Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-14
Geographic News
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society
Rivalry stilI Exists

WASHINGTON, d. C.-The Tren-
tino, redeemed Italy''-recently the
scene of an anti-Austrian demon
stration by Fascist, is the subject of
the following bulletin from Wash
ington, D. e., headquarters Of the
National Geographic Society:
THE Trentino, the inland portion
Of what constituted Italia irredenta'
before the world war, mas become
Italia redenta' since the victorious
northward push of the Italian arm
les and the signing of the peace
treaties; but that fact has not al
together solved the problem always
created when two peoples of diver
gent culture must live together, mol
has the shifting of the international
border a number of miles to h
northward greatly altered the at
titudes of the hereditary enemies
whose land it divides.
Was "Southern Tyrol" to Austrians
What the Italians call the Tren-
tino,' the Austrians called Southern
Tyrol.' The region had a more
checkered career even than Alsace-
Lorraine. Civilized by the Romans
and made a province of the empire
which the Italians love to feel they
have fallen heir, the district re-
manned under one or another form
of Roman, Italian or Lombard con-
troll until 1927, when 1t severed from
italy and given into the hands OF
Prince Bishops Of Trent under more
or less nominal German control
In 1903 the country became Aus
trian, In 1906 Bavarian. The
French, under Napoleon, captured 1t
it was again handed over to Austria.
It remained Austrian until Italy's SOL
diers redeemed 1t during the world
war. -
"During all these vicissitudes,
however, the Italian language and
Italian culture persisted, with espe-
cial tenacity, of course, in the south,
toward the nominal italian border.
That border dipped far south OF the
crest of the Alps to enclose the
Trentin0 in the Austrian empire.
crossing valleys and running along
hills rather than mountains. The
i%rredentist movement not only main
tanned that the Italian-speaktng peo-
Die OF the Trentino shouid
be EMBODIED within the borders OF
Italy, but it echoed the assertion OF
he proud old Roman empire that
Rome, for its protection, must reach
to the crest of h Alps.
Alps barrlcE " OOAAu"n
..Tyrol, north of the Alps was Ger
manicized early. But the mountain
barrier slowed up the southern ad-
vance of German culture. Desplte
direct Germanic control for a. cen
fury and German influence Tor a
much longer period, the Trentlno
was approciably Germanicized only
IN the extreme north. In Bolzano
(Which the Austrians called Bozen),
forty miles south Of the main rage
Of the Alps in the Adlge Vaiiey'
there was an obvious conflict be-
tween the two cultures. The streets
and SQUARES bore German m and
the store signs German characters.
The slim steeple of the parish
church was undeniaply Gothic. But
though one of the principal streets
pore the name L~aubengasse, enc
graceful arches of its arcaded sizes
proclaimed Italy, and the trade in
their shadows was largely carried on
in italian.
"South from Bolzano German In
fuence carried on a losing nghl.
Trento (called by the Austrlans
TRENT, and by the English Trentl'
thirty miles farther south, anu a.
most an equal distance WITHIN the
Austrian border, was all but an &C
k~nowledged Italian city. There was
practically no touch of German ar.
chitecture here, no camouf1age Oh
German names. 1t was and IS a
city of medieval italian palaces ike
many of its sister municipalities OF
The Lombard plain, and its streets
bore the Roman names they nad
borne through the centuries. Inc
German language was rarely nearo
except in military orders, n It's IN
familiar letters appeared ! now
and then below prociamations IN
Italian.
Trentino Has Flood Of Light and
Warmth
"Most conspicuous of the German
touches, perhaps, was thar con-
.ributed by the quantity garbed Aus
trian soldiers, the Kaiserjager with
their jaunty plumed hats. n note
they struck in Trento was obviously
alien; and their plumes even were
not SO jaunty as those of the Ber-
saglieri, who now stand guard
among their own people.
1.-THE Trentino, sloping to the
south. receives a flood of light and
warmth, which the region north OF
the Alps cannot know. Just as Ger
man culture became less and less in
fuential to the south of the Alpine
divide, SO the pines and frs OF Cen
trail Europe dwindle away until not
far south of Bolzano they have dis
appeared. The slopes and peaks
and cliffs of Southern Trentino are
largely bare and the climate Is
warm. But the valley floors are
carpeted with grasses and plants of
iuxuriant growth, and in them grow
grapes from which excellent wine
is made. Even the heights which
appear so desolate in the glare OF
full daylight are gilded and tinted
into Netherlands by the rising and
setting sum-, @ fact which has Lead
some students to assert that there
Dante got Inspiration for both his
Inferno and his Paradise