in Italian Toscana, a part of ancient Etruria, is a division of Central Italy, extending in N. Lat. from 42° 22' to 44° 31' 10', and in E. Long. from 9° 32' 25' to 11° 4' 31'. Formerly it was an independent state, called the Gran Ducato di Toscana, under a junior branch of the house of Lorraine, but in August 1859 was annexed to Sardinia. Including its dependencies, the islands of Gorgona, Elba, Pianosa, Formica, Montecristo, Giglio, and Gianutri, and the former duchy of Lucca, which was united to it in 1847, Tuscany has an area of 6440 geographical square miles, and a population, in August 1859, of 1,806,940 inhabitants. It is bounded on the N.W. by the former duchies of Modena and Parma, and on the N. and N.E. by the former papal legations of Romagna, all at present annexed to Sardinia; on the E., S.E., and S. by the delegations of Urbino, Perugia, Orvieto, and Viterbo, and on the S.W. and W. by the Mediterranean Sea. Events are now happening (Sept. 1860) which eventually may give Tuscany no other boundaries but the other possessions of Sardinia and the sea.
The form of Tuscany is nearly that of a scalene triangle, whose longest side is the seashore, which, from the Papal frontier to the Modenese territory, extends 112 miles in a straight line, and with its sinuosities more than 177 miles. The surface of the country is much diversified, and abounds in picturesque beauty. The main chain of the Apennines in its progress southwards traverses Tuscany from north-west to south-east, and forms on its northern and northeastern frontier a very mountainous tract of country, in which the lofty mass of Mount Falterona attains an elevation of 5648 feet above the level of the sea. Several ranges branch off from the main chain, which, taking chiefly a western or south-western direction, and diminishing in height as they approach the sea, spread with their numerous branches and ramifications over the greatest part of the country, and divide it into so many valleys, each forming the basin of a more or less important stream. Hence the best local geographers are in the habit of dividing Tuscany into valleys, each of them named by the stream that waters it. The most considerable of these ranges, some of which are scarcely inferior in elevation and size to the main chain itself, are, proceeding from southwest to south-east—The Alpi Apuane, a lofty group which branches off west of Pontremoli, divides the valley of the Macra from that of the Serchio, forms the mountainous districts of Massa Carrara, and Serravezza, well known for their extensive marble quarries, and between Pietrasanta and Serravezza comes down with its last spurs close to the shore. Only one portion of this range is within the Tuscan frontier. From the great group of Mount Cimone, on the Modenese territory, another range descends southwards, and, soon after entering Tuscany, divides in two branches, of which the south-western, forming the hilly district of the Baths of Lucca, separates the basin of Lucrezia from that of Pistoia, and sends down its last ramifications to the banks of the Arno, between Florence and Pisa. The south-eastern branch forms the hilly district of the Mugello, and separates the basin of Pistoia and the valley of the Ombrone from that of the Sieve, both rivers tributaries of the Arno. The lofty range of the Prato Magno, which branches off from the group of Mount Falterona, separates the lower valley of the Sieve from the upper valley of the Arno, and with its great mass stretching southwards intervenes between the upper and the lower valley of the latter river, and forces it to take a great bend south-west and north before it reaches the valley of Florence. The mountains of Vallombrosa, La Vernia, and Camaldoli belong to this range, in which the highest peaks are La Penna, 4870, and Monte Cattai, 4700 feet above the level of the sea. The range of the Catenaria, branching off also from the Falterona, separates the upper valley of the Arno from that of the Tiber, forms the hilly district of Arezzo, and in its highest point attains an elevation of 4590 feet.
South and south-west of these ranges, from which it is separated by the valley of the Arno and by the remarkable low depression of the Val di Chiana, is a broad track of hilly country, which in the districts of Volterra and Siena attains an elevation of more than 2000 feet. East of the bed of the Ombrone, this hilly tract is bordered by an extensive volcanic formation, in which Mount Amiata, the central and loftiest peak of the group, rises to an elevation of 5794 feet, whilst the peaks of Radicofani and Mount Labro at its eastern and western extremities attain respectively an elevation of 2470 and 1960 feet.
From Pietrasanta, where, as already noticed, the last Tuscany, spurs of the Apennines come down to the sea, to the Papal frontier at Torre della Graticcia, the coast of Tuscany is generally low and lined by extensive marshy tracts that render it unhealthy. Its most prominent physical features are the promontories of Piombino (Popolazione) and Monte Argentario, the former of which divides it in two parts, nearly equal in length but different in character. The northern part is almost a continuous sweep, with scarcely any bays or indentations, and, with the exception of Leghorn and Viareggio, affords no shelter to shipping. The southern part, on the contrary, is broken into several bays, of which the largest are those of Piombino, Grosseto, Orbitello, and Porto Ercole, and affords safe anchorage to ships. Most of the Tuscan islands lie between Monte Argentario and Piombino, from the latter of which Elba is divided by a deep canal only 6 miles broad. A considerable tract of low country, extending in length from the mouth of the small stream Fine to the Papal frontier, and in breadth from the sea to the hills of the interior, goes under the general name of Maremma, which consists of a succession of basins, divided by intervening ridges of low hills that descend to the sea and form the barriers of four separate districts, more especially called Maremma di Volterra, Maremma di Massa, Maremma di Grosseto, and Maremma di Orbitello.
