- Italy in the early Middle Ages
- Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries
- Early modern Italy (16th to 18th century)
- Revolution, restoration, and unification
- Italy from 1870 to 1945
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Rivers
Italian rivers are comparatively short; the longest, thePo, is merely 400 miles (645 km) long. While three major rivers flow into the Ionian Sea, inPuglia only two rivers flow to theAdriatic. Along the Adriatic coast a good number run parallel like the teeth of a comb down from the Apennines throughMolise,Abruzzo, andMarche regions. The rivers that flow into theTyrrhenian Sea are longer and more complex and carry greater quantities of water. These include theVolturno, in Campania; the RomanTiber; and theArno, which flows throughFlorence andPisa. The rivers of theLigurian rivieras are mainly short and swift-flowing; a few are important simply because cities, such asGenoa, or beach resorts, such asRapallo, are built on theirdeltas. But the prince of Italian rivers is the Po. Rising in the Mount Viso area, it runs across theLombardy Plain, through various important cities such asTurin (Torino) andCremona, and is steadily enlarged by the numerous tributaries, especially on its left bank. The Po debouches south ofVenice, forming a large delta. InVeneto there are also rivers that are not tributaries of the Po. One of these is theAdige, the second longest river in Italy, which flows 254 miles (409 km), passing throughVerona and debouching nearAdria, south of Venice. The rivers in the south haveimposing floods during winter storms, and those that run through zones of impermeable rock may become dangerous; yet during the summer many of these rivers are completely dry. The rivers of the center and north are dry in the winter because their headwaters are frozen, but they become full in the spring from melting snow and in the autumn from rainfall.
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Lakes
There are about 1,500 lakes in Italy. The most common type is the small, elevatedAlpine lake formed by Quaternary glacial excavation during the last 25,000 years. These are of major importance for hydroelectric schemes. Other lakes, such asBolsena andAlbano, inLazio, occupy the craters of extinct volcanoes. There are also coastal lagoons, such as Lakes Lesina and Varano, in Puglia, and lakes resulting from prehistoric faulting, such as Lake Alleghe, nearBelluno. The best-known, largest, and most important of the Italian lakes, however, are those cut into valleys of the Alpine foothills by Quaternary glaciers. These, listed in order of size, are LakesGarda,Maggiore,Como,Iseo, andLugano. They have a semi-Mediterranean climate and are surrounded bygroves of olive and citrus trees. Italy also has considerable areas in which, as a result of porous rock, the water systems run underground, forming subterranean streams, sinkholes, and lakes. These are often associated with caves, the most famous of which are those of Castellana, in Puglia.
Soils
Varying climatic conditions in successive eras and differences in altitude and in types of rock have combined to produce in Italy a wide range of soils. Very common is dark brownpodzol, typical in mountains with a lot of flint, where the rainfall is heavy, as in theAlps above about 300 feet (90 meters). In the Apennines, brown podzolic soils predominate, supporting forests and meadows and pastures. Brown Mediterranean soils also arecharacteristic of the Apennines and are suitable for agriculture. Rendzinas, typically humus-carbonate, are characteristic of limestone and magnesium limestone mountain pastures and of many meadows and beech forests of the Apennines. Red earth—the famous terra rossa, derived from the residue of limestone rocks—is found mainly in the extreme south, especially in Puglia and southeasternSicily, where it is the usual soil in vineyards, olive groves, and gardens. Sparse rocky earth, clays, dune sands, and gravel are found in the high mountains, in some volcanic zones, and in gullies in the sub-Apennines. There is also a red loam, orferretto, composed of ferrous (iron) clay.