New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-01-19
Haly's Destiny Shaped
BY Geographical Site

try also displays this narrowness
strikingly when. on a clear day. from
the Gran Sasso, the highest point in
the bleak Abruzzi Range, central, at
nearly 10000 feet one may look not
only eastward over the Adriatic to
far Dalmatia's rocky shores; but also
westward over the mountain and
moor. city and sandy coast, to the
dim and misty blue Of the Tyrrhenian
Sea. In volcanic southern Italy. like
wise barren of any great waterways,
the Apennines break up into groups of
Mills and peaks, not usually 50 lofty
as farther northward.
Italy Is fairly provided with deep
water seaports-Naples. Genoa, Spe-
zia, tho naval base, and Leghorn, on
the western coast, and Venice An
coma, and Brindfsi, on the east The
rivers-except the Pos-as may have
been inferred already, are of little or
no importance for navigation-a fact
that Romans cleverly disposed Of by
building those beautiful and endur-
Ing military roads which to this day
vein tho whole length and breadth of
the country-though the rapidity of
their currents and the flashing, dash
ing cascades and 'torrenti' that come
swirhng into them make them high
" picturesque and delightful as
feature of the landscape.
what human being with g. single
spark of soul could fall to expand
under the magic Of that wonderful
chain Of lakes along her northern
Idro, Iseo, Como, Lu-
gano, Maggiore, Orta? These remark
able and exquisite sheets of water,
formed by the tributaries of one
single stream-the Po-sprawl about
In tremendously deep valleps among
towering hills of solid rock, while
scattered among them are shallow
little lakes entirely different in both
character and aspect.
Besides defining the limits Of the
country so clearly, nature also bull
warked the long and tortuous Italian
peninsula on the west with a host Of
rocky defenses in the sapphire wa
tiers of the storied Tyrrhenian sea
Gorgona, of the suggestive name;
rocky Capraia; Elba, of Napoleonic
fame; the stony fleet of the little
its castle. on a big boulder; Procida
likewise; humpbacked Capri, where
that hairy old goat. as suetonius
called the Emperor Toberius, held
his revels; the 'Aeolian or Lapari
Isles, black monsters that spout fire
and sing weird music to terrify the
superstitious argonaut; magnificent
Sardinia, with its little sister Cor
sica clinging to It's coat-tails a step
behind. Both belong to Italy by every
right of nature-as a bright lad in
q Sicilian school told me: 'Sardegna,
81! But Corsica-no! She belongs to
Italy geographically, but politically to
France And the greatest of all
these outworks is Sicily.
"As in the case Of Japan, the sur
rounding sea makes a vast difference
in the Italian climate. Judged by its
position alone. the peninsula should
be about the hottest part Of Europe
1T is only 90 miles from the south
ern shore of Sicily to Africa. But
the twin seas and the ever snow
capped mountains temper the heat.
and the regional peculiarities are such
that we find Turin, for instance, cold
err in winter than Copenhagen, and
Milan as warm in summer as Naples.
These same striking differences char
acterizes the vegetation also. North
of the Apenn1nes nothing will grow
that cannot Withstand sharp frosts.
yet in virtually the same latitude the
strip Of coast called the Riviera di
Geneva ports Iuxuriant palms and
cactus and olives. while oranges and
lemons are the most important
crops