With the exception of a small district lying on the northeastern slope of the main chain of the Apennines, in which are the sources and upper courses of the Senio, the Romeo, and several other small rivers that flow into the Adriatic, the waters of Tuscany flow southwards to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Arno (Arno), the principal river of Tuscany, is next to the Po, Tiber, and Adige, the most important river of Italy. It rises on the flank of Mount Falterona, and at first takes a south course till within five miles of Arezzo, when it sweeps round the base of the Prato Magno, and flows nearly due north till it is joined by the Sieve. The spurs of Mount Giovi force it then to take a sudden turn and flow through Florence and Pisa due west to the sea, which it enters, after a course of more than 140 miles, by an artificial canal 6 miles below Pisa. It has numerous tributaries, the most important of which are, from the north, the Sieve, which rises on the south flank of Monte Boni (4100 feet), and drains the retired district of Mugello; and the Ombrone, which drains the valley of Pistoia; and from the south, the Elsa, which drains a hilly district between Colle and San Miniato; and the Era, which drains a district north of Volterra. The upper valley of the Arno, called the Casentino, is strikingly beautiful, and combines Alpine scenery with richness of vegetation. Shut up on the north by the Falterona, on the east by the range of the Catenai, and on the west by the Prato Magno, and irrigated by numerous rivulets, so beautifully alluded to by Dante (Inf. 30, 64), it has a constant verdure not often met with south of the Alps. The lower valley of the Arno is remarkable for its great fertility. The Tiber also rises in Tuscany on the south slope of Mount Coronaro, and flows south, parallel to the Arno, till it enters the territory of the Church below Borgo San Sepolcro. The other principal rivers are, beginning from the north, the Serchio (Auser) which rises among the Ligurian Apennines, and flowing by Lucca, enters the sea 7 miles north of the mouth of the Arno. In ancient times, the Serchio had no separate outlet, but fell into the Arno just below Pisa. The country between these two rivers, in the lower part of their course, is very flat and marshy. The Cecina (Cecina) drains the Maremma of Volterra, and falls into the sea half-way between Leghorn and Piombino. The Ombrone (Ombrone), the larger river of that name, next to the Arno the largest river of Tuscany, has its sources among the hills between Siena and Val di Chiana, and after a south-west course of 50 miles, flows into the sea 16 miles north of Mount Ar-
gentaro, opposite to a cluster of very small islands called Tuscani, Formiche di Grosseto. The Albegna and the Fiora both rise in the volcanic district of Mount Amiata; but the former, after draining the Maremma of Orbitello, flows into the sea a few miles north of that town, and the latter, after a course of about 30 miles, enters the Papal Territory. Along the coast, and near Chiusi and Fucecchio, there are several marshy lagoons, but they neither deserve the name of lakes nor require any description.
The northern part of Tuscany belongs almost entirely to the upper cretaceous formation, and is composed of limestone strata, in which hippurites and nummulites are found, and which are traversed by strata of sandstone rich in fusroids, and occasionally overlain by broad belts of marls and travertine. The south-western districts are much more varied, and offer ample and interesting materials to the geologist. The plains extending from the outlets of the Serchio and the Arno, and from the shore near Leghorn to a considerable distance inland, exhibit a very recent formation, consisting of deep beds of diluvial gravel and alluvium. On leaving the lower valley of the Arno and proceeding towards Volterra, we find that the strata of sandstones and limestones have been pierced through, at a comparatively recent period, by a peculiar igneous rock, which the Tuscan geologists call Gabbro rosso, and which greatly resembles the red porphyries of Australia. The Gabbro forms a group of several pointed hills, of which the highest are Monte Massi, 1910 feet, and Poggio alla Croce, 1710 feet. The stratified rocks, which envelop them like the folds of a mantle, show the metamorphic effects of the igneous action. The Gabbro is surrounded by hills of serpentine, protruded at a subsequent period. Further south, on the right bank of the Ombrone, from Grosseto to the coast, a small district of an oval shape presents a silurian formation; and south of the course of the Ombrone is the interesting volcanic tract of country of which Mount Amiata is the centre. There are no records of this volcanic region having shown any signs of activity in historical times.
