eastern
coast of the peninsula is fringed by spurs of the Apennines. Along the
middle of the western coast, however, are three stretches of low and
marshy land, the Campagna di Roma, the Pontine Marshes, and the
Maremma.
The western coast of Italy is broken up by bays, gulfs, and other
indentations, which provide a number of natural anchorages. In the
northwest is the Gulf of Genoa, the harbor of the important commercial
city of Genoa. Naples, another leading western coast port, is situated on
the beautiful Bay of Naples, dominated by the volcano Mount Vesuvius.
A little farther south is the Gulf of Salerno, at the head of which stands
the port of Salerno. The southeastern end of the peninsula is deeply
indented by the Gulf of Taranto, which divides the so-called heel of Italy
(ancient Calabria) from the toe (modern Calabria). The Apennine range
continues beneath the narrow Strait of Messina and traverses the island
of Sicily, where the volcano Mount Etna, 3323 m (10,902 ft) high, is
located. Another active volcano rises on Stromboli, one of the Lipari
Islands, northwest of the Strait of Messina. In addition to volcanic
activity, Italy is also plagued by frequent minor earthquakes, especially in
the southern regions.
Principal Cities
The capital and largest city of Italy is Rome (population, 1991,
2,775,250), which is a famous cultural and tourist center. Other cities
with populations of more than 300,000 in the 1991 census include
Milan (1,369,231), an important manufacturing, financial, and
commercial city; Naples (1,067,365), one of the busiest ports in Italy;
Turin (962,507), a transportation junction and major industrial city;
Palermo (698,556), the capital and chief seaport of Sicily; Genoa
(678,771), the leading port in Italy and a major trade and commercial
center; Bologna (404,378), a major transportation center and
agricultural market; Florence (403,294), a cultural, commercial,
transportation, and industrial center; Bari (342,309), a major
commercial center; Catania (333,075), a manufacturing and commercial
city of Sicily; and Venice (309,422), a leading seaport and a cultural and
manufacturing center.
Religion
The dominant religion of Italy is Roman Catholicism, the faith of
about 84 percent of the people. However, the Catholic church s role in
Italy is declining; only about 25 percent of Italians attend mass regularly,
and a law ratified in 1985 abolished Roman Catholicism as the official
state religion and ended mandatory religious instruction in public
schools. The constitution guarantees freedom of worship to the
religious minorities, which are primarily Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish.
Renaissance, period of European history that saw a renewed interest in
the arts. The Renaissance began in 14th-century Italy and spread to the
rest of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. In this period, the
fragmented feudal society of the Middle Ages, with its agricultural
economy and church-dominated intellectual and cultural life, was
transformed into a society increasingly dominated by central political
institutions, with an urban, commercial economy and lay patronage of
education, the arts, and music.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Florentine artist, one of the great
masters of the High Renaissance, celebrated as a painter, sculptor,
architect, engineer, and scientist. His profound love of knowledge and
research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His
innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art
for more than a century after his death, and his scientific
studies particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and
hydraulics anticipated many of the developments of modern science.
The Last Supper
One of the most famous religious paintings of all time, Leonardo da
Vinci s The Last Supper (about 1495-1497) decorates the walls at Santa
Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. This mural depicts the moment
immediately following Christ s dramatic announcement to his
disciples that One of you shall betray me. Unfortunately, much of
the mural has deteriorated because Leonardo painted with an
oil-tempera mixture that did not stick well to the wall. A 15th and
early 16th century Italian artist and scientist, Leonardo ranks as one of
the great creative figures of the European Renaissance (1300-1600).
Early Life in Florence
Leonardo was born in the small town of Vinci, in Tuscany, near
Florence. He was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant
woman. In the mid-1460s the family settled in Florence, where
Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, a major
intellectual and artistic center of Italy, could offer. He rapidly advanced
socially and intellectually. He was handsome, persuasive in conversation,
and a fine musician and improviser. About 1466 he was apprenticed as a
garzone (studio boy) to Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading Florentine
painter and sculptor of his day. In Verrocchio’s workshop Leonardo was
introduced to many activities, from the painting of altarpieces and panel
pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects in marble and
bronze. In 1472 he was entered in the painter’s guild of Florence, and in
1476 he was still considered Verrocchio’s assistant. In Verrocchio’s
Baptism of Christ (1470?, Uffizi, Florence), the kneeling angel at the left
of the painting is by Leonardo.
In 1478 Leonardo became an independent master. His first commission,
to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio, the
Florentine town hall, was never executed. His first large painting, The
Adoration of the Magi (begun 1481, Uffizi), left unfinished, was ordered
in 1481 for the Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, Florence. Other
works ascribed to his youth are the so-called Benois Madonna (1478?,
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg), the portrait Ginevra de’ Benci (1474?,
National Gallery, Washington, D.C.), and the unfinished Saint Jerome
(1481?, Pinacoteca, Vatican).