1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
3.
Regions of Italy
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The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of Italy, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are 20 regions, of five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes. Each region, except for the Aosta Valley, is divided into provinces, regions are autonomous entities with powers defined in the Constitution. As the administrative districts of the state during the Kingdom of Italy. The original draft list comprised the Salento region, friuli and Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were identified as regions in the first draft. They were later merged into Abruzzo e Molise in the constitution of 1948. Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional Elections of 1970, the ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions, where it was historically rooted. Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a reform in 2001. In June 2006 the proposals, which had been associated with Lega Nord. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55. 3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria, number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1995, Macroregions are the first-level NUTS of the European Union. These regions, whose statutes are approved by their councils, were created in 1970. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had residual legislative powers, the regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law. Yet their financial autonomy is quite modest, they just keep 20% of all levied taxes, Article 116 of the Italian Constitution grants to five regions home rule, acknowledging their powers in relation to legislation, administration and finance. These regions became autonomous in order to take into account cultural differences, moreover, the government wanted to prevent their secession from Italy after the Second World War. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol constitutes a special case, the region is nearly powerless, and the powers granted by the regions statute are mostly exercised by the two autonomous provinces within the region, Trentino and South Tyrol. In this case, the regional institution plays a coordinating role, the latter is directly elected by the citizens of each region, with the exceptions of Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, where he is chosen by the regional council. Under the 1995 electoral law, the winning coalition receives a majority of seats on the council
4.
Latium
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Latium is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Latium was originally a triangle of fertile, volcanic soil on which resided the tribe of the Latins or Latians. It was located on the bank of the Tiber river, extending northward to the Anio river. The right bank of the Tiber was occupied by the Etruscan city of Veii, subsequently, Rome defeated Veii and then its Italic neighbors, expanding Latium to the Apennine Mountains in the northeast and to the opposite end of the marsh in the southeast. The modern descendant, the Italian Regione of Lazio, also called Latium in Latin, and occasionally in modern English, is larger still. The ancient language of the Latins, the tribesmen who occupied Latium, was to become the predecessor of the Old Latin language, ancestor of Latin. Latium has played an important role in history owing to its status as the host of the city of Rome. Consequently, Latium is home to celebrated works of art and architecture, in its center is a crater lake, Lacus Albanus, oval in shape, a few km long and wide. The last pagan temple to be built stood until the Middle Ages when its stone and location were reused for various monasteries and finally a hotel. The selection of Jupiter as a god and the descent of the name Latini to the name of the Latin language are sufficient to identify the Latins as a tribe of Indo-European descent. Virgil, a poet of the early Roman Empire, under Augustus, derived Latium from the word for hidden because in a myth Saturn, ruler of the golden age in Latium. A major modern etymology is that Lazio comes from the Latin word latus, meaning wide, the region that would become Latium had been home to settled agricultural populations since the early Bronze Age and was known to the Ancient Greeks and even earlier to the Mycenaean Greeks. The name is most likely derived from the Latin word latus, meaning wide, expressing the idea of land but the name may originate from an earlier. The Etruscans, from their region of Etruria exerted a strong cultural and political influence on Latium from about the 8th century BC onward. Indeed, the cultural and geographic proximity to the cities of Magna Graecia had a strong impact upon its early history. By the 10th century BC, archaeology records a slow development in agriculture from the area of Latium with the establishment of numerous villages. The Latins cultivated grains, grapes, olives, apples, the various Latini populi lived in a society led by influential clans. These clans were a sign of their origin, which continued in Rome as the thirty curiae which organized Roman society
5.
Metropolitan cities of Italy
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The metropolitan city is an administrative division of Italy, operative since 2015. In 2009, amendments added Reggio Calabria to the list, the metropolitan areas individuated by the autonomous regions were, Trieste in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Cagliari in Sardinia, Catania, Messina and Palermo in Sicily. On 3 April 2014 the Italian Parliament approved a law that establishes 10 metropolitan cities in Italy, the new metropolitan cities have been operative since 1 January 2015. The metropolitan city is composed by the municipalities that before had been members of the same province, each metropolitan city is headed by a metropolitan mayor assisted by a legislative body, the Metropolitan council, and by a non-legislative assembly, the metropolitan conference. Members of the Metropolitan council are elected and chosen by mayors and city councilors of each municipality in the metropolitan city, the metropolitan conference is composed by the mayors of the municipalities closest to the capital. The main functions devolved to the new cities are, local planning and zoning, provision of local police services, transport. Regions of Italy Provinces of Italy Municipalities of Italy Media related to Metropolitan cities of Italy at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Metropolitan City of Rome Capital
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The administrative area of the Metropolitan City of Rome is one of the constitutional Metropolitan cities of Italy in the Lazio region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Rome and it replaced the Province of Rome and comprises the city of Rome and other 121 municipalities. It was firstly created by the reform of local authorities and then established by the Law 56/2014 and it has been officially operative since 1 January 2015. The Metropolitan City of Rome Capital is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor, since 20 June 2016 Virginia Raggi, as mayor of the capital city. The Metropolitan City of Rome Capital covers almost one-third of the territory of Lazio, the western boundary of the province is represented by the Tyrrhenian Sea on which spread to about 130 kilometres from the coast near Rome from Civitavecchia to Torre Astura. In the territory there are lakes, almost all of volcanic origin. Today Rome is circled, at a distance of about 10 km from the Capitol, due to its location in the centre of the Italian peninsula, Rome is the principal railway node for central Italy. Romes main railway station, Termini, is one of the largest railway stations in Europe, the second-largest station in the city, Roma Tiburtina, has been redeveloped as a high-speed rail terminus. Rome is served by three airports, the intercontinental Leonardo da Vinci International Airport is Italys chief airport, is located within the nearby Fiumicino, south-west of Rome. The older Rome Ciampino Airport is a joint civilian and military airport and it is commonly referred to as Ciampino Airport, as it is located beside Ciampino, south-east of Rome. A third airport, the Roma-Urbe Airport, is a small, low-traffic airport located about 6 km north of the city centre, although the city has its own quarter on the Mediterranean Sea, this has only a marina and a small channel-harbour for fisher boats. The main harbour which serves Rome is Port of Civitavecchia, located about 62 km northwest of the city, a 3-line metro system called the Metropolitana operates in the Metropolitan City of Rome. Construction on the first branch started in the 1930s, the line had been planned to quickly connect the main railway station with the newly planned E42 area in the southern suburbs, where the 1942 World Fair was supposed to be held. The event never took place because of war, but the area was partly redesigned and renamed EUR in the 1950s to serve as a modern business district. The line was opened in 1955, and it is now the south part of the B Line. The A line opened in 1980 from Ottaviano to Anagnina stations, in the 1990s, an extension of the B line was opened from Termini to Rebibbia. This underground network is generally reliable as it is relatively short, the A and B lines intersect at Roma Termini station. A new branch of the B line opened on 13 June 2012 after a building cost of €500 million
7.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
8.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
9.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
10.