The mineralogical wealth of Tuscany is considerable, and if industry and capital were turned to it, its products might be greatly increased. The island of Elba is rich in iron, the ore of which is smelted and cast at Fonolizza, situated on the opposite shore at the bottom of the Bay of Piombino, where are the grand-ducal ironworks which turn out 10,000,000 Tuscan pounds of metal annually. The combustible is supplied by the forests of the Maremma. The mines of Montecatini, Miemo, Castellina, &c., west of Volterra, are remarkable for the abundance and richness (varying from 20 to 80 per cent.) of their copper ores. The quantity extracted is about 2200 tons annually, but is yearly increasing. Le Moie, or saltworks of San Leopoldo, six miles south-west of Volterra, give an annual produce of more than 22,000,000 pounds, entirely derived from the evaporations of eight brine-springs, which owe their origin to large beds of rock-salt, lying at a considerable depth from the surface. Lardarello, or the Lagoni di Monte Cerboli, a district about 15 miles south of Volterra, and of an extent of 30 square miles, is rich in boracic acid, the whole annual produce of which, amounting to more than 1600 tons, is exported into this country, and converted into borax, and largely employed in the manufacture of pottery and glass. A few miles east of Pietrasanta, there are mines of lead, silver ores, and quicksilver; but they are not worked on a large and scientific scale. The quarries of Seravezza yield a great quantity of marble; those of Castellina Marittima yield alabaster, and the hills near Siena the marble well known as Giallo di Siena.
The climate is as different as the face of the country. Whilst, in the districts on or immediately adjoining the main chain of the Apennines the snow lies many weeks, and the cold is severe in winter, the summers, which are never too Tuscany, hot; are healthy and bracing; in the Maremma, on the contrary, as well as in the low flats along the shore from Leghorn to Viareggio, the summers are hot, and subject to the prevalence of the malaria fevers; and it is only in winter that the herdsmen and labourers resort to them with impunity. In the central vale of the Arno and the districts bordering upon it, the climate is healthy all the year round, and, on the whole, one of the best in Italy. In January, the coldest month, the average height of the thermometer is 37°; and in August, the hottest month, 90 degrees of Fahrenheit.
With the exception of Lombardy, agriculture is more advanced in Tuscany than in any other part of Italy. In the valleys of the Arno and Chiana the land is admirably cultivated, and is generally divided into small farms from four to fifteen acres each, held by the peasants on the Mezzeria or Metayer system, which has existed in Tuscany from time immemorial. The oral agreement between the landlord and the peasant is valid for one year only, after which the cultivator may be discharged by the landlord at a fixed time; but, practically, a good tenant will remain on the estate for generations.
In the Mezzeria, "the proprietor supplies all the capital, the oxen and beasts of burden, and the cultivator the labour; the produce being equally divided between them. The tenant is only obliged to supply the labour required in the ordinary cultivation. If the proprietor is desirous of reclaiming waste lands, or draining, he must pay the cultivator wages for extra work. The seed for sowing is supplied at joint expense; that required for the support of the tenant in bad years the proprietor generally supplies. The cattle used for agricultural purposes are supplied throughout Tuscany by the landlord, and maintained at the joint charge of the tenant; in case of casualties, the latter pays a moiety of the value of the animals lost, as he derives a moiety of any profit from their sale. All farm-buildings are kept in repair by the landowner, and the peasants are lodged gratuitously. The tenant who does not possess the necessary machinery for pressing his grapes and olives, pays a small tax to his landlord for their use." The Metayer system keeps up a friendly intercourse between the landowner and the tenant, and gives the latter an appearance of cleanliness and contentment, not often met out of Tuscany; but at the same time it renders the position of the tenant precarious and stationary. A Tuscan peasant seldom rises above the situation that his ancestors have had for ages. In the Maremma, farms are in general of a much larger size, but most of them are also cultivated on the Mezzeria agreement. In the territory of the former duchy of Lucca, on the contrary, the land is generally let out at a fixed rent, which is paid in produce.
The corn grown is not sufficient to the demand, and about 1,400,000 sacks of wheat are, upon an average, yearly imported at Leghorn from the Black Sea to supply internal consumption. Barley and oats are extensively grown on the Apennines; in some parts a large quantity of maize, and in others of rice; and besides these, peas and beans of various kinds. Chestnuts are used as a substitute for bread by the greater part of the rural inhabitants. The plains feed about 400,000 sheep, 30,000 horses, and a multitude of cows and goats. The breed of sheep has been of late years improved by crosses with Merinos, and now the wool is of moderate fineness. The greater part is used at home, but some portion is exported. Large quantities of both red and white wines are made, of which some are very fine and delicate, but not much known by foreigners. Some of the best of the red is exported, mostly in flasks. Olive oil is an extensive object of industry, and is increasing in quantity by the extension of the cultivation of the olive. Much of it is converted into soap, or consumed at home; but that of the best quality is exported to distant countries.
The quantity of silk produced does not exceed 200,000 pounds weight, and it is chiefly consumed at home in manufactures. Some flax is raised; but that used for making the finest linen is imported from foreign countries.
