PIAZZA 



6138 



PICARESQUE 



Early on Oct. 27 Italian and Brit- 

 ish infantry attacked on the line 

 extending from above the Montello 

 to below the Grave di Papadopoli, 

 in the Middle Piave area. 



The Italian eighth and twelfth 

 armies simultaneously attacked N. 

 'of the Montello, crossed the Piave, 

 and broke into the Austrian front 

 lines on Oct. 27, and next day had 

 captured and consolidated an ex- 

 tensive bridgehead over against 

 the Montello. On Oct. 28 the 

 Italians had gained possession of 

 Valdobbiadene, S. Pietro di Bar- 

 bozza, Farra di Soligo, Pieve di 

 Soligo, Collalto, Refrontolo, Fon- 

 tanelle, all N. of the Montello, 

 and Mareno di Piave, somewhat E. 

 of it, and 4 m. N. of the river. The 

 capture of Refrontolo, N.W. of 

 Conegliano, marked a five miles' 

 advance. The Italians pursued the 

 retreating enemy, and were in Cone- 

 gliano on the morning of Oct. 29. 



Meanwhile, the tenth army had 

 been no less successful. At 6.45 

 a.m. on Oct. 27 Cavan attacked 

 from the Grave di Papadopoli, and 

 reached the E. bank of the Piave, 

 gaining and consolidating a large 

 bridgehead, and taking several 

 villages. The attack was pressed 

 next day, and his patrols ranged 

 up to the Monticano. This ad- 

 vance materially contributed to 

 that of the eighth army, as it 

 weakened the hold of the enemy 

 on the high ground about Suse- 

 gana, and permitted the right 

 wing of that army to cross the 

 Piave at Nervesa. On Oct. 29 

 Cavan's whole forces were on the 

 line of the Monticano from Fon- 

 tanelle to Ramero, S.E. of Cone- 

 gliano. Higher up, on the extreme 

 left, troops of the twelfth army, 

 fighting astride the Piave, carried 

 the greater part of Monte Cesen, 

 3 m. N. of Valdobbiadene. 



Crossing of the Lower Piave 



About the same time the eighth 

 army occupied the defile of Fol- 

 lina and reached Vittorio, seven 

 miles N.E. of Conegliano. On that 

 day, too, the third army, which 

 held the front from the right of 

 the tenth army down to the Ad- 

 riatic, forced a crossing of the 

 Lower Piave at Zenson and at 

 S. Dona di Piave. The Austrian 

 losses were serious, upwards of 

 30,000 in prisoners alone, and 

 several hundred guns. 



On Oct. 30 the Italians con- 

 tinued their advance in the Piave 

 area. The twelfth army com- 

 pleted its conquest of the Cesen 

 massif, and the eighth army was 

 nearing Pordenone. Cavan had 

 entered Oderzo, and had got to the 

 Livenza, while Italian cavalry 

 were advancing on the plain. The 

 third army was fighting its way 



from the Lower Piave to the Mon- 

 ticano, where the Austrians made 

 a great effort to hold it, but in 

 vain. Over the whole front they 

 had lost 50,000 in prisoners, 

 12,000 of whom had been taken 

 by the tenth army. 



Next day the twelfth army was 

 beyond Quero, and the eighth 

 army was marching on Belluno, 

 which was occupied on Nov. 2 ; 

 the tenth army was on its way to 

 the Tagliamento, and the third 

 army was on the line of the Li- 

 venza. On Nov. 1-2 the Italians 

 pressed their advance to the Taglia- 

 mento. Pordenone fell on Nov. 1 ; 

 the Tagliamento was crossed by 

 the Italians next day, and reached 

 by the British of the tenth army 

 on Nov. 3. In the meantime, the 

 Austrians had been seeking an 

 armistice, which was granted by 

 the Allies, and at 3 p.m. on Nov. 4 

 operations ceased on the whole 

 Italian front. 



Piazza (Lat. platea, broad 

 space). Italian word for a square 

 or open space, surrounded by 

 buildings. The most famous is the 

 piazza of S. Mark at Venice. Some 

 of these squares were surrounded 

 by an arcade, and the word is 

 sometimes used, therefore, for an 

 arcaded walk. See Venice. 