Pope Clement I
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Pope Clement I, also known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as Bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 to his death in 99. He is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, few details are known about Clements life. Clement was said to have been consecrated by Saint Peter, early church lists place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after Saint Peter. Tertullian considered Clement to be the successor of Peter. In one of his works, Jerome listed Clement as the bishop of Rome after Peter. Clement is put after Linus and Cletus/Anacletus in the earliest account, that of Irenaeus, Clements only genuine extant writing is his letter to the church at Corinth in response to a dispute in which certain presbyters of the Corinthian church had been deposed. He asserted the authority of the presbyters as rulers of the church on the ground that the Apostles had appointed such. His letter, which is one of the oldest extant Christian documents outside of the New Testament, was read in church, along with other epistles and these works were the first to affirm the apostolic authority of the clergy. A second epistle,2 Clement, was attributed to Clement, in the legendary Clementine Literature, Clement is the intermediary through whom the apostles teach the church. According to tradition, Clement was imprisoned under the Emperor Trajan, thereafter he was executed by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. Clement is recognized as a saint in many Christian churches and is considered a saint of mariners. He is commemorated on 23 November in the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity his feast is kept on 24 or 25 November. Starting in the 3rd and 4th century, tradition has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians 4,3, a fellow laborer in Christ. The 2nd-century Shepherd of Hermas mentions a Clement whose office it was to communicate with other churches, most likely, the Liber Pontificalis, which documents the reigns of popes, states that Clement had known Saint Peter. It also states that he wrote two letters and that he died in Greece in the year of Emperor Trajans reign. A large congregation existed in Rome c,58, when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans. His Captivity Epistles, as well as Mark, Luke, Acts, Paul and Peter were said to have been martyred here. Nero persecuted Roman Christians after Rome burned in 64, and the congregation may have suffered persecution under Domitian
11.
Volscian language
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Volscian was a Sabellic Italic language, which was spoken by the Volsci and closely related to Oscan and Umbrian. The language of inscription is clear enough to show the very marked peculiarities that rank it close to the language of the Iguvine Tables. It shows on the one hand the labialization of the original velar q, like Umbrian also, but unlike Latin and Oscan, it has degraded all the diphthongs into simple vowels. With these names must clearly be judged the forms Etrusci and Tusci, although these forms must not be regarded as anything, now the historical fortune of these tribes is reflected in several of their names. It is remarkable in how many places this -co- or -ca- suffix is used. Besides the Aurunci and the dea Marica and the intempestaeque Graviscae, we have the Ustica cubans of Horace, the Hernici in the Trerus Valley, Satricum and Glanica in the Pomptine Marshes. For the text and fuller account of the Volscian inscription, and for records of the dialect, see R. S. Conway, The Italic Dialects. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
12.
Alban Hills
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The Alban Hills are the site of a quiescent volcanic complex in Italy, located 20 km southeast of Rome and about 24 kilometres north of Anzio. The dominant peak is Monte Cavo at 950 m, there are two small calderas which contain lakes, Lake Albano and Lake Nemi. The rock of the hills is called peperino a variety of tuff, a combination of ash and small rocks that is useful for construction. The hills, especially around the shores of the lakes, have been popular since prehistoric times, from the 9th to 7th century BC, there were numerous villages. The area was inhabited by the Latini during the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, the ancient Romans called the hill Albanus Mons. In Roman times, the area was used by the rich as a way to escape the heat and crowds of Rome, as it is today as shown by the many villas. The towns and villages in the Alban Hills are known as the Castelli Romani, examination of deposits have dated the four most recent eruptions to two temporal peaks, around 36,000 and 39,000 years ago. The area exhibits small localised earthquake swarms, bradyseism, and release of carbon dioxide, the volcano emits large amounts of carbon dioxide which can potentially reach lethal concentrations if it accumulates in depressions in the ground in the absence of wind. Eight sheep were killed in an incident in October 2001
13.
