Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

CENTRAL ITA LY
factorily reclaimed imtil the late eighteenth century, and the drainage o f the
deltaic plain below Pisa was not completely achieved until the 1920s. These lowlands
are now occupied by an intensive coltura promiscua recalling that o f Veneto;
the dampness o f the subsoil permits the cultivation o f maize and lucerne and in
the area south o f Pisa there are water meadows comparable with those o f Lombardy.
The basin margins are devoted to terraced tree crops which thin out upwards
into evergreen and deciduous woodlands; the olive oil o f Lucca enjoys a
particularly high reputation. W ith one or two exceptions, notably Pisa, the older
towns and villages are sited above the former marsh on the marginal hills.
Florence (Firenze, 440,000), Roman Florentia, was o f no great significance tmtil
the Middle Ages, possibly because o f the persistence o f marsh over so much o f
the Arno basin. Today it focuses several trans-Apennine routes (two railways
from Bologna, the older one via Pistoia and the other via Prato, as well as a line
from Faenza; the Futa and Porretta roads in addition to the Strada del Sole) and
passes them on either through the Val di Chiana to Rome or along both margins
of the Arno basins to the coast. The city retains many o f its traditional crafts
(glass, leatherwork, metalwork, lace, jewellery) for which the main requirements
are skill and taste; these qualities have also helped to establish Florence’s
reputation in the world o f haute couture. Other industries represented in the
area include agricultural processing, machine tools, scientific instruments, electrical
goods, oil drilling equipment and railway repair shops, but more than anything
Florence depends on the tourist trade for which her unique prestige in the
world o f art and culture provides such a powerful attraction. Cotton textiles and
electrical engineering are among Pistoia’s (85,000) activities; Prato, on the edge
of the same basin, is the biggest woollen centre outside the Valle Padana and it
specializes in shoddy. Lucca (88,000) and Pisa (91,000), whose mutually hostile
gaze in the Middle Ages was blocked by M . Pisano, are provincial centres with
agricultural and cotton textile industries. Pisa’s airport is a useful asset for her
tourist trade. Leghorn (Livorno, 161,000) is by Tuscan standards a town with no
pedigree. After the eclipse o f Pisa it was developed as the Grand Duchy’s main
port by the Medici whose liberal trading policy contributed to the spectacular
growth of the port in the seventeenth century. In recent years Leghorn has been
handling some 5 million tons composed mainly o f oil to feed local refineries. It is
also an important fishing port and the base o f the small Italian fleet operating
beyond Gibraltar. The city’s other interests include agricultural processing,
chemicals, foundries, engineering and shipbuilding. Recent plans for the rationalization
of Italian shipbuilding cast doubts on the future o f the Leghorn yards.
The Marenuna coast is characterized by a series o f shallow bays edged with
low wave-built sandbars (tomboli) festooned between rocky headlands, some o f
which (M. Argentario, M . Massoncello) were islands in recent geological times.
The extensive lagoons which once lay to the rear o f the tomboli have been silted
up almost entirely by the heavy detritus load of the rivers draining the erodible
hinterland. The evolution o f a satisfactory drainage system on these alluvial flats
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