Extensive tracts of marshy land have been reclaimed and brought into cultivation by means of colmate—a mode of drainage peculiar to Tuscany, where it was first introduced towards the beginning of the last century. It is effected by carrying the streams charged with alluvial matter into the marshy tract, where they are allowed to stagnate and deposit the mud with which they are charged, and by which the subjacent soil is gradually raised, and afterwards they are let out by a fall procured according to ordinary hydraulics. By this process the Val di Chiana, which until the last century was a pestilential marsh, was changed into one of the richest agricultural districts in Italy.
The fisheries employ many persons on the shores of the continent as well as on the islands. The tunny-fishery has establishments near Leghorn, and in Elba; while the anchovy-fisheries are chiefly in the islands, of which Gorgona especially has great reputation for its curing.
There is a variety of manufactures, which being for the most part the produce of manual labour, and carried on by individuals in their own houses, employ a large proportion of the population. There are few establishments in which machinery is employed. Straw-plaiting and straw-hats employ the largest number of hands, though this branch of industry has much declined of late years. Each girl, by purchasing for a few pence straw to work up, can earn from 14l. to 18l. per day; and many a peasant girl by her industry in straw-plaiting realizes a small sum to marry upon. The woollen manufactures are chiefly of a coarse kind; the most important of them are the woollen caps, beretti and calabassi, worn by the Turks, and of which the annual exportation to the Levant amounts to about 1,700,000 in value. There are alabaster works at Volterra, which employ more than 1200 persons; and marble-works in Florence, Leghorn, Prato, &c. Thread, silk, and silk stuffs, employ about 3000 looms in the houses of the respective weavers. The other articles of manufacture are coral, fished on the coast of Barbary, and worked at Leghorn; paper, which employs about fifty mills, and is the best in Italy; printing; tanneries; hardware; linens; and hemp tissues, &c., exclusively for domestic use. Cotton manufactures are almost entirely supplied by England and France.
The monetary system is complicated. The fundamental unit, the lira, in which accounts are generally kept, is equal to 8d.; but the most common currency is the paolo, which contains 8 crazie, and is equal to 5½d. The scudo or francescone is equal to 10 paoli, or 4s. 5½d. Gold currency is almost unknown: the zeccino is equal to 2 scudi, and the rispono to 6. The Tuscan pound is equal to 07481 avoirdupois; and the braccio, which is the standard measure of length, is equal to 22-98 English inches. The Tuscan mile is = 1 mile and 48 yards English. A barile of wine contains 12-042 English gallons. A soma of oil contains 2 barili, each barile = 8-8313 English gallons. The metrical system and the Sardinian coins are now being introduced.
The mercantile navy of Tuscany, in 1858, consisted of 959 ships, of which 344, of 32,846 tons, belonged to Leghorn; 229, of 14,479 tons, to Elba; 190, of 10,382 tons, to Viareggio; and 196, of 1315 tons, to the Presidi; total tonnage, 59,023. The number of men employed in them, between masters, captains, and sailors, was 11,800. The chief emporium of the trade is the free port of Leghorn, where there arrived, in 1857, 7273 ships, of which 940 were steamers. The arrivals of the previous five years had been—in 1852, 5881; in 1853, 6305; in 1854, 6967; in 1855, 5829; in 1856, 6232. The imports in 1854 were L3,719,845, and in 1855 L3,006,565; and the exports in 1854 L1,734,220, and in 1855 L2,323,238; showing in both years a considerable surplus in favour of the former. The chief articles of import were corn, sugar, coffee, and cotton manufactures; and those of export—straw hats, &c., L486,480; silk, L170,200; timber, charcoal, &c., L132,720; borax, L96,201; oil, L88,353; salt meat, butter, tallow, eggs, &c., L80,000; woollen caps, L62,000; marble, L56,000.
Many excellent carriage-roads traverse the country in every direction, and facilitate its internal trade. The only railroads as yet opened are the Leopoldine line, which runs from Florence to Leghorn, a distance of 64 miles, and has two branches—one of 36 miles from Empoli to Siena, and the other of 13 miles from Pisa to Lucca; and the Maria Antonia of 41 miles, which runs from Florence by Prato and Pistoia to Lucca.
Tuscany was an hereditary monarchy, whose sovereign was absolute, but governed according to established laws and customs, and assisted by a Council of state. In 1848, however, a constitution was granted, which having been suppressed in 1850, the government became more absolute than it was before. Since its annexation to Sardinia, the Sardinian constitution—a sketch of which has been given in this work under SARDINIA, forms the public law of Tuscany; but the administration remains as yet distinct, and is carried on by a council of ministers, under a lieutenant appointed by the king.
The army and navy amounted, in January 1859, to 17,205; but they have since undergone a total change.