Lazio
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Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With almost 5.9 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the second most populated region of Italy and its capital is Rome, capital and largest city of Italy. Lazio comprises an area of 17,236 km2 and it has borders with Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo and Molise to the east, Campania to the south. The region is flat and hilly, with small mountainous areas in the most eastern and southern districts. The coast of Lazio is mainly composed of beaches, punctuated by the headlands of Circeo. The Pontine Islands, which are part of Lazio, lie opposite the southern coast, behind the coastal strip, to the north, lies the Maremma Laziale, a coastal plain interrupted at Civitavecchia by the Tolfa Mountains. The central section of the region is occupied by the Roman Campagna, the southern districts are characterized by the flatlands of Agro Pontino, a once swampy and malarial area, that was reclaimed over the centuries. To the south of the Tiber, other groups form part of the Preapennines, the Alban Hills, also of volcanic origin. The highest peak is Mount Gorzano on the border with Abruzzo, see also, History of Italy The Italian word Lazio descends from the Latin word Latium. The name of the region also survives in the designation of the ancient population of Latins, Latini in the Latin language spoken by them. Although the demography of ancient Rome was multi-ethnic, including, for example, Etruscans and other Italics besides the Latini, in Roman mythology, the tribe of the Latini took their name from king Latinus. Much of Lazio is in flat or rolling. The lands originally inhabited by the Latini were extended into the territories of the Samnites, the Marsi, the Hernici, the Aequi, the Aurunci and the Volsci, all surrounding Italic tribes. This larger territory was still called Latium, but it was divided into Latium adiectum or Latium Novum, the lands or New Latium, and Latium Vetus, or Old Latium. The northern border of Lazio was the Tiber river, which divided it from Etruria, the emperor Augustus officially united almost all of present-day Italy into a single geo-political entity, Italia, dividing it into eleven regions. However, the wars against the Longobards weakened the region. With the Donation of Sutri in 728, the Bishop of Rome acquired the first territory in the region beyond the Duchy of Rome, the strengthening of the religious and ecclesiastical aristocracy led to continuous power struggles between secular lords and the Pope until the middle of the 16th century. Other popes tried to do the same, during the period when the papacy resided in Avignon, France, the feudal lords power increased due to the absence of the Pope from Rome
14.
Rocca di Papa
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Rocca di Papa is a small town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, Italy. It is one of the Castelli Romani about 25 kilometres southeast of Rome on the Alban Hills and it is close to the other communes of Velletri, Rocca Priora, Monte Compatri, Grottaferrata, Albano and Marino. It is the center of the Regional Park known as the Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani, documents from 12th century name Rocca di Papa as Castrum Rocce de Papa, because Pope Eugene III lived there. In 1541 Pier Luigi Farnese, with French troops, destroyed the castle, in 1855 the people proclaimed the Rocca di Papa Republic against prince Colonna and the Papal States government. In 1889 the Royal Geodynamic Observatory was built on the top of Rocca di Papa, between 1922 and 1935 the scientist Guglielmo Marconi carried out several experiments from this building in radio-transmission, wireless transmission and broadcasting. In 1944, during World War II, Rocca di Papa was bombed, the Center of the city was destroyed. Thirty four people died in air strike and 35 died in a second air strike on 25 May. The city was liberated from the Nazi German occupation on 4 June 1944 by the 85th Infantry Division, Papal Fortress, known since medieval times but restored in the current form during the reign of Pope Paul III. Santuario Madonna del Tufo Chiesa del Crocefisso Church of the Assunta and it is dedicated to the Assumption, and was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1806 in larger size. Fontana della Barcaccia Quartiere dei Bavaresi, built by Bavarian militiamen left here by Emperor Louis IV in 1328, convent of Palazzolo, located on top of a rock dominating the east shore of Lake Albano. The old Roman buildings was turned into monasteries and a dedicated to St Mary of Palatiolo. In the orchard of the convent is a monument of the 2nd century BC with a staircase pyramid. Currently, the Abbey and the church belong to the English College, the economy of Rocca di Papa is mostly based on tourism and agriculture, the latter dominated by wine and vine production. The Geophysical Museum shows scientific data about the inside of the Earth and it has preservation tools and scientific documents of the geology, geography and terrestrial physics of the Earth. The astronomic observatory Franco Fuligni, located in the frazione of Vivaro, is a public structure, there is the Federal Equestrian Centre of C. O. N. I. It is situated on a knoll in the center of the farm of Domatore. Since 1960, when the equipment for the events was installed for the Olympic Games, it has been the center of equestrian championships. The equipment has improved and enlarged to form an adequate spot for the preparation of the best horse-riders, offering an excellent track with every kind of difficulty
15.
Cisterna di Latina
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Cisterna di Latina is a town and comune in the province of Latina in Lazio, of central Italy. It was the scene of the Battle of Cisterna in January 1944, the Garden of Ninfa is located in the communes territory. The town, then known as Tres Tabernae is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of the towns where Saint Paul stopped on his way to Rome, at Finocchione, in the territory of Cisterna, traces of prehistoric human presence have been discovered. In historic times, the Volsci founded here their still unidentified centre called Ulubrae, Ulubrae is mentioned by Horace, Pliny the Elder, Suetonius, Cicero and Juvenal, referring to the numerous patrician villas built here. According to Suetonius, Augustus lived here in his family villa until the age of eighteen, a village, called Tres Tabernae, originated starting from 312 BC as a post station on the Via Appia, its name stemming from the presence of three taverns. The site is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as the place where St. Paul stopped during his journey to Rome, in 307, emperor Flavius Severus was assassinated here by Heraclius, by order of rival usurper Maxentius. The barbarian invasions in Italy caused further expansions of the marshes, later in the high Middle Ages, Tres Tabernae was ravaged several times by the Saracens, until it was completely destroyed in 868. The inhabitants moved to a hill nearby, which is mentioned for the first time around 1000 AD as Terra di Cisterna. An ancient cistern still exits today under the Palazzo Caetani at the top of the hill, Cisterna housed a Benedictine abbey dedicated to St. Eleutherius and was a fief of the Counts of Tusculum, who ceded it to the Frangipani in 1146. The latter reinforced it with a line of walls and a rocca, in 1159 Pope Alexander III fled here to escape emperor Frederick Barbarossa who, in retaliation, destroyed the borough, which was later rebuilt by the Frangipani. In 1328 it was besieged and ravaged by emperor Louis IV. In 1504 Pope Julius II assigned Cisterna to the Caetani and their member Bonifacio Caetani renewed the city and, after demolishing it, rebuilt the castle as a patrician palace which still exists. In the early 19th century, a reclamation project for the area was launched by Pope Pius VI. Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen stopped here in 1840, the town, after a plebiscite, changed its name into Cisterna di Roma. During World War II, Cisterna was the site of a battle between the Germans and the Allies in 1944, 96% of the citys buildings was destroyed until the area was conquered by the Allies on March 25,1944. In the 1970s it became a production center of kiwi fruits. After the abolition of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, the industrial sector gradually lost importance, gardens of Ninfa Palazzo Caetani, built in 1560-1574 by cardinal Bonifazio Caetani under design of Francesco da Volterra, above the remains of the Frangipani castle. Damaged during World War II by allied bombings, it houses frescoes by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, Federico Zuccari, a museum in the interior is dedicated to the horse and its shepherding in the area, with works by Aligi Sassu and others
16.
