President Donald J. Trump has decided to advance his bogus ban on trans individuals openly serving in the US military beyond tweeting vague dictates on the matter. Sam Clovis, the climatechangedenying Iowa business professor with no formal scientific qualifications President Donald Trump has nominated to serve as chief. Italy Encyclopedia Volume Catholic Encyclopedia In ancient times Italy had several other names it was called Saturnia, in honour of Saturn notria, wine producing land Ausonia, land of the Ausonians Hesperia, land to the west of Greece Tyrrhenia, etc. The name Italy Gr. Italia, which seems to have been taken from vitulus, to signify a land abounding in cattle, was applied at first to a very limited territory. According to Nissen and to others, it served to designate the southernmost portion of the peninsula of Calabria but some authorities, as Cocchia and Gentile, hold that the name was given originally to that country between the Sele and the Lao which later was called Lucania. We find the name Italy in use, however, among Greek writers of the fifth and the fourth centuries B. C. Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristotle, Plato and in 2. B. C., in the treaty of peace that ended the First Punic War, it served to designate peninsular Italy while in 2. B. C., at the close of the Second Punic War, the name of Italy was extended as far as the Alps. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICSItaly has an area of 1. Continent of Europe, and 1. The area of Italy, therefore, is little more than half that of France. Under the Romans and in the Middle Ages, under the powerful republics of Amalfi and of Pisa, of Genoa and of Venice, Italy ruled the Mediterranean Sea, which, however, after the discovery of America, ceased to be the centre of European maritime activity. The centre of European interests was carried towards the west the Italian republics fell into decay, and sea power went to the countries on the Atlantic Ocean. The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' title='The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' />But the opening of the Suez Canal 1. Alps Frjus, 1. 87. St. Gothard, 1. 88. JIJOgkO9f8E.jpg' alt='The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' title='The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' />Simplon, 1. Central and North western Europe into easy communication with Italian ports, and especially with Genoa, have restored to the Mediterranean much of its former importance and made of Italy a mighty bridge between Europe and the Levant. Of the three great peninsulas of Southern Europe, Italy is that whose adjoining seas penetrate deepest into the European Continent, while its frontiers border on the greatest number of other states France, Switzerland, Austria and are in contact with a greater number of races French, German, Slav. Before Italy took its present form it was part of a great body of land called by geologists Tyrrhenses, now covered by the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, which was united to Africa In fact, a great part of the Tuscan Archipelago and of the other islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the masses of the Peloritan Mountains in Sicily, of Aspromonte and of Sila in Calabria, the Roian Alps, formed of archaic rocks, all are fragments of an ancient land now for the most part submerged. You have not yet voted on this site If you have already visited the site, please help us classify the good from the bad by voting on this site. Another fact that gave to the configuration of Italy its present characteristic lines was the recession of the sea from that great gulf which became the fertile plain of the Po. Glaciers that at one time occupied the greater portion of Northern Italy gave rise to many moraine ranges. The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' title='The Burning Plain Torrent Ita' />When the promontory of Gargano was an island, the Adriatic Sea, which separated that elevation from the Apennines and which occupied all the table land of Apulia, projected an arm towards the south through the Sella di Spinazzola and the valley of the rivers Basentiello and Bradano, until it met the Ionian Sea. Therefore Italy is a recent formation, and consequently is subject to telluric phenomena that are unknown, or are less frequent, in the neighbouring countries. It is due to these causes that Sicily was separated from the Continent and became an island. Within historical times, the coast of Pozzuoli, near Naples, has undergone a slow depression that caused the columns of the temple of Serapis to sink into the sea, from which they emerged later through a rising movement of the ground. In consequence of the earthquake that destroyed Messina and Reggio 2. December, 1. 90. 8, the ground has undergone alteration, and telluric movements show no tendency to cease. Italy has the characteristic shape of a riding boot, of which the top is represented by the Alps, the seam by the Apennines, and the toe, the heel, and the spur, respectively, by the peninsulas of Calabria, Salento, and Gargano. The country consists of a continental portion that terminates at almost the forty fourth parallel, between Spezia and Rimini, of peninsular, and of insular portions. Robocopy Xp026 Microsoft. It is customary to divide the peninsular portions into two parts Central Italy and Southern Italy, of which the former is contained between the forty fourth parallel and a straight line that connects the mouth of the Trigno River with that of the Garigliano, marking the narrowest part of the peninsula between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Seas. Southern Italy is the part of the peninsula which lies south of this line. Northern Italy includes Piedmont, Lombardy, Venice, Emilia, and Liguria Central Italy includes Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio Southern Italy includes Campania, the Basilicata, and Calabria. Insular Italywill be found treated of under the articles SICILY SARDINIA. Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, Venice, and the historic towns within those regions will also be found the subject of separate articles. Concerning the temporal power of the popes and events culminating in the seizure of Rome in 1. PAPAL STATES. Coast line and Seas. The coast line of the Italian Peninsula measures 2. Its principal harbours are the Gulf of Genoa, the first commercial port in Italy the Gulf of Spezia, an important naval station Civitavecchia, an artificial harbour the harbours of Gaeta, Naples, and the Gulf of Taranto Brindisi, a natural port the Gulf of Manfredonia, and the lagoons of Venice. The principal seas are. Sea of Italy. Also known as the Tyrrhenian Sea, which lies between the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica and the mainland. It slopes from its shores to its centre, where it attains a depth of more than two and one quarter miles, and scattered over it are the Tuscan Archipelago, the Ponza and Parthenopian Island groups, the gadian Islands, the volcanic Island Ustica, and the Lipari or olian Islands, the latter being all extinct volcanoes with the exception of Stromboli. The tides of this sea vary by only eight or twelve inches it abounds in coral banks, and anchovy, sardine, and tunny fishing is remunerative along the coasts of Sicily and Sardinia. Ligurian Sea. The Gulf of Genoa is the most inland and also the most northerly part of this open sea, which extends to the south as far as the Channels of Corsica and of Piombino, through which it communicates with the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is open towards the Mediterranean, while its south western limit is a line drawn from Cape Lardier, in Provence, to Cape Revellata in Corsica. The tides of this sea vary from six to eight inches. On account of its depth and of the absence of tributary rivers, it contains few fish. Sea of Sicily Sea of Malta. That branch of the Mediterranean that lies between Tunis and Sicily is called the Channel of Tunis or of Sicily, and has a minimum breadth of 9. The branch that separates the Maltese Islands from Sicily is called the Malta Channel and has a minimum breadth of 5. In the former, at an average depth of 1. Africa and Sicily it has extensive shoals, known for their volcanic phenomena. Sponge and coral fisheries in this sea are lucrative.