Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 193, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1917 — In Venetia [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

In Venetia

THE territorial division of northern Italy known as Venetia is fertile region whose blossoming plains are dotted with numerous cities famous as centers of great historic interest and custodians of art and architectural treasures of incalculable worth. / - ' :«■ Venetia is the rear “boot strap” v of the Italian peninsula. It juts far up into Austro-Hungarian territory, at the head of the Adriatic sea, and is bounded on the south by the Adriatic and the territorial division of Italy known as Emilia, of which Bologna is the principal city. The southwestern Doundary is Lombardy, of which Milan is the metropolis. It has an area about equal to that of the state of Vermont, but its population is ten times as great, says a bulletin of the National Geographic society. Among the noted cities whose literary shrines, historic buildings and wonderful art galleries are endangered by the far-reaching iron fingers of war are the great Mistress of the Adriatic, Venice, once the seat of the most powerful republic in the world; Verona, treasured in the heart of the English-, reading world at the home of literature’s greatest lovers, Romeo and Juliet; Padna, also a familiar name to the Shakespearean student; Vicenza, rich in Palladio palaces; Udine, the military base for Italian operations on the Isonzo during the drive toward the Austrian port of Trieste, and that delight of artists, Chioggia, the chief fishing port of Italy. Delta Land of Many Rivers. Venetia is largely delta land, having been formed by the alluvial deposits brought down from the Tyrolean Alps by numerous rivers, including the two largest watercourses of the kingdom, the Po and the Adige. The lower reaches of these rivers flow through extensive plains where levees are necessary to prevent frequent inundations. In this section the Po has a fall of not more than a half-inch to the mile. Naturally this silt soil l is extremely fertile, producing large crops of wheat, maize, rise, tobacco end chestnuts, together with mulberry leaves for silkworms. j. Many of the towns of Venetia are manufacturing centers, the chief products being glassware, woolen, silk and cotton goods, paper and candles. Venetian lace has become so widely known as almost to have lost the geographic significance of its name. The territory derives its name from Veneti, the tribes which inhabited this region during the early Roman days. When the barbarians poured over the Alps, and Atilla sacked Lombardy, the people of the interior fled to the Adriatic coast, taking refuge on the low islands which cluster around the mouths of the numerous rivers. It is to this hegira that Venice eiwed the initial impetus'; for its rapid rise to power, beginning in the fifth century. Her fortuned finally waned , with the discovery of thU\Cape of Good Hope route to the Far) East, in 1486, this ocean lane to the Orient striking a fatal blow at the island city’s supremacy as a trade center. A large part of the Mediterranean traffic was quickly diverted to the Atlantic sea--2 bojird, establishing England’s dominance as the world’s greatest com-merce-carrying nation. In 1797 Napoleon gave Venice and a large part of the contiguods territory to Austria. The city and province were incorporated as a part of United Italy in 1866, after the defeat of Austria by the Prussians on the field of Konlggratz, in the “Seven Weeks War.” Bassano an “Infant” City. Bassano, one of the picturesque towns of northern Italy; with about 7,500 people, is situated on the turbulent Brenta river, 20 miles east of the Tyrolean border and 30 miles north of Padua. For sentimental rather than strategic reasons, the Austrian forces would be overjoyed If the fortunes of war should ctiuse Bassano to fall into their hands, for it wap before this city that Napoleon achieved his first signal suc-

cess in his remarkable campaign of September, 1796, when. his infantry covered a distance of 114 miles in six days, besides winning three battles from the Austrian troops. Thirteen years after his victory at Bassano Napoleon raised the town to a duchy and conferred ihe dukedom upon his devoted secretary of state, Maret, the French journalist and diplomat, who shares with Daru the distinction of having been one of the hardest workers in the service of the great Corsican. Bassano is one of the “Infant” cities of northern Italy judged by the age* standards of Vicenza, Verona, Venice, Padua and other municipalities of Venetia, although it was six hundred years old when the first permanent English settlement was made in America. A few years after it was founded in the eleventh century the district was given as a fief to Eccelin, a,German follower of Conrad IL Eccelin founded the famous Ezzelini family which dominated- this town and neighboring cities from time to time during the middle ages. The most powerful of these feudal lords, and the most notorious, on account of his savage cruelty, was Ezzelini da Romano, a stanch supporter of Emperor Frederick 11, and one of the most successful of the Ghibelline adherents in the great civil wars which devastated Italy during the thirteenth century. He not only held Bassano, but, with the aid of the emperor, extended his sway over Verona, X icenza, Padua and Treviso. Eventually Pope Alexander IV declared a crusade against him, whereupon he made an attempt to invest Milan. Here he was wounded and captured. Enraged at his illfortune in falling into the hands of his enemies, he tore the bandages from his wounds and refused all food, thus coming to a much more tragic end than his compatriot in arms, Enzio, a natural son of Emperor Frederick, who was captured in 1249 and held prisoner in Bologna for the remainder of his life. Enzlo’s 23 years of confinement Were solaced by the devotion of Lucia da Viadagola, a gentlewoman of Bologna who is said to have endeavored unceasingly to secure her lover’s release. There is a legend to the effect that on one occasion the famous prisoner’s escape had almost been accomplished when a lock of his golden hair, hanging over the top of a vflne cask in which he was concealed, betrayed him. —Bassano is beaut if ully si t uated at the foot of the Venetian Alps. It is famous for its potteries, especially its majolica, and for an extensive printing establishment. Its trade is largely in silks, leathers, wines, oils and asparagus. Few are the medieval Italian cities which cannot boast the name of a great artist or sculptor as a favorite son. Bassano's contribution to the gallery of fame is the Da Ponte family of painters, who adopted the name of their birthplace as a surname. The most distinguished member of the house was Jacopo da Ponte Bassano, a disciple of the Titian school. (