Artena
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Artena is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy. It is situated in the northwest of Monti Lepini, in the valley of the Sacco River. It is approximately 40 kilometres southeast by rail, and 30 kilometres direct from Rome, economy is based on agriculture, animal husbandry and tourism. The name of the village of the Volsci is uncertain. The modern village was called Monte Fortino until 1873 and it owes its present name to an unproven identification of the site with the ancient Volscian Artena, destroyed in 404 BC. Another Artena, which was an Etruscan town belonging to the district of Caere, due to the latters anti-papal stance, Artena was ravaged several times by papal armies. On the mountain 600 metres above the village are the remains of the fortifications of a city built in the 6th or 5th century BC. Within the walls are traces of buildings, and a terrace which supported some edifice of importance. This terraced settlement later was the site of a Roman villa, other sights include the Palazzo Borghese, and the churches of Santa Maria delle Letizie, Santa Croce, Santo Stefano Protomartire and San Francesco. Alcalá del Río, Spain This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
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Aprilia, Lazio
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Aprilia is a town and comune in the province of Latina, now incorporated in the conurbation of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is the town for population in the region and the tenth for its area. Aprilia is located at 80 metres above sea level, in the Agro Romano, although Aprilia is effectively part of the province of Latina, because of its strategic position at the far north of the Pontinian province, Aprilia is commonly associated to Rome. It has been considered whether Aprilia should be included in the Rome metropolitan area, in ancient times the territory of Aprilia was under the dominion of Ardea and Rome. In modern age Aprilia was founded on April 25,1936, the project of the land reclamation, wanted by Benito Mussolini, where the Duce proposed new areas for Italian citizens to live and work in not so far from the big cities. Aprilia was part of the project called 2PST by The area where the city has been built belonged to the Rome county, is the fourth in order of foundation after Littoria, Sabaudia e Pontinia. The name of the city come from the Latin Venus Aprilia - Fruitful Venus With a surface of 17,774 hectares, and an amount of 71,150 inhabitants at 31.03. In 1929, after repeated attempts, began the work of land reclamation in the area attracted a significant number of people coming from Trentino, Veneto, from Friuli. Only then took over a population that lived in a small part in the new urban center. Aprilia was a part of the reclamation Pontina including Littoria, Sabaudia, Pontinia and Pomezia. At its foundation, the Urban Center was composed of four buildings, City, post office, church, home of the beam to which were added to the Cinema Littorio. Things became critical with the advance of World War II and the beginning of the Battle of Rome, in January 1944 Aprilia called the la fabbrica, the factory by the Allies, was reduced to a pile of rubble and the population took refuge in Campania and Calabria. In the 50s Italians from North Africa Colonies who built estesissimi vineyards to produce wines with denomination of origin and this was the first step toward industrialization itself. At the end of 1951 settled in Aprilias first factory, the Simmenthal, the town changed its face and gave work to many workers. Aprilia currently engaged about one hundred plants, including major corporations. The Aprilia region is home to a large 3,700 hectare Denominazione di origine controllata DOC that is noted for its wines from varieties such as Trebbiano, Merlot, Sangiovese. Under DOC regulations, the wines must contain at least 95% of the grape variety on the wine label in order to qualify for the DOC designation. Nearly 75% of the DOC production is centered around Trebbiano. 5% alcohol by volume
18.
Nemi
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Nemi is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, in the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Nemi, a volcanic crater lake. It is 6 kilometres northwest of Velletri and about 30 kilometres southeast of Rome, the towns name derives from the Latin nemus, or holy wood. In 1514 Marcantonio I Colonna gave to Nemi the Statuti e Capituli del Castello di Nemi, possibly in connection with the cult of Diana Nemorensis, Roma emperor Caligula built several very large and costly luxury barges for use on the lake. One ship was a dedicated to ceremonies for the Egyptian Isis cult or the cult of Diana Nemorensis, designed to be towed. After Caligulas overthrow, the boats were scuttled, the ships were rediscovered during the Renaissance, when architect Leon Battista Alberti is reported to have attempted to raise the ships by roping them to buoyant barrels. While ingenious, this proved unsuccessful, because of extensive rotting. The boats were finally salvaged from 1929 to 1932 under orders of Benito Mussolini and this was just one of many attempts to relate himself to the Roman Emperors of the past. The ships were exposed by lowering the level using underground canals that were dug by the ancient Romans. The excavation was led by Guido Ucelli and was reported in Le Nave di Nemi by Guido Ucelli, surviving remnants from the excavations as well as replicas are now displayed in the Museo Nazionale Romano at the Palazzo Massimo in Rome. The ship hulls survive today at Museo delle Navi Romane, Nemi, Nemi itself is home to a few late medieval to 18th‑century churches, and the Castello Ruspoli, dominating both town and landscape, the core of which dates to the 10th century. Nemi is famous for its strawberries, which are smaller and sweeter than commercially grown varieties. Nemis strawberries are grown on the sides of the volcanic crater, Nemi conducts an annual festival of strawberries. Official website Blog of exhibition of material from Roman Sanctuary of Diana at Nemi, Nottingham museum,2013 Nemi at Nottingham Project
19.