The revenue arises partly from a land-tax, partly from duties on exports, from stamps, from a lottery, from farming tobacco, from the wines and salterns, and the public domains. The budget for 1859 was as follows:
| Revenue | Expenditure | |---------|-------------| | Direct taxes | L250,833 | | Customs and excise | 961,258 | | Domains, &c. | 80,228 | | Sundries | 18,100 | | Total | L1,316,479 | | Worship | 29,040 | | Finances, commerce, and public works | 777,506 | | Deficit | L10,397 |
The civil and the canon law are the foundation of the law of Tuscany, which has been enlarged by precedents established by former decisions, and by a decree of the late Grand Duke Ferdinand III., in which, after his restoration, he embodied several alterations suggested by a commission for the revision of the civil law, chiefly with regard to intestate succession, parental authority, guardianship of minors, obligations of wives, forms of wills, &c. The forms of proceeding greatly resemble those of France. Justice is imparted by 140 Prefecture, in which small civil or criminal cases are decided; thirteen Tribunals for graver cases; and two Courts of Appeal, held at Florence and Tuscany, Lucca. A Court of Cassation, sitting at Florence, presides over the whole; and an audit court, Corte dei Conti, has jurisdiction over all the accountable in the duchy.
The established religion of the state is the Roman Catholic, but great toleration had always existed for every other form of worship; and the encroachments of the papal court in civil matters were effectually checked by the Leopoldine laws enacted in the last century. Even among the Episcopacy, there was a spirit of opposition to some of the Romanist tenets, as it was shown by Leopoldo de Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, who in 1786 held in that see a diocesan synod, in which such propositions were passed that eighty-five of them were condemned as heretical by Pius VI. in 1794. Since 1852, however, the Ex-Grand Duke Leopold II. was suddenly taken with a spirit of intolerance and persecution, and became so subservient to the papal court as to revoke in great part some of the most important of the Leopoldine laws. At present all Christian communions, as well as Jews, are allowed the free exercise of their respective forms of worship. In 1859, there were 1443 families of Jews, numbering 7688 souls, and residing chiefly at Leghorn and Florence; and 442 Protestant families, composed of 2003 persons. The establishment consists of four archiepiscopal and seventeen episcopal sees. The archbishop of Pisa, who is the Primate, has the bishop of Leghorn as suffragan. That of Florence has as suffragans the bishops of Colle, Fiesole, Pistoia and Prato, San Miniato, San Sepolcro, Modigliano. The archbishop of Lucca has no suffragans; whilst that of Siena has Chiusi, Grosseto, Massa and Populonia, Sovano. The other sees are those of Arezzo, Cortona, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Pescia, and Volterra. There are 2641 parishes, of which 50 belong to foreign bishops. Each diocese has a seminary for the education of those who are intended for the church.
In many of the principal towns there are grammar schools, superintended by the fathers of the Scuole Pie, in which instruction is gratuitous. In every commune there are gratuitous elementary schools, where teachers are paid out of the respective municipal taxes. For the higher branches of education, there are the two universities of Pisa and Siena,—the first of them frequented by an average number of 600, and the latter of 300 students.
Tuscany is divided, as the subjoined table shows, into eight Compartimenti or provinces, six of which are called Prefettura, and the other two Governi; each compartimento is subdivided into districts, called Delegazioni or Concellerie, and into communes; each commune is subdivided into parishes. The Prefettura is administered by a Prefetto or Provveditore, and each Governo by a civil and military governor; under them are the Delegati or district governors, and the municipal officers called Gonfaloniere, who preside over each commune. They are all appointed by government.
| Compartiment | Area in geog. m. | Communes | Parishes | Pop. in 1859 | Chief Towns | Population | |--------------|-----------------|----------|----------|-------------|-------------|------------| | Prefettura of Florence | 1703 | 41 | 672 | 459,496 | Florence | 113,304 | | Sottoprefettura of Pistoia | 14 | 129 | 98,092 | Pistoia | 11,880 | | Sottoprefettura of Samminiate | 15 | 139 | 103,575 | Samminiate | 15,473 | | Sottoprefettura of Rocca San Casciano | 12 | 136 | 40,603 | Rocca San Casciano | 3,478 | | Prefettura of Lucca | 387 | 21 | 298 | 259,723 | Lucca | 65,245 | | Prefettura of Pisa | 890 | 24 | 166 | 182,306 | Pisa | 47,638 | | Sottoprefettura of Volterra | 14 | 83 | 49,192 | Volterra | 12,818 | | Prefettura of Siena | 1103 | 23 | 292 | 125,750 | Siena | 22,259 | | Sottoprefettura of Montepulciano | 15 | 79 | 64,977 | Montepulciano | 12,463 | | Prefettura of Arezzo | 959 | 42 | 534 | 219,537 | Arezzo | 35,038 | | Sottoprefettura of Grosseto | 1296 | 20 | 103 | 93,859 | Grosseto | 3,876 | | Governo of Leghorn and Gorgona | 29 | 1 | 26 | 91,741 | Livorno | 90,113 | | Governo of the island of Elba | 73 | 4 | 11 | 22,026 | Portoferraio | 5,648 |