Piazza Arxnerina. City of 

 Sicily, in the prov. of Caltanissetta. 

 On a mountain slope, alt. 2,360 ft., 

 15 m. E.S.E. of Caltanissetta, it 

 has a ,16th century cathedral with 

 a fine belfry, and remains of the 

 Norman period. The inhabitants 

 of Piazza, which was founded in 

 the llth century, still speak a 

 Lombard dialect. There is a trade 

 in oil, wine, and nuts. Pop. 25,000. 



Piazzi, GIUSEPPE (1746-1826). 

 Italian astronomer. Born at 

 Ponte in the Val Tellina, July 16, 

 1746, he became professor of 

 mathematics at Palermo, 1781, 

 and established there an astro- 

 nomical observatory. After publish- 

 ing in 1792 a number of corrections 

 of previous estimates of the aberra- 

 tion of light, the parallax of cer- 

 tain heavenly bodies, etc., on 

 Jan. 1, 1801, he discovered the 

 first asteroid (q.v.), Ceres. For his 

 two catalogues of fixed stars, in 

 1803 and 1804, he received recog- 

 nition by the French Institute. He 

 was appointed director of the 

 government observatory at Naplo 

 in 1817. He died July 22, 1826. 



Pibcorn (Gael, jriob, pipe ; corn, 

 horn) OE HORNPIPE. Ancient reed 

 instrument mainly in use among 

 Celtic peoples. It probably gave 

 its name to the familiar dance now 

 associated with sailors. 



Pibroch (Gael, piobaireachd, 

 art of piping). Music of the Scot- 

 tish Highlands, suitable for the 



bagpipes. In form it is of the 

 variation type, an air being given 

 out and then varied by ornamental 

 treatment of all kinds. The varia- 

 tions usually increase in elabora- 

 tion, sometimes alternating with 

 a slow version. Many pibrochs 

 bear the names of famous pipers or 

 their chieftains, or of legendary 

 stories or events of history. See 

 Bagpipe. Prow, pee-brokh. 



Pica. Printing type. Also 

 known as 12-point, it is a size 

 larger than small pica, a size 

 smaller than English, and the 

 largest ordinary size of book type ; 

 six lines make an inch in depth. 



(This line is in pica) 



Used as a standard unit of mea- 

 surement, and also for the point 

 system, it is called Le Cicero in 

 French and Cicero in German, the 

 Epistles of the Latin writer of that 

 name having been first printed in 

 type of this size. The Dutch call 

 it Mediaan. See Printing. 



Picardy. One of the provs. into 

 which France was divided before 

 the Revolution. It lay between 

 Normandy, lie de France, Cham- 

 pagne, Hainault, and Artois, and 

 had a frontier on the English 

 Channel. Through it ran the rivers 

 Somme and Oise, and it was 

 divided into N. Picardy and S. 

 Picardy. In it were the cities of 

 Amiens, Laon, Beauvais, Senlis, 

 Soissons and Noyon ; also Boulogne 

 and St Quentin. The name 

 Picardy appeared about 1300, but 

 much earlier the district had been 

 a possession of the kings of France. 

 Part of it was handed over to the 

 duke of Burgundy in 1435, but this 

 was recovered by the French king in 

 1477. It was long a very prosper- 

 ous district a French East Anglia, 

 while the Picard also had a repu- 

 tation as a fighting man. To-day 

 Picardy is represented by the 

 departments of Somme, and parts 

 of those of Pas-de-Calais, Aisne, 

 and Oise, in all of which much 

 fighting took place in the Great 

 War. See Amiens. 



Picaresque Novel. Type of 

 story dealing with the lives and 

 doings of rogues and adventurers. 

 The adjective is derived from the 

 Spanish word picaron, Eng. pic- 

 aroon, a cheat, an adventurer, or 

 one who lives by his wits. Due to 

 reaction against the degenerate 

 romance of chivalry, the type 

 originated about 1550 with the 

 anonymous Spanish Life of Lazar- 

 illo de Tonnes, the realistic de- 

 scription of the career of a young 

 beggar. It was followed by M. 

 Aleman's Guzman de Alfarache, 

 1599, and by many similar novels 

 in Spain and other countries. 



