As Italy is a land of ancient European culture, we can hardly speak of its discovery in the proper sense of the word, yet it may be per- missible to interweave here a short survey of geographical research in Italy.
Neither ancient times nor the Middle Ages had any idea of a science of geography in our sense. Geography either treated of cosmography, of maps of routes and sea voyages and the determination of topographical details necessarily connected with these, or it consisted of notes on natural history, mingled with legends and traditions, anecdotes and superstitions.
Although the history of Italy abounds in tumults and painful political events, it is incontrovertible that during several centuries its people produced much that is great and even imperishable in Art and Science, and that its intellectual leaders gave a powerful impulse to creation in both of these by revivifying classical antiquity.
The treasures of art on the soil of Italy are numberless, and the very system of small states, which kept the people from political unity, fostered local peculiarities in a wonderful manner and caused varied artistic power to display itself, so that almost every division of the country took the leading part in one species of art or another.
Italy is still the classic land of Art; its wealth in this respect gives enjoyment year after year to thousands of foreigners, and under its bright sky and among its joyous natural population new creations in painting and sculpture are being produced without intermission. It is true that these are for the most part from the hands of foreign masters educated under the influence of Italian masterpieces.
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