ITALY

(AGL Giolitti returned to power. The question was finally settled by the Treaty of Rapallo, which made Fiume a free city oud gave Dalmatia to Jugo-Slavia. See ME. The economic conditions of the country, due to conditions left by the war, created, from 1920 to 1922, a situation which rapidly became desperate. The ts seized many of the landed estates during the summer and autumn of 1920, and the Socialists and Communists organized and seized many of the manufacturing plants in the larger Cities. Labor was practically in the control of industry and there were riots, murders, and general disorder was prevalent throughout the country. Bolshevist propaganda was carried on with money supplied from Ru ia, and a large communist organization was becoming a powerful element in the country. ‘The controversy with Jugo-Slavia in relation to Fiume also continued to disturb the political situation. The government was weak and was concerned chiefly with their ability to preserve their power. There had arisen, however, during 1920, as an offset to the Communist and Socialist propaganda and movement, a voluntary organization known as the Fascisti, under the leadership of Mu olini, (See Fascistr.) This organization was made up chiefly of members-of the middle cla es who were being ground between the millstones of officialdom and labor. The movement grew rapidly, and by May, 1920, had organizations in nearly all the towns of S. and central Italy. They took drastic measures, and | by force dealt with Communists and Socialists so aggre ively that at the end of 1921 they met with little opposition. The government had sunk to a position where it had little power, and in Oct., 1922, by a swift and almost bloodle ‘revolution, the Fascisti, headed by nfro), seized the government and ousted the ministers. This was done with the consent and approval of the King, who had summoned Mu olini to Rome. He was at once appointed Prime Minister, and became the actual ruler of Italy. General Armando Diaz, the succe ful leader of the Italian armies of the war, was appointed Minister of War, and the other members of the cabinet were identified with the Fascisti movement. Mu olini at once began the organization of economic and political reforms in which he was heartily supported by the King and the Italian people. He had become now the most conspicuous figure in Europe, and he took an important part in the conferences of Bru els, Lauganne, and London, held in 1922-23. The Tascisti army, which numbered over 100,000 men, was disbanded, but was at all times ready to a ume the aggre ive, In September, 1923, as the result of the murder of five Italian officials in Albania, Italy seized the island of Corfu from Greece and held it until demands for apology, and indemnity of $2,500,000 had been granted. See Grencr. Language.—titalian is one of the Romance languages, and is the one which most closely resembles their common source, Latin. Barbarian invasions of Italy were of a le permanent character than in France or Spain, and Roman culture had a firmer grip of the population. There is hardly a leading language today with so many dialects as Italian; this is due partly to the lack of political unity of the country until lately, partly to the fact that certain districts were more open to foreign influences than others. The differences, however, are seldom of a deep nature, and are more a matter of pronunciation. Caix gives the distribution of the leading dialects as follows: (1) Venetian, the most unorthodox of ail, spoken in 8. Tyrol and on the Austrian Adriatic coast. It is colored with German, Romansch, and Dalmatian. (2) Gallic Italian, infiuenced mainly by French. It in its turn come prises several local dialects—viz., Bolognese, Lombard, Piedmontese. (3) Pure Italian, spoken where Roman influence was strongest, in the old Papal States, in Tuscany, Umbria, Camp an i a, Apulia, and Abruzzi. (4) Ibero Italian, including a group of dialects strongly influenced by Spanish or the now dead Sard in i an— The political unity of Italy and the standardization of elementary education are having their unevitable effect in levelling down these local differences, and the probability is that the next fifty years will see the disappearance of many of these dialects as languages spoken by any but the very poor, and the formation of a uniform Italian language-standard, probably holding the balance between pure and Gallic Italian. Literature.—The chief characteristic of early Ital. literature is its contempt for the vernacular and its leaning towards Latin, and not until XIII. cent. is there a serviceable vernacular. Poetry.