Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

CENTRAL ITALY
power southwards into Campania demanded a satisfactory crossing o f the Tiber,
the engineers’ task was simplified by the absence o f a floodplain here and by the
presence o f the Isola Tiberina resting on a rocky sill, which incidentally determined
the head o f navigation. The expansion o f Rome politically revealed the
favourable situation o f the city in its wider aspects; it controlled the most important
o f the three lowlands penetrating the mountainous peninsula and was
the natural focus o f the inner and coastal longitudinal routes along the western
side o f it. Later the organizing talents o f the Romans reinforced the nodal
position of their capital with a radiating system o f roads.
The heart o f Imperial Rome still lay on the Seven Hills but its boundaries, as
defined by the third-century (a d ) Aurealian walls, had expanded markedly, even
to include part o f the right bank, significantly enough that sector opposite the
Isola Tiberina. Rome was not to be so extensive again until the twentieth century.
By the Middle Ages the classical city was a desolation, its forums grazed by
sheep, its ruined public buildings the makeshift fortresses of feudal factions. The
life of the city now lay mainly along the river and among the tortuous streets o f
the Pantheon quarter. Under the Renaissance popes the Eternal City began to
assume a new magnificence and throughout the next two centuries Italians foimd
some balm for their political humiliation in the ornate ostentation o f the baroque;
the low-lying quarter between Piazza Venezia and Piazza del Popolo (formerly
the Campus Martius) bears its stamp as do many famous churches, squares,
gardens and palaces celebrating the names o f princely papal families. When
Rome became the capital o f a united Italy its population was still below 250,000
but since then the pace o f expansion has quickened relentlessly (1910 - 500,000;
1930 - 1,000,000; 1950 - 1,500,000; i960 - 2,300,000). Each period has left its
characteristic mark, that o f the Savoy monarchy in the station quarter, the turn
of the century on the right bank, and the fascist era most typically in the Foro
Itálica and the 1942 Exhibition zone. Since 1950 few areas o f the periphery have
been spared the block-like proliferation of ferro-concrete.
More than two millennia ago Rome ceased to be dependent on its immediate
environs, no doubt a contributory factor in the neglect o f the Agro Romano
thereafter. In classical times it drew tribute from an empire and as that declined
it found a new resource in the tithes o f all Christendom; with the establishment
of a united Italy its prestige and its transitional position between North and
South made it the obvious choice for a capital so that modern Rome continues
to draw on the resources o f the country as a whole. It is essentially a city o f
bureaucrats, lay and ecclesiastical (Vatican City), national and international
(FAO) and most o f its industrial activities - transport, servicing, food processing
and above all construction - are engaged in supplying their needs. The devotion
of the Catholic world and the city’s unique tourist attractions provide the other
main source o f income. Many o f its industries are o f a type commonly associated
with capitals - railway and vehicle servicing, printing, films, clothing and haute
couture, furniture, household goods and pharmaceuticals. Electronics, rubber,
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