Genzano di Roma
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Genzano di Roma is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is one of the Castelli Romani, at a distance of 29 kilometres from Rome, the origin of the name Genzano is still disputed. According to one version, the hill overlooking the Lake of Nemi on which the city is situated was once devoted to the goddess Cynthia, another version relates its origin to the Gentiani family. For others the presence on the hills, at time of the tribus or gens Cynthia originators and custodians of the cult of courage. During the Roman empire the area was inhabited by wealthy Roman citizens who wished to benefit from the cleaner air, the remains of many ancient Roman villas are to be found in the surroundings. The most impressive being the walls of the Villa of the Antonini where the later Roman emperor Antoninus Pius was born, the Herculean Sarcophagus of Genzano, currently in the British Museum was found here. In the 12th century a tower of the Gandolfi family, lord of Castel Gandolfo, in 1183 Pope Lucius III gave it to the Cistercian monks of St. Anastasius of Aquae Salviae in Rome. In 1235 they built a castle around which the town later grew. In 1378 the Popes assigned it to Giordano Orsini, the Cistercians and the Colonna alternatively ruled Genzano until 1563, when the castle was ceded for 150,000 scudos to the Massimi, from which it was bought by Giuliano Cesarini. The painter Maratti was one of the citizens who settled in Livia Sforza-Cesarinis new town, in 1873 it was decided that the name of the town should be changed to Genzano di Roma to avoid confusion within the postal service as there are two towns in Italy called Genzano. In the 19th and early 20th century it was seat of numerous peasant revolts, during World War II it suffered damage under Allied bombings. A whole street is covered with carpets of flowers and a masked parade walk on these. The event was held for the first time in 1778, each year the artists suggestions must conform to a previously agreed upon theme, such as The Colours of Michelangelo, or The Designs of Bernini. In Spring it has become traditional a mini Infiorata made by the children from the local schools. Châtillon, France Merseburg, Germany Mokotów, Poland Official website of Infiorata
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Lanuvio
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Lanuvio is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 30 kilometres southeast of Rome, on the Alban Hills. Lanuvio borders the municipalities, Aprilia, Ariccia, Genzano di Roma. In ancient times Lanuvium was an important town in the nearby of Rome, the emperors Antoninus Pius and Commodus were born here, together with the condottiero Marcantonio Colonna. It decayed after the reign of Theodosius I, and was abandoned due to the shutting down of its polytheistic sanctuaries. It is mentioned again in the 11th century, when it was a seat of a Benedictine monastery, in the early 15th century it was acquired by the Colonna family, to whom it belonged until 1564. On 17 February 1944, during World War II, it was bombed by sea and air by the Allied, and almost entirely destroyed
21.
Volsci
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The Volsci were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. Rivals of Rome for several hundred years, their territories were taken over by, strabo says that the Volsci formed a sovereign state near the site of Rome. It was placed in the Pomentine plain, between the Latins and the Pontine marshes, which took their name from the plain, the Volsci spoke Volscian, a Sabellic Italic language, which was closely related to Oscan and Umbrian, and more distantly to Latin. In the Volscian territory lay the town of Velitrae, home of the ancestors of Caesar Augustus. The Volsci were among the most dangerous enemies of ancient Rome, also, the legendary Roman warrior Gaius Marcius Coriolanus earned his cognomen after taking the Volscian town of Corioli in 493 BC. The supposed rise and fall of this hero is chronicled in Shakespeares Coriolanus, however, if Livys account of the war between Rome and Clusium is accurate, it can be seen that the relationship between Rome and the Volsci was not always hostile. Livy writes that, at the approach of the Clusian army in 508 BC, with the prospect of a siege, cicero, orator and writer, was a native of Arpinum in former Volscian territory. Camilla featured as one of the fighters in Virgils Aeneid, a Volscian Warrior Maiden, virgil says that she can outrun the wind and run over crops so lightly she never even bent them. She could run over the waves of the sea without getting her feet wet and she fights on the side of the Latins and kills many of the Trojan refugees before being killed herself by the Etruscan hero Arruns. Gaius Marius, reforming consul and general, was a native of Arpinum in former Volscian territory, Augustus Caesar spent his early life in Velitrae, where he may have been born. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
22.