—Iin XI. cent. Troubadours invaded Italy, and in XIII. cent. the Sicilian-Proveng¢al school, headed by Emperor Frederick Il. of Hohenstauffen, produced lyrics imitating the, by that time, decadent Proven gal lyrics. The Umbrian school of St. Francis of A isi and Jacopone da Todi wrote religious lyrics; and the Tuscan poets, Cavalcanti, Pistoia, and Dante, wrote lyrics in almost pure Italian. Tho poetry of the oN @roubadours by its beauty and perfect pversification encouraged men to make the vernacular a beautiful literary laniquage, but the Proven gal subject-matter gave to Italy a stilted, conceited, conven- ‘tional style. What-the vulgar literature ‘wanted was ideas. Dante saw the po i- ‘bilities of Italian, and his De Vulgar a |Hloquentia is a vindication of the ver of Proven cal lyrics, and wrote lyrics full of thought and pa ion. With his Dine ‘Comedy he reached the highest Ital. poetry of all time. Petrarch, his contemporary, brought the sonnet to excellence. Both poets had_ imitators, mostly of inferior type. In the XV. cent. the cultured cla es condemned the vernacular, but the Medici rulers of Florence, Cosimo, and Lorenzo de’ Medici, encouraged a return to the vulgar tongue. The Romantic epic introduced by Pulci was elaborated by Boiardo and perfected by Ariosto, and Lorenzo de’ Medici, Pulci, and Sannazaro wrote pastoral poetry. All are Renai ance poets, but Ariosto is the greatest of all. In the XVI. cent. Tri ino adopted the cla . manner in histori-. cal epic, but his imitators returned to the Romantic epic, with its pseudo-cla icism. Berni headed a group of humorous satirical poets which included Grazzini. Italy, torn by invaders in XVI. cent., brought forth a decadent literature—the literature of the Secentismo Period. Ta o alone stands out as a great poet with his Jerusalem Delivered. Marini’s epic Adone, 1623, shows the bombastic, artificial style of the period. In 1690, the ‘Academy of Arcadia’ strove to combat ‘Marinism’ by seeking simplicity. About 1760, the Ital. Romantic movement began, with Manzoni as leader; in Leopard i, greatest Ital. lyric poet since Dante found its highest expre ion. The revolt against romanticism was led by Carducci, 1836-1907, and his pupil Pascoli. D’Annunzio, 6. 1864, writes lyrics of great originality of form; he conbines cla icism with romanticism and Drama.—The first sign of drama is found in the laud a, a religious song with dialogue used by Todi. The first secular drama is Sannazaro’s pastoral poem Arcadia. In XVI. cent. Ariosto and Machi a vell i wrote comedies in the cla . manner of Plautus and Terence. Ta o, in Aminta, brought pastoral drama to perfection, and he was rivalled by Guar shows in his comedies the corruption of an age that produced Machi a vell i, and in tragedy Orazia the Renai ance sense of beauty. Tri ino in his tragedy Sofonisba, 1515, and Giraldi imitated Sefiecan drama. At the end of XVI. cent. the ———————————— pastoral drama developed into opera (ef. Rinuccini’s Dafne), and in XVII. cent. the melodrama of Metastasio is set to music. In next cent. Fr. drama and that of Shakespeare was imitated by Mar tell i and Conti. Gold in i, 1707-93, raised comedy above the level of the Com media dellarte with its conventional clowns. The great tragedian, Alfieri, 1749-1803, wrote twenty-two tragedies, the greatest of Ital. literature. The romanticist Manzoni in tragedy followed Shakespeare, and Giambattista Niccolini also wrote romantic drama. In the XIX. cent. realism came into drama (cf. Rovetta and Prose.—lItal. prose began about middle of XIV cent. with Guittone d’Arezzo’s epistles, and at the same time short stories, sermons, and chronicles were written in the vernacular. No prose of importance appeared before Boccaccio’s Dec a me rone, 2 collection of tales. This great work inspired men like Guard in i to write prose stories. After the Renai ance there is no great prose till Machdini his famous histories. Bandello and Grazzini in their tales show the blending of cla icism and vernacularism. In XVI. and XVII. cents., when ‘Marinism’ was obse ing poetry, prose became tainted, and writers of history like Rosa a Menzini continually criticized the evils. Literary criticism flourished under men like Zeno and Mazzuchelli, and Manzoni wrote historical novels which influences Gro i and d’Azeglio. In XIX. cent. Verga was the first realist in prose fiction; Fogazzaro was realistic and romantic, while d’Annunzio was acknowledged as a master of the novel. The country was rich in scholars— name but a few)—whose contributions to history, literary criticism, ete., often attain the level of literature.