Total | 6440 | 246 | 2671 | 1,803,877 | The population of Tuscany has long been steadily, though at times slowly, increasing. Under Ferdinand II., in 1640, when the first general census was taken, it amounted to 696,855; at the death of Gian Gastone, in 1737, it had increased to 890,605. Twenty-nine years of Francis II., of Lorraine's regency increased it by 54,582 souls, and a further increase of 113,867 took place under the administration of Leopold I., after whose departure for Vienna, the census of 1791 gave a return of 1,058,930 inhabitants. In 1800, when Ferdinand III. was turned out by the French, Tuscany numbered 1,104,764 inhabitants, and at his restoration in 1814, 1,154,686. Three years of an epidemic typhus fever had reduced the population, in 1818, to 1,143,236. Since that time the decennial returns were—In 1820, 1,172,342; in 1831, 1,365,705; in 1841, 1,489,980; in 1851, 1,761,140. The great increase from 1841 to 1851 was caused by the acquisition of the Duchy of Lucca, which, after deducting the loss for the Lunigiana, given up to Modena, brought an addition of nearly 100,000 souls. At the rate of increase from 1801 to 1861, the population would double in about 68 years. The yearly increase was checked by the prevalence of cholera in 1855, by which more than 52,000 inhabitants were carried off. From the census of 1858 we gather the following particulars. The population consisted of 332,649 families, each family having an average of 539 souls; and was thus divided:
| Men | Women | Total | |-----|-------|-------| | Under 14 years | 273,240 | 258,348 | 531,588 | | Unmarried | 289,744 | 245,427 | 535,171 | | Married | 298,238 | 228,390 | 526,628 | | In Widowhood | 42,181 | 70,758 | 112,939 | | Secular Clergy | 10,200 | 10,200 | 20,400 | | Monastic Orders | 3,309 | 4,313 | 7,621 | | **Total** | **916,911** | **877,236** | **1,794,147** |
**Births—**
| Legitimate | 31,041 | 29,001 | 60,042 | | Illegitimate | 2,141 | 2,142 | 4,283 | | **Total** | **33,182** | **31,143** | **64,325** |
**Deaths—**
| Still-Born | 394 | 219 | 613 | | Under 14 Years Old | 13,633 | 12,538 | 26,171 | | Unmarried | 3,883 | 2,921 | 6,804 | | Married | 5,815 | 5,549 | 11,364 | | Widows and Widowers | 2,649 | 4,067 | 6,716 | | Priests, Monks, and Nuns | 285 | 116 | 401 | | **Total** | **26,659** | **25,410** | **52,069** |
There had been 15,489 marriages, of which 12,017 between unmarried persons; 2,104 between widowers and girls; 751 between widowers and widows; and 617 between bachelors and widows. For every 1000 inhabitants there are 33·41 legitimate, and 2·39 illegitimate births, 8·64 marriages, and 34·60 deaths; and out of 1000 births, 66·58 are of unknown parents. The largest number of illegitimate births takes place in the provinces of Arezzo and Siena, and the smallest in that of Lucca. There are 1219 persons confined in madhouses. With regard to the highest number of mental derangements, the months stood thus—July, June, May, April, August, October, September, February, January, November, March, and December.
A sketch of the ancient history of the country has already been given in this work under Etruria and Etruscans. The ancient inhabitants, who called themselves Rasena, were called Etrusci or Tusci by the Romans, and Tyrrheni by the Greeks. The modern name of Toscana is derived from that of Tuscia, which was generally used by the later Latin writers, but it does not include the whole of the country designated by the latter name. After the fall of the Western Empire, Tuscia, sharing the fate of the rest of Italy, fell in succession under the dominion of the Eruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Greeks, from whom it was wrested by the Longobards, who divided it into Tuscia Longobardorum, which comprised the duchy of Castro, the present delegation of Viterbo, and Tuscia Regni, which comprised the duchies of Lucca, Florence, and Chiusei. When Charlemagne put an end to the Longobard kingdom, the name of Tuscia or Toscana had already become restricted to the latter division only. After the restoration of the Western Empire by the coronation of Charlemagne in St Peter's on the 24th December 800, Tuscany was governed for more than two centuries by dukes or marquises of Frank origin, who held it as a fief of the empire. One of them, Boniface II., 826-44, gained a great victory over the Saracens and checked their inroads into Tuscany; and under Hugo, who ruled from 961 to 1006, and was styled the Great, the country made much progress.
The male line of marquises ended with Boniface III., who was also Count of Modena and Mantua, and was murdered between the latter place and Cremona in 1052. His widow, Countess Beatrix, in 1055 married Godfrey, duke of Lotharingia or Lorraine, and governed the country till her death in 1076, when she was succeeded by Matilda, her only child by her first husband. Countess Matilda inherited all the large paternal dominions, and during her long reign was a constant and warm supporter of the popes in their contests with the empire. She was a stanch friend of Gregory VII., and received him in her castle of Canossa near Reggio, where the Emperor Henry II. (III. of Germany), after being kept three days barefooted and bareheaded outside the inner ramparts, obtained at length his absolution from the pope. Matilda died in 1115 without issue, and bequeathed all her vast possessions to the Church. The contest that hence arose between the popes who claimed the inheritance, and the emperors who maintained that Matilda had no right to dispose of imperial fiefs which had to revert to the empire, enabled the principal cities of Tuscany gradually to assert their own independence, and govern themselves under consuls and elders (anziani) of their own selection. The rise, therefore, of the Tuscan republics, or, as they are more properly called, self-governed communes, may be dated from the death of Countess Matilda. The most important of those republics were Florence, Pisa, Siena, Arezzo, Pistoia, and Lucca.