Ancus Marcius
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Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth king of Rome. He was the son of Marcius, who may be identified with Numa Marcius, according to Festus, Marcius had the surname of Ancus from his crooked arm. Upon the death of the king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex. Ancus Marcius was believed by the Romans to have been the namesake of the Marcii and he waged war successfully against the Latins, and a number of them were settled on the Aventine Hill. According to Livy the war was commenced by the Latins who anticipated Ancus would follow the pious pursuit of peace adopted by his grandfather, the Latins initially made an incursion on Roman lands. When a Roman embassy sought restitution for the damage, the Latins gave a contemptuous reply, Ancus accordingly declared war on the Latins. The declaration is notable since, according to Livy, it was the first time that the Romans had declared war by means of the rites of the fetials, Ancus Marcius marched from Rome with a newly levied army and took the Latin town of Politorium by storm. Its residents were removed to settle on the Aventine Hill in Rome as new citizens, following the Roman traditions from wars with the Sabines, when the other Latins subsequently occupied the empty town of Politorium, Ancus took the town again and demolished it. The Latin villages of Tellenae and Ficana were also sacked and demolished, the war then focused on the Latin town of Medullia. The town had a garrison and was well fortified. Several engagements took place outside the town and the Romans were eventually victorious, Ancus returned to Rome with much booty. More Latins were brought to Rome as citizens and were settled at the foot of the Aventine near the Palatine Hill, by the temple of Murcia. Ancus Marcius incorporated the Janiculum into the city, fortifying it with a wall and connecting it with the city by a bridge across the Tiber. On the land side of the city he constructed the Fossa Quiritium and he also built Romes first prison, the Mamertine prison. He expanded the temple of Jupiter Feretrius to reflect these territorial successes, according to a reconstruction of the Fasti Triumphales, Ancus Marcius celebrated at least one triumph, over the Sabines and Veientes. Ancus Marcius was succeeded by Lucius Tarquinius Priscus who would later be executed by the sons of Ancus Marcius, patrician Marcius Rex -family is descended from Ancus Marcius and remained prominent during the republic and empire. Attribution Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Ancus Marcius
23.
Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
24.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
25.
City-state
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A city-state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories. A great deal of consensus exists that the term applies to Singapore, Monaco. A number of small states share similar characteristics, and therefore are sometimes also cited as modern city-states. Occasionally, other states with high population densities, such as San Marino, are also cited. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a degree of autonomy, and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong and Macau, along with independent members of the United Arab Emirates, most notably Dubai, scholars have classed the Viking colonial cities in medieval Ireland, most importantly Dublin, as city-states. In Cyprus, the Phoenician settlement of Kition was a city-state that existed from around 800 BC until the end of the 4th century BC. The success of regional units coexisting as autonomous actors in loose geographical and cultural unity, as in Italy and Greece. However, such small political entities often survived only for short periods because they lacked the resources to defend themselves against incursions by larger states, thus they inevitably gave way to larger organisations of society, including the empire and the nation-state. In the history of Mainland Southeast Asia, aristocratic groups, Buddhist leaders, the system existed until the 19th century when colonization by European powers, and Thailands resulted in the adoption of the modern concept of statehood. In the Holy Roman Empire the Free Imperial Cities enjoyed a considerable autonomy, some, like the three Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, pooled their economic relations with foreign powers and were able to wield considerable diplomatic clout. Under Habsburg rule the city of Fiume had the status of a Corpus separatum, a later city-state, though lacking sovereignty, was West Berlin, being a state legally not belonging to any other state, but ruled by the Western Allies. They allowed – notwithstanding their overlordship as occupant powers – its internal organisation as one state simultaneously being a city, though West Berlin maintained close ties to the West German Federal Republic of Germany, it was legally never part of it. But the idea of leaving the United States proved too radical even in the turmoil of 1861 and was poorly received, the war, and especially conscription, was nevertheless often unpopular in the city, sparking the deadly New York Draft Riots. The neighboring City of Brooklyn, in contrast, was staunchly Unionist, the Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and nearly 200 towns in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920 under the terms of Article 100 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I. Its territory of 28 km2 comprised the city of Fiume and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to Italy, the Shanghai International Settlement was an international zone with its own legal system, postal service, and currency. The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors
26.
Battle of Anzio
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The operation was opposed by German forces in the area of Anzio and Nettuno. Any delay could result in the occupation of the mountains by the defenders, Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, commander of the U. S. Fifth Army, understood that risk, but Clark did not pass on his appreciation of the situation to his subordinate, Lucas, the initial landing achieved complete surprise with no opposition and a jeep patrol even made it as far as the outskirts of Rome. While Lucas consolidated, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the German commander in the Italian theatre and his artillery units had a clear view of every Allied position. The Germans also stopped the pumps and flooded the reclaimed marsh with salt water, planning to entrap the Allies. For weeks a rain of shells fell on the beach, the marsh, the harbour, after a month of heavy but inconclusive fighting, Lucas was relieved and sent home. His replacement was Major General Lucian K. Truscott, who had commanded the U. S. 3rd Infantry Division. The Allies broke out in May, at the end of 1943, following the Allied invasion of Italy, Allied forces were bogged down at the Gustav Line, a defensive line across Italy south of the strategic objective of Rome. The terrain of central Italy had proved ideally suited to defense, Operation Shingle was originally conceived by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in December 1943, as he lay recovering from pneumonia in Marrakesh. His concept was to two divisions at Anzio, bypassing German forces in central Italy, and take Rome, the strategic objective of the current Battle of Rome. By January he had recovered and was badgering his commanders for a plan of attack, accusing them of not wanting to fight but of being interested only in drawing pay and eating rations. General Harold Alexander, commander of the Allied Armies in Italy, had considered such a plan since October using five divisions. However, the 5th Army did not have the troops nor the means to transport them, Clark proposed landing a reinforced division to divert German troops from Monte Cassino. This second landing, however, instead of failing similarly, would hold the shingle for a week in expectation of a breakthrough at Cassino, the Anzio beachhead is at the northwestern end of a tract of reclaimed marshland, formerly the Pontine Marshes, now the Pontine Fields. Previously uninhabitable due to mosquitoes carrying malaria, in Roman times armies marched as quickly as possible across it on the military road, the Via Appia. The marsh was bounded on one side by the sea and on others by mountains, the Monti Albani, the Monti Lepini, overall these mountains are referenced by the name Monti Laziali, the mountains of Lazio, the ancient Latium. Invading armies from the south had the choice of crossing the marsh or taking the other road to Rome. The marshes were turned into land in the 1930s under Benito Mussolini
27.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
28.
