Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

PART I I I : REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
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marsh but for pumping. It presents a more intensive form of bonifica landscape
than the dunes; the layout o f fields, drains, roads and settlement is monotonously
rectangular and the damper soils, irrigated over about half o f the total
area, produce high yields of maize, wheat, beet, vegetables and fodder crops.
The traditional buffalo, whose ricotta was once the main product o f the marsh,
has disappeared but meat and milk production is important in the economy.
Coltura promiscua is not usual and the region still retains something o f its former
sadness.
The Fondi plain, which repeats many o f the features o f the Pontine Marsh,
has only been satisfactorily reclaimed since the war. About 20% o f it is imder
citrus, a crop which becomes increasingly significant from Terracina southwards.
Except in the food processing, constructional materials and paper sectors,
industry in southern Lazio is poorly represented, a matter which is receiving
attention from the Cassa del Mezzogiomo. A recent addition is the paper mill,
using rag as the raw material, at Cassino, a town which has paid dearly for its
strategic position on the Valle Latina approach to Rome. Lazio has two atomically
generated electric plants, one on the Garighano and the other at Latina
(50,000) the main town o f the Agro Pontino.
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IV [f] The Abruzzi Highlands
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Many would assign the Abruzzi^ to the South on historical and socio-economic
grounds; until i860 it formed part o f the Kingdom o f the Tw o Sicilies and its
economic backwardness, as revealed for example in its overwhelmingly pastoral
and agricultural character, is certainly a southern trait. In fact the area tmder
consideration excludes half o f the Abruzzi-Mohse regionei it consists essentially
o f the provinces o f Aquila and Rieti, the latter administratively part o f Lazio and
both falling within the orbit o f Rome. In terms o f geographical feattures it lies
between the Gran Sasso-Morrone-Maiella massifs in the north-east and the
Monti Sabini-Simbruini ranges in the south-west.
This area derives its special character from its interior position, its high and
rugged relief, the dominance o f limestone in its lithology and the importance of
tectonic movements in its structure. The general N W -S E trend o f the Apennine
folding has been complicated here by severe faulting, longitudinally and transversely;
much o f this tectonic disturbance occurred during the post-Pliocene
uplift, but to judge from the area’s continued susceptibility to earthquakes, it is
still incomplete. The result as far as relief is concerned has been to produce a
series o f blocks aligned N W -SE separated by narrow intermontane basins. The
latter are drained by the longitudinal courses o f the major rivers which are
obliged to escape to the sea transversely by means o f deep narrow valleys. The
blocks are overwhelmingly composed o f limestone which may vary in age from
the Eocene to the Triassic, and in character from chalk to dolomite; in fact, the
Cretaceous limestones are the most extensive. In the higher massifs the Quaternary
^Abruzzo, the singular form, is also used.
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