As the limits of this article will not allow our entering into a survey, however short, of their history, we shall only mention that they were all gradually absorbed by Florence, with the exception of Siena, which was not conquered till some time (1559) after Florence herself had lost her freedom, and Lucca, which preserved its republican institutions till 1799, when it was entered by the French. Pisa distinguished itself, at a very early period, by its commercial enterprise, which made its inhabitants affluent, and its naval achievements, which made them powerful. At the time of the Crusades, Pisa was the rival of Venice and Genoa in the East; but after the great naval victory of the Genoese over the Pisan galleys at La Meloria, on the 6th of August 1284, Pisa never recovered, and gradually sank in power and wealth, till it was at length subdued by the Florentines in October 1406. In 1494, when Charles VIII. descended into Italy, the Pisans again proclaimed their independence; but after many years of disastrous war, on the 8th of June 1509 they were compelled to surrender.
An account of the rise, progress, and fall of Florentine freedom; of the internal feuds and dissensions that constantly stirred it; of the Ghibelline and Guelf parties that in turn swayed it; of the number and names of the various magistrates that at different times constituted its government; of the imperishable works of art and literature which it produced in its best days, &c., is far beyond the limits of this article. It will be enough to say, that at length great Tuscany, accumulation of wealth and extreme democracy combined in corrupting public as well as private manners, and causing the final overthrow of her free institutions. The family De Medici, who had accumulated enormous wealth by trade and banking, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, began to acquire considerable power by the support of the popular party; but in 1433, the party of the new aristocracy, led by Rinaldo degli Albizzi, succeeded in obtaining the exile of Cosmo, the head of that family. On the 26th of September 1434, however, Cosmo was recalled, and in 1435 he was appointed Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, or chief magistrate of the republic. From that time, with the exception of very short intervals, the whole power of the state passed into the hands of the Medici, and there only remained but an appearance of political freedom. Cosmo exercised his power mildly; and at his death, in 1464, the Signoria bestowed upon him the title of Pater Patriae. His son Piero succeeded him in the conduct of public affairs; and at his death, in December 1469, his son Lorenzo, surnamed the Magnifico. A short notice of Lorenzo has already been given in this work under Medici.
Lorenzo's son Piero, did not hold long the power of the state. When Charles VIII., descended into Italy in 1494, he was met at Sarzana by Piero, who agreed to deliver into his hands the fortresses of the state. Whereupon, on his return to Florence, the people rose against him, pillaged the houses of the family, and compelled him to seek safety in flight. After several vain attempts to re-enter Florence, Piero was drowned in the river Garigliano, on the 28th December 1503. In the same year, Pier Soderini was named Gonfaloniere during his lifetime; but as he countenanced a council held at Pisa, in November 1511, by the cardinals of the French party, Pope Julius II. espoused the party of the Medici, and caused the viceroy of Naples, Raimondo di Cardona, general-in-chief of the army of the League against France, to enter Tuscany. Soderini, frightened, ran away; a new government was formed, who treated with the viceroy, and agreed that Florence should join the League, and allow the Medici to return. Whereupon, on the 14th September 1512, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici (who the next year, on being elected pope, took the name of Leo X.), entered Florence with his brother Giuliano and his nephew Lorenzo, and had them again installed in power.
In 1523 cardinal Giulio de' Medici having been raised to the papal chair as Clement VII., sent in 1525, to govern Florence, Alessandro de' Medici, a natural son either of Lorenzo, duke of Urbino, or, according to others, of Clement himself. But, in May 1527, on hearing the news of the pillage of Rome by the imperial army, the party opposed to the Medici rose up in arms, drove them out of Florence, and re-established a free government. The days of Florentine freedom, however, had come to an end. Deserted by her ally France, betrayed by her own general Malatesta Baglioni, surrounded by the combined forces of the Emperor Charles V. and the Pope Clement VII., whose quarrels were made up by their common interest to extinguish freedom, on the 12th August 1530, after eight months of siege, Florence was at length compelled to surrender. Alessandro, who married Marguerite of Austria, a natural daughter of Charles V., was appointed the supreme head of the state by an imperial bull dated Augsburg, October 21, 1530, and re-entered Florence on the 5th July 1531. In 1532, a new constitution was framed, by which he was styled Duke. In 1537 he was murdered by his cousin Lorenzino, and Palma Rucellai tried to restore freedom. But the Medici party, led by Vettori and Guicciardini the historian, proclaimed Duke Cosmo, a son of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, who, in 1567, obtained the title of grand duke from Pius V.