Pope Pius IX
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Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope from 16 June 1846 to his death in 1878. He was the elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church. During his pontificate Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council, which decreed papal infallibility and he was also the last pope to rule as the Sovereign of the Papal States, which fell completely to the Italian Army in 1870 and were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. After this, he was referred to—chiefly by himself—as the Prisoner of the Vatican, after his death in 1878, his canonization process was opened on 11 February 1907 by Pope Pius X and it drew considerable controversy over the years. It was closed on several occasions during the pontificates of Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XII re-opened the cause on 7 December 1954, and Pope John Paul II proclaimed him Venerable on 6 July 1985. Together with Pope John XXIII, he was beatified on 3 September 2000 after the recognition of a miracle, Pius IX was assigned the liturgical feast day of February 7, the date of his death. Europe, including the Italian peninsula, was in the midst of political ferment when the bishop of Spoleto. He took the name Pius, after his generous patron and the prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through the 1850s and 1860s, Italian nationalists made military gains against the Papal States, however, concordats were concluded with numerous states such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Tuscany, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti. Many contemporary Church historians and journalists question his approaches, in his Syllabus of Errors, still highly controversial, Pius IX condemned the heresies of secular society, especially modernism. He was a Marian pope, who in his encyclical Ubi primum described Mary as a Mediatrix of salvation, in 1854, he promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, articulating a long-held Catholic belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. In 1862, he convened 300 bishops to the Vatican for the canonization of Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan and his most important legacy is the First Vatican Council, which convened in 1869. The council is considered to have contributed to a centralization of the Church in the Vatican, Pius IX was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His Feast Day is 7 February, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on May 13,1792. He was educated at the Piarist College in Volterra and in Rome, as a theology student in his hometown Sinigaglia, in 1814 he met Pope Pius VII, who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the Papal Noble Guard but was dismissed after an epileptic seizure. He threw himself at the feet of Pius VII, who elevated him, the pope originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai during Holy Mass, a stipulation that was later rescinded, after the seizure attacks became less frequent. Mastai was ordained priest on April 10,1819 and he initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome
29.
Pontine Marshes
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The northwestern border runs approximately from the mouth of the river Astura along the river and from its upper reaches to Cori in the Monti Lepini. The former marsh is a low tract of agricultural land created by draining and filling. The area amounts to about 80,000 ha, the Via Appia, a Roman military road constructed in 312 BC, crosses the inland side of the former marsh in a long, straight stretch flanked by trees. Before then, travelers had to use the Via Latina along the flanks of the mountains and it was part of ancient Latium adiectum and still belongs to Lazio. Bordered by the Aurunci Mountains, this land is reclaimed, as well. Leaving Terracina, the Via Appia crosses it, as well, the marsh was an extensive alluvial plain at about sea level created by the failure of the streams draining the mountains to find clearly defined outlets to the sea through the barrier dunes. Above sea level, it was a swamp, below, it was mud flats. Sparsely inhabited throughout much of their history, the Pontine Marshes were the subject of land reclamation work performed periodically. The tribe of the Volsci began with minor draining projects in the vicinity of Tarracina in connection with their occupation of it in the pre-Roman period, the road proved difficult to keep above water. Under Augustus, a compromise was reached with the construction of a parallel canal, the part of the marsh above sea level was successfully drained by channels, and new agricultural land of legendary fertility came into being. Whenever the channels were not maintained, the swamp reappeared, meanwhile, frequent epidemics of malaria at Rome and elsewhere kept the reclamation issue alive. Under Benito Mussolinis regime in the 1930s, the problem was solved by placing dikes. It continues to need constant maintenance, Italian confidence in the project was so high, the city placed by Mussolini in 1932 in the center of the marsh, Latina, became the capital of a new province, Latina. The marsh itself was located in Latium Novum, the part of the region. The two terms create some confusion in the literature, as the region was heavily settled. The underlying land form is a horst–graben, in expansion of the crust causes a section to drop. Underneath the marsh is such a valley, while the steeply sided Volscian Mountains, the graben was formed over a period approximated by the end of the Pliocene about 2.588 million years ago. The natural outcome of this topography was the creation of outer barrier islands
30.
