Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

«
■ t
PART III: REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
Adige, in addition to its normal representation in Rome, was granted autonomous
status with a regional assembly sitting alternately at Bolzano and Trento.
Although this gives the South Tyrolese a strong voice in regional affairs they cannot
hope to control a majority in a Diet jointly representing both the Trentino
and the Alto Adige. Unfortunately the happier relations introduced by the
Gruber-De Gasperi agreement were soon menaced, on one side by the renewed
influx o f migrants from the poorer parts o f Italy, on the other by a revival of
Austrian claims after the re-establishment o f Austrian independence in 1954.
By 1961, by which time Italian immigration had almost ceased, out o f a total
population o f 383,000 in the Alto Adige, approximately 33% spoke Italian as
their mother tongue, 64% German and 3% Ladin. The Itahans are overwhelmingly
concentrated in the towns o f Bolzano, Merano and Bressanone
(Brixen) and are engaged mainly in industry, tourism and administration. The
South Tyrolese and Ladins, whose birth rate is notably higher than that o f the
Italians, own and work the land and are heavily represented among the hotehers
and shopkeepers. The Ladins, who resisted ItaUanization before the war almost
as much as the South Tyrolese, are concentrated mainly in the high valleys of
the Dolomites. Their ancient language, which is akin to the Romansch o f Grisons
and is similarly a Latin tongue preserved in isolation, seems doomed to disappear.
On the whole the Italian claim to have implemented the Gruber-De Gasperi
agreement is justified, particularly as regards educational matters; inevitably the
agreement was a compromise which while falling short o f the aspirations o f the
South Tyrolese at least assured them of continued existence in their own valleys -
a privilege shared by no other German-speaking minority imfortunate enough to
become involved in the Pan-Germanic ambitions o f the Third Reich. Whether
the Trentino-Alto Adige continues to enjoy its modest but real prosperity or is to
be thrown into the pit o f communal strife depends largely on whether the
moderate majorities on both sides within the area are allowed to continue working
within the present framework, eliminating step by step whatever can be shown to
be a genuine grievance. In the present atmosphere, any too strident demand for
a revision o f the status quo, especially if supported by Pan-Germanic propaganda
and terrorism, is likely to confirm Italian fears that the real aim is outright
annexation.
That remote and somewhat desolate sector of the eastern Alps occupying the
northern third o f the Friuli autonomous region and generally known as Camia
merits separate recognition. It is bounded on the north by the long ridge of the
Garnie Alps along which the frontier nms with exemplary simplicity; on the
south by the Tertiary hills fringing the Friuli plain; on the west by the eastern
watershed o f the Piave; and on the east by the western watershed o f the Isonzo.
The outstanding feature o f its relief, which is markedly lower than that o f the
Dolomites, is a rectangular pattern o f deeply incised longitudinal and transverse
valleys (canali), most o f which feed eventually into the Taghamento
system. In the Alps proper, boimdcd on the south by the longitudinal courses of
1 16