The Medici family became extinct at the death of Gian Gastone in 1737. Such an event being foreseen in his father's lifetime, the great powers, without the consent or even the knowledge of the reigning grand duke, gave him a successor. At first, by the treaty of London, August 2, 1718, the heir appointed was Don Carlos, a son of Philip V. of Spain; but after his conquest of Naples and Sicily, by the peace of Vienna, October 3, 1735, the future Tuscan succession was bestowed upon Francis, duke of Lorraine, the husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, in compensation for Lorraine, which was given to Stanislaus Leszczinski, with reversion on his death to France. In vain Cosmo III., and Gian Gastone protested against what they called "a violation of the law of nations by the powers who had disposed of the Tuscans without consulting their will;" an Austrian army garrisoned the Tuscan fortresses, and at Gian Gastone's death, Francis of Lorraine was installed as grand duke.
In 1741, being associated to the empire by Maria Theresa, Francis left Tuscany under a regency till 1765, when his second son, Peter Leopold, succeeded him as grand duke. Leopold endeavoured to remedy many feudal and ecclesiastical abuses which the Medici had either introduced or tolerated, and laid the foundation of the prosperity of the country. On the death, however, of Joseph II., he succeeded to the empire as Leopold II. in 1790, and renounced the sovereignty of Tuscany to his second son, Ferdinand, who was driven out by the French in 1801, but reinstated by the Congress of Vienna in 1814.
His son and successor, Leopold II., in March 1848, following the example of Naples, yielded to the demand of his people and granted a constitution; but getting alarmed at the state of affairs, on the 5th of February 1849 he withdrew to Siena, whence, on hearing the news of the establishment of a provisional government at Florence, he repaired to Gaeta. The members of the provisional government, on the 18th of March, proclaimed a republic, and a national assembly that met on the 28th named Guerrazzi dictator.
The constitutional party, however, soon rallied; and on the 12th of April, having overthrown the republic without any bloodshed, they re-established the grand ducal government under the presidency of the Marquis Capponi, and sent a deputation to Gaeta to invite the grand duke to return, with a request that he should not call in the Austrians. Leopold II. acceded to their request, and named a commissary to represent him during his absence. Soon afterwards, however, an Austrian division under General D'Aspre, entered Tuscany by virtue of a secret convention. Under their protection Leopold returned to Florence, and suppressed in 1850 the constitution. From that moment the Tuscans became convinced that they were governed not by a sovereign of their own, but by an Austrian proconsul, and watched for an opportunity to rid themselves of his despotism.
After ten years of compression, the events of 1859 gave a new life to the liberal party. On the 27th of April a popular demonstration caused the grand duke to offer a constitution; but the people having no more any faith in him, it was suggested that he should abdicate in favour of his son. This, however, he refused to do, and in the evening of that day, he and all his family left Florence and proceeded to Bologna. On his departure, a provisional government was established, which conferred the dictatorship on the king of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, who sent an extraordinary commissary to govern the country during the war with Austria. At the end of that war, a national assembly, summoned by the president of the council Baron Ricasoli, voted on the 16th of August 1859 the forfeiture of the house of Lorraine, and on the 20th the annexation of Tuscany to Sardinia. The vote of the assembly was, at the request of France, submitted to the test of universal suffrage, and was approved of almost unanimously. Tusculum that day Tuscany became an integral part of the possessions of the house of Savoy.
I.—House of Medici. 1531–1737.
1531. Alexander de' Medici, Duke of Florence. 1537. Cosmo de' Medici, only eighteen years old. 1574. Francis I., eldest son of Cosmo who died without issue. 1607. Ferdinand II., a younger son of Cosmo. 1629. Cosmo II., his son. 1621. Ferdinand III., his son. 1670. Cosmo III., his son. 1723. Gian Gastone, his son, who died in 1737.
II.—House of Lorraine, Kingdoms of Etruria, Restoration, &c. 1737–1859.
1737. Francis II., of Lorraine. 1755. Peter Leopold I., his son. 1790. Ferdinand III., who, on the 9th of February 1801, in consequence of the occupation of Tuscany by the French, was compelled to give up his rights. 1801. Don Ludovico Borbone, hereditary prince of Parma, created king of Etruria. 1803. Louis II., his son, under the regency of his mother Maria Louisa of Spain. 1808. May 24. Tuscany united to the French empire and divided into three departments. 1809. March. Tuscany erected into a grand-duchy under the French empire, and given to Eliza Baciocchi, Napoleon's sister. 1814. Ferdinand III. is reinstated as Grand Duke of Tuscany. 1824. Leopold II., his son. On the 21st July 1859, after he had already left Tuscany, he abdicated in favour of his son Ferdinand IV. 1859. Victor Emmanuel, king.
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