Famous Italian Fever Marshes To Be Reclaimed

Matamata Record, Volume XVII, Issue 1546, 26 July 1934, Page 7

Famous Italian Fever Marshes To Be Reclaimed

rjpHE Pontine Marshes, renowned through history as a breeder of malaria, are being reclaimed in one of Italy's major engineering pro- '■ jects. Vast areas of fertile land only . 30 miles from densely-populated Rome will be thrown open to colonisation as boon as roads and rural centres can be built in the newly-drained sections. The land will be sold on easy terms in 'an effort to make the project pay for [itself. . “While the Pontine Marshes lie with--lin easy distance of the capital of Italy, land are crossed by the Appian Way, [one of the world’s most famous roads, jthe region has remained one of the , [Strangest and least-known corners of [ltaly,” says a bulletin from the National Geographical Society. *"■ “The Via Appia (Appian Way), [built by Appius Claudius about 300 ;years 8.C., starts from Porta San Sebastino, the southern gate of Rome, <and leads toward Naples. For the first y •€5 miles it runs as straight asa taut [String, until it reaches the town of Terracina, where it passes under the ‘Cliff of Monte Sant’ Angelo that over* • [bangs the sea. "When you leave the Eternal City '.on this classic road you pass at first '{along a wonderful array of old Roman sepulchral monuments; then you climb »up the Alban Hills, extinct volcanoes [of prehistoric times, and from there 'you gradually descend upon a great :j>lain, some 30 miles from Rome, known to history as the Pontine Marshes. “On the left as you travel toward ”Terracina, are the .oliye-covered Lei.pine Mountains, of gray limestone,; ■that at sunset are veiled by that beautiful purple haze one sees often reproduced on the background, of the jearly Renaissance 'To th«' right is-the; Tyrrhenian Sea, along ithe /- border of I which runs ;a la*ge sand ' dune covered by an oak forest some {3O miles in length. Between the dune and the sea is a series of lagoons. -"At the extreme end a solitary mountain rises, to all appearances from the -sea. It is Mount Circeo, the cornerstone of the Pontine Marshes,; This [mount was an island in bygone ages, fas geoligists have proved, and Homer, >eight centuries before Christ, speaks jof it in the ‘Odyssey- as an island, tthough probably it had already ceased .jin be in hi* day, - - - • A®

“The large quadrangle formed by the foothills of the Alban volcanoes, by the Leplne Mountains, by the wooded sand dunes of. the coast and by Mount Circeo, measuring some 150,000 acres,of extraordinarily fertile land, embraces the entire area of the Pontine Marshes. The water, hemmed In on all sides, could not flow out.

“In winter the mountain streams poured their foaming, muddy torrents upon this lowland, flooding, thousands j of acres; the rich mud slowly settled, coating the fields with a silt which Is j the finest of fertilizers; then the waters j gradually ran out through narrow, channels until, in summer, only the lowest portion of the land, that which lies practically at sea level, remained 1q a ewampy condition. “A dense luxuriant growth of water, i plants sprang up with the approach of | the warmer seasons; the stagnant, lukewarm waters teemed with life of every description, and toward the month of July the treacherous Ano-1 pheles mosquito dropped its filmy larval veil, rose out of the marshes, and, flying around in search of a living for itself, sowed death upon humanity. “By stinging a., malarial-infected person the mosquito infects itself, and then, stinging some healthy individual,' it communicates the disease to him. Malaria is not deadly in itself, but its repeated attacks so weaken the human organism that frequently fatal illnesses take hold of the fever-stricken body. “The inundations in winter and the malaria in summer drove the population out of-the plain; but the unparalleled fertility of the soil enticed some people<-back tcdefy the disease. The lowlands of-the Agro Pontino are deserted; there are n» cities-or villages;' but Homer lonely hamlets and, scattered here and there, farm buildings; in which only a few persons live, in summer. I

“Many centuries ago most of the in-j habitants fled to the-;mountains, built their towns on some steep hills, and J from these vantage points made! dashes into the plain t 6 work the fields’ and tend the - cattle; Soon these, people will ,be able to take up perma- 1 , nent homes in reclaimed areas of the' former marshes.” ' '7