Pope Pius VI
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Pope Pius VI, born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, reigned as Pope from 15 February 1775 to his death in 1799. Pius VI condemned the French Revolution and the suppression of the Gallican Church that resulted from it, French troops commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the papal troops and occupied the Papal States in 1796. In 1798, upon his refusal to renounce his power, Pius was taken prisoner. He died one year later in Valence and his reign is the fourth-longest in papal history, being over two decades. P. M. graven in all parts of the city, the portrait in the box is one of numerous studio copies of the official portrait by Pompeo Batoni. Pius VIs pontificate was a tumultuous and rough one with the onset of the French Revolution, in the beginning of his Pontificate, Pius succeeded in silencing a group of followers of Jansenism with his bull Auctorem Fidei, which reaffirmed the Churchs stance at the topics at hand. Pius VI also saw the growth of Catholicism in the United States of America, therefore erecting the first American archepiscopal see, the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Pius VI also attempted the daring job of draining the Pontine Marshes, which he did with success, but did successfully drain the marshes near Citta della Pieve, Perugia. Pius VI also deepened and expanded the harbors of Terracina and Porto dAnizo, Pius was a great patron of the arts and humanities, for he completed the Pio-Clementine Museum and added a new sacristy to St. Peters Basilica. Pius VI also restored the famous Roman Appian Way, Giovanni Angelo Braschi was born in Cesena on Christmas in 1717 as the eldest of eight children to Count Marco Aurelio Tommaso Braschi and Ana Teresa Bandi. His siblings were Felice Silvestro, Giulia Francesca, Cornelio Francesco, Maria Olimpia, Anna Maria Costanza, Giuseppe Luigi and he was baptized in Cesena on the following 27 December and was given the baptismal name of Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio. After he completed his studies in the Jesuit college of Cesena and it was there that he became the private secretary of Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo, papal legate, in whose bishopric of Ostia and Velletri he held the post of auditor until 1753. Cardinal Ruffo took him as his conclavist at the 1740 papal conclave and his skill in the conduct of a mission to the court of Naples won him the esteem of Pope Benedict XIV who appointed him as one of his secretaries in 1753 following the death of Cardinal Ruffo. The pope also appointed him as a canon of St Peters Basilica in 1755, in 1758, putting an end to an engagement to be married he was ordained to the priesthood. Braschi was also appointed as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura in 1758 and he also became the auditor and secretary of Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico, the nephew of Pope Clement XIII. In 1766, he was appointed as the treasurer of the camera apostolica by Pope Clement XIII and those who suffered under his conscientious economics had managed to convince Pope Clement XIV to elevate him into the cardinalate. Braschi was elevated on 26 April 1773 in Rome as the Cardinal-Priest of SantOnofrio and this was a promotion which rendered him innocuous for a brief period of time. Pope Clement XIV died in 1774 and this triggered a conclave to choose a successor, spain, France and Portugal dropped all objections to the election of Braschi who was one of the more moderate opponents of the anti-Jesuit stance of the late pope
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Benito Mussolini
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Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy, known as Il Duce, Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism. In 1912 Mussolini was the member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support for the stance on neutrality in World War I. He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917, Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014, within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943, a few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy, he held this post until his death in 1945. Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942, however, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France and the United Kingdom and starting World War II. In the summer of 1941 Mussolini sent Italian forces to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and war with the United States followed in December. On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, on 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north and his body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a town in the province of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883. During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed Duces town, pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace of Mussolini. His father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a Socialist, while his mother, Benito was the eldest of his parents three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed, as a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy. His fathers political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, in 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldis death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptized at birth, as a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, in 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military service
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Paleosol
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In the geosciences, paleosol can have two meanings. In soil science, paleosols are soils formed long ago that have no relationship in their chemical and physical characteristics to the present-day climate or vegetation. Such soils form on extremely old continental cratons and as small scattered localities in outliers of ancient rock, in other parts of Australia, and in many parts of Africa, drying out of former soils has not been so severe. This has led to areas of relict podsols in quite dry climates in the far southern inland of Australia. Paleosols in this sense are always exceedingly infertile soils, containing available phosphorus levels orders of magnitude lower than in regions with younger soils. Ecological studies have shown that this has forced highly specialised evolution amongst Australian flora to obtain minimal nutrient supplies, the fact that soil formation is simply not occurring makes ecologically sustainable management even more difficult. However, paleosols often contain the most exceptional biodiversity due to the absence of competition, paleosols record certain aspects of the climate in which they formed. Quaternary paleosols in particular have been used to determine past environmental conditions, such as paleo-precipitation. Paleosols are an important archive of information about ancient ecosystems and various components of fossil soils can be used to study past plant life, paleosols often contain ancient plant materials such as pollen grains and phytoliths, a biomineralized form of silica produced by many plants such as grasses. Both pollen and phytolith fossils from different plant species have characteristic shapes that can be traced back to their parent plants, over long geological time scales, phytoliths may not necessarily be preserved in paleosols due to ability of the poorly crystalline silica to dissolve. Another indicator of plant community composition in paleosols is the isotopic signature. Other methods for detecting past plant life in paleosols are based on identifying the remains of leaf waxes, which are slow to break down in soils over time
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Leucite
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Goniometric measurements made by Gerhard vom Rath in 1873 led him to refer the crystals to the tetragonal system. This pseudo-cubic character of leucite is very similar to that of the mineral boracite, the crystals are white or ash-grey in colour, hence the name suggested by A. G. Werner in 1701, from λευκος, white. The Mohs hardness is 5.5, and the specific gravity 2.47, inclusions of other minerals, arranged in concentric zones, are frequently present in the crystals. On account of the color and form of the crystals the mineral was known as white garnet. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
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Tyrrhenian Sea
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The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
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Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
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Athena of Velletri
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The Athena of Velletri or Velletri Pallas is a type of classical marble statue of Athena, wearing a helmet. All statues of this type are 1st century Roman copies of a lost Greek bronze, the oval face and the sharpness of the eyebrow ridge, nose and eyes mirror those of the bust of the helmeted Pericles at British Museum. That bust is identified with the statue of Pericles that Pliny the Elder attributes to Kresilas and this parallel gives us a date and author for this bronze Athena. This replaces an old identification of the original with the cult statue by Alcamenes in the Temple of Hephaestus on the Athenian agora. This identification is also unlikely judging by the extreme height. Plaster casts of the sculpture have been found in excavations of a Roman copyists workshop at Baiae, and these casts show that Kresilass bronze was of the same dimensions as the Louvre copy. Many ancient copies of the bronze have been found, but the most famous is the 3.05 m high example found in the ruins of a Roman villa in a vineyard near Velletri in 1797. This example is now in the Louvre, with Accession number is Ma 464 and it has traces of red colour in the hair and around the eyes and mouth, a preparatory layer for a full polychromatic scheme. France then regained it in the Treaty of Florence, and it was displayed at the Louvre from December 1803 onwards, 3D model of Athena of Velletri via photogrammetric survey of a plaster cast of the Munich Glyptotheks bust Louvre catalogue entry
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