A Word About Land Use in Italy
The westward course of civilization has left its marks in Italy. We found at
Paestum,
south of Naples, one of the best 13 reserved Greek temples, located on the coastal plain
near the sea. Here, there was no overwash of erosional material or accumulation of dust
from wind erosion and no gully erosion in the plain. We walked on the same level as the
Greeks who built the temple 2,600 years ago. But population pressure in Italy, under
its smiling climate and blue skies, has pushed the cultivation line up the slopes and
caused the building of villages on picturesque ridge points. In Italy there are 826
persons per square mile of cultivated land, while in the United States there are only 208.
This method of comparing population density gives us the advantage because of our vast
grazing lands that support great herds of livestock. But if we had the same density of
population per square mile of cultivated land in the United States as has Italy, we should
have 520 million people. This gives us some idea of the relative densities and pressures
of population upon the land and accounts for the intensive use not only of the plains but
of the steep slopes.
We do not have space to tell the details of how the Pontine Marshes, that for 2,000
years defied the reclamation efforts of former rulers of Italy, were successfully
reclaimed recently. This former pestilential area has been drained and rid of malaria and
is now divided into farms equipped with reinforced concrete houses Of attractive design,
where families are established free from perils of malaria and safe in the security of
their land.
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