italy
° Civitavecchia ° Livorno ° Capri/Naples ° Venice
In the 19th Century, Italy was one of the most overcrowded countries in Europe. Many Italians began considering the possibility of leaving Italy to escape low wages and high taxes. Most of these immigrants were from rural communities with very little education. From 1890 to 1900, 655,888 arrived in the United States, of whom two-thirds were men.
1850 to 1930 is a significant period because this was a peak time for Italian immigration to the United States. 17 million immigrants had their first contact with the United States on Ellis Island. Many Italians who came to America settled on the East Coast where they opened stores and restaurants featuring foods from home, their neighborhoods often called "Little Italy."
Ancona
In III and I centuries b.C. Romans went to the Marche area with an interest in controlling the territory and opening access to the Adriatic. They built two important roads -- Salaria and Flaminia -- which would connect Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas. The city prospered under the Romans, and its harbor was enlarged (2d cent. A.D.) by Emperor Trajan. In the 9th century, Ancona became a semi-independent maritime republic under the nominal rule of the popes, to whose direct control it passed in 1532. The port of Ancona eventually became of one the most important seaside trading centers facing the East, with commercial and cultural links with the Near East . . . in addition to people and goods filling the quay along the shoreline, early paintings show forests of masts. For a long period of time the coastal region was threaten by the Saracen pirates. Residents fled inland and growth slowed along the coastline.
Capri/Naples
Text and images will be added.
Civitavecchia ("Ancient Town")
The modern city, which is a major cruise port serving Rome, was built over an Etruscan settlement. The harbor was constructed by the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the 2nd century. The massive Forte Michelangelo, which almost overwhelms this small town, ("Michelangelo's fort") was commissioned to Bramante by Pope Julius II to defend the port from the pirate attacks, and was completed in 1535 by Giuliano Leno and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, under Paul III. The upper part of the "maschio" tower, however, was actually completed by Michelangelo, who gave the name to the fortress. The walls have an impressive thickness of 6-7.6 m. The fortress was built over an ancient Roman construction, probably the barracks of the classiarii ("mariners") of the Imperial Fleet.
In the high Middle Ages, this port was a Byzantine stronghold. Captured by the Saracens in 828, it was later acquired by the Papal States. The place became a free port under Pope Innocent XII in 1696. The main port of Rome in modern era, it was occupied by the French in 1849. On April 16, 1859 the Rome and Civitavecchia Rail Road was opened for service. The Papal troops opened the gates of the fortress to the Italian general Bixio in 1870.
Livorno
Text and images will be added.
Venice
As Goths and Ostrogoths drove through Italy in the 5th and 6th centuries, the people of Veneto took shelter on the islands off their coast, then began building houses on the lagoon-like islands, developing the boats known as gondolas in the process. From these desperate beginnings, Venice grew to become a great maritime power, both in terms of military might and in its commercial trading with Byzantium and Constantinople. The Venetians participated in—and profited off of—the Crusades by supporting both sides in trade. The city finally defeated its main competitor, Genoa, in 1381. Venice reached the height of its power in the 15th century, but declined after the 16th century. At its height, it controlled much of what is now Greece, as well as a large chunk of Italy. However, plagues fostered by the stagnant water greatly hurt the city and eventually led to its downfall. The Turks took advantage of this weakness by encroaching on the Venetian empire gradually, by way of its Grecian territories. Also, when the Portuguese discovered the Cape Route to India and the East, Venice's shipping monopoly was rendered far less relevant. Venice fell to Napoleon in 1797, and eventually became part of the unified Italy in 1866.
Reading departure signs in some big airport