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I T A L Yi 



Statiitio. ami advantageous situation c,t the country. Silk, wool, 

 s V**' and coiton arc the principal articles which occupy its 

 manufacturing population ; but a greater proportion of 

 these commodities are exported in the raw state, tlmn 

 . ,. k wrought up at home. The former may be considered 

 aa the staple of Italy ; and m.tny of its poor find regular 

 employment in the care of the silk-worm, and the cul- 

 ture of the mullwrry tree, on which it feeds. The Tus- 

 cans manage their .silk- worms so as to have two hatch- 

 ings in a year ; but, in Calabria, though with a more 

 propitious 'climate, they are less successful. Even in 

 this latter district, they find it necessary to rear the 

 worms in houses of a particular construction. The win- 

 dows are long, but only about six inches wide, which 

 prevents too gre.it a quantity of air from being admitted 

 at a time ; and when the eggs are on the point of being 

 hatched, these openings Are entirely shut, and a mo- 

 derate fire kept up in the rooms. As soon as the insects 

 come out of the shell, they are placed on beds of reeds, 

 and there fed with the leaves of the red mulberry, 

 which the Calabrese prefer to the white, so generally 

 employed in China, Piedmont, and Languedoc ; and 

 which], they imagine, (apparently without reason,) to 

 produce a more compact, heavy silk. In case of a blight 

 among the mulberries, various leaves have been tried 

 as a succedaneum, and the tops of brambles been found 

 to answer the purpose best. The silk houses in the 

 south are usually the property of the more wealthy 

 inhabitants, who furnish rooms, leaves, eggs, and every 

 necessary implement, for which they take two-thirds of 

 the profit, leaving the other third for the attendants. 

 A succession of eggs from different places is found ne- 

 cessary to renew the breed, and preserve the good qua- 

 lity of the silk. The pods are carried to public caldrons, 

 where a duty is paid for boiling and winding ; and as 

 the winders work by the pound, they perform their 

 task in a slovenly careless manner. In the Neapolitan 

 territories, excise duties are extremely heavy on this 

 article. Every mulberry tree pays a tax of two carlini, 

 (about nine-pence Sterling,) per annum. As soon as 

 the silk is drawn, while the article is still wet and heavy, 

 forty-two grano, (about Is. 6d. Sterling,) are exacted for 

 every pound, and even the refuse and unprofitable pods 

 are forced to pay one grana, (nearly a halfpenny,) per 

 pound. Great duties are also laid upon the exportation 

 of the raw material, so that the poor merchants are com- 

 pelled to smuggle for a livelihood. Yet, with all these 

 exactions and oppressions, about 800,000 pounds weight 

 are annually produced in the kingdom Naples, of which 

 ore half is supposed to be worked at home, and the 

 other half exported in the raw state. The best silks in 

 the whole of the Italian districts, and, perhaps, in the 

 world, are said to be those of Mondovi, Dronero, and 

 Cavaglio, near Coni, and of the little tract of Fossom- 

 brona in the duchy of Urbino. The most curious 

 silk manufacture in Italy is that which is made from the 

 tuft of the pinna marina, which is called in its crude 

 state, lana-penna, but is cleansed from its impurities 

 by washing in soap and water, drying and rubbing with 

 the hands. It is then passed through combs of bone ; 

 and afterwards, for finer purposes, through iron combs, 

 or cards, so that a pound of the coarse filaments is us- 

 ually reduced to about three ounces of fine thread. 

 When mixed with about one-third of real silk, it is 

 spun on the distaff, and knit into gloves, caps, stock- 

 ings, vests, &c. forming a stuff of a beautiful brownish 

 yellow colour, (resembling the burnished golden hue 

 on the back of certain flies and beetles,) but very liable 

 to be moth-eaten, and requiring to be wrapped in fine 



linen. A pair of gloves costs on the spot about six Statistic. 

 shillings, and a pair of stockings eleven ; but its saie is ""^V^^ 

 not very extensive, and the manufacture is "peculiar to 

 Taranto. 



Wool is exported chiefly in the raw material ; and the Of wool, 

 provinces of' Italy, particularly those of the south, with 

 every advantage for the manufacture of broad cloths, 

 depend almost entirely on the foreign market for most 

 woollen stuffs. Formerly, the woollen manufactures of 

 Padua were in a very flourishing state ; and its cloths 

 are still esteemed the best in Italy. Manufactures of 

 woollens have been recently established at Rome ; and 

 that named St. Michael is famous for its fine cloths, 

 but are all undersold by the English articles. The Of cotton, 

 cotton is also exported in great quantities ; but, in seve- 

 ral provinces, especially that of Otranto, is manufactured 

 into a, variety of valuable commodities. In Gallipoli, 

 muslins of all kinds; and cotton stockings, are made 

 in considerable quantities; and at Nardo and Galatona, 

 in its vicinity, are wrought those famous cotton cover- 

 lets which are exported to all parts of the world, and 

 bring in a considerable revenue to the crown. At Ta- 

 ranto and Francavilla, a sort of Manchester, not so fine, 

 but more durable than the English, is produced, and 

 also a peculiar kind of cloth, called pelk di diavulo, 

 with several other articles ; but the former of these 

 towns is chiefly celebrated for the extraordinary beauty 

 and fineness of the cotton stockings which are made by 

 its inhabitants, some of which cost on the spot not less 

 than a guinea a pair. 



A singular manufacture of thread from the leaves of Of aloe 

 the aloe, which was introduced by the Spanish soldiers thread, 

 who served in Sicily when that island was subject to 

 the crown of Spain, is still prepared in the south of 

 Italy. The white, smooth, and tender leaves which 

 cover the stem, after being soaked in running water 

 eight or ten days, and then bruised by beating between 

 two stones, are stretched upon a table, and scraped with 

 a blunt, smooth iron, to remove the coarser fibres, leav- 

 ing the fine yellow filaments, which are again soaked, 

 washed, and beaten, to soften and whiten them, and 

 then made into nets, night caps, handkerchiefs, &c. 

 which, with a little improvement in the preparation of 

 the thread and dyeing of the stuffs, might be rendered 

 at once a cheap and valuable article of clothing. 



At Teramo, in Abruzzo Ultra, is a manufacture of Of pottery 

 pottery-ware, remarkably hard and fine, for which there n .d 

 is a considerable demand in Germany by the way of Iault 

 Trieste ; and the porcelain made at Naples and Milan 

 may vie with any in the world as to elegance of form, 

 and beauty of design. The mosaic manufactory at Rome 

 and that of tortoise-shell and musical strings at Naples, 

 may also be noticed as both of them distinguished for 

 their superiority. The king of Spain attempted to in. 

 troduce a variety of manufactures into the. Neapolitan 

 territories ; but all those branches, which required nicety 

 and patience, entirely failed. A manufactory of fire-arms 

 in the vicinity of the capital, succeeded beyond all 

 others ; and the Italian artificers speedily equalled, in 

 this handicraft, the skill of their German instructors. 

 Naples excels also in works of embroidery, in confec- 

 tions, and liqueurs. The velvets and damasks of Genoa 

 and Venice still preserve their ancient reputation ; and 

 rich silk stuffs are manufactured to a considerable ex- 

 tent in Lucca, Florence, and Milan. There are manu- 

 factures of hats in the Ecclesiastical territory, where 

 they possess a remarkable fine black dye for the pur- 

 pose ; and at Civita Vecchia are several establishments 

 by the government, for making sail cloth, cordage, and 



