New volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica > Volume 30, K-MOR

MILAN
750
cities, including Home, in respect of passenger and goods
traffic and of the postal and telegraphic services. Two
other public services, namely, the water supply and the
sewer system, have been completely transformed since 1880.
The old system of water supply was that of piercing
a well for every house built. But with the growth
of the city the system was found to be inadequate
and dangerous. The municipal technical bureau proposed,
as an experiment, to adopt the system of mechanical
extraction of water from the deeper strata of the subsoil.
This was so successful (1889) that the system has been
adopted and extended, so that now deep wells furnish
12,000 litres per minute, with a pressure equal to that of
a reservoir at a height of 40 metres. By 1899 the length
of water-pipes had increased from 5 miles to 78 miles, and
the consumption from 146,000 litres to 4,088,000 litres.
Since 1888 the drainage has been greatly improved. Milan
has now in all 48 miles of sewers worked on the single¬
channel principle—that is, a channel which receives all kinds
of drainage and rain-water. The chief collectors discharge
themselves into the Yettabia, which in its turn communicates
with the river Lambro near Melegnano. The Yettabia is
an ancient river-bed, adapted centuries ago for irrigation.
It irrigates a tract of land nearly 7000 acres in extent, and
its surplus waters pass over a further zone of low-lying
land 20,000 acres in extent. Thus some 27,000 acres of
land are available for the sterilization of Milanese sewage.
The growth of population obliged the municipality in
1860 to increase burial accommodation by opening a
new cemetery, 120,000 metres in extent, known as the
Cimitero Monumentale, at first intended to replace the
four old cemeteries in the neighbourhood of the bastions.
As its insufficiency became apparent, the abolition of the
old cemeteries was suspended until, in 1888, a much
larger burial-ground was laid out in the commune of
Musocco, 3 miles from the city. This new cemetery is
the general burying-ground, the Cimitero Monumentale
being reserved for the erection of monumental tombs. An
electric tramway connects the two cemeteries. It cannot be
said that the development of Milanese hospitals has kept
pace with the growth of the population. The Ospedale
Maggiore, built in 1456, is still the most important. On
the other hand, several special institutes and ambulances
have been created by private philanthropy since 1880.
The Institute dei Bachitici, for the cure and education of
children suffering from rickets; the Instituto Oftalmico,
for eye diseases; and the Padiglione Litta, for surgical
operations, deserve mention. The institute for the in¬
struction of the blind, the deaf, and the dumb has been
renewed and enlarged. The municipality has further
provided a hospital for contagious diseases at Dergano,
some distance from the city. Philanthropic institutes such
as soup-kitchens, public dormitories, and foundling
hospitals have also been established. Two small experi¬
ments in the construction of workmen’s houses have also
been carried out, but, either on account of the special
conditions of the Milanese working-classes, or of inherent
defects, have not been attended with noteworthy success.
_ The artistic and scientific patrimony has notably increased
since 1875. The Gallery of Brera, founded at the end of the
18th century with works of art accumulated during the sup¬
pression of the religious orders, has become one of the most im¬
portant Italian galleries. Since 1880 it has been enriched with
pictures by Titian, Tintoretto, Paris Bordone, Antonello, Cossa,
Borgognone, &c. ; in 1900 the gallery was enlarged, the number of
its rooms being doubled. In 1880 an interesting art collection was
bequeathed to Milan by a patrician, Poldi Pezzoli, and has since
been opened to the public; it contains many pictures of prime
value by painters of the Lombard school, besides bronzes, ceramics,
old stuffs, jewellery, glasses, and an important collection of ancient
weapons. In 1878 the municipality organized an art museum
with objects bequeathed to the city ; and in 1899 the collection
was placed in the Gastello Sforzesco, which has been restored by
the architect Luca Beltrami. In 1895 the Museo del Risorgimento
Nazionale was transported thither ; in 1896 the school of art
applied to industry was installed there ; in 1900 the municipal
art and archseological museums were added. In regard to science
and scientific collections Milan has made considerable progress. The
National Library in the Palace of Brera possesses 250,000 volumes,
126,000 pamphlets, and many manuscripts relating to Lombard
history and to the territory of Milan. A Manzoni room has been
opened lor the collection of all the editions and the autographs
of the writings of Alessandro Manzoni, who died in 1873. The
Ambrosian Library has continued to receive many important
bequests of MSS. and works of art. The reproduction of the
Codice Atlantico of Leonardo da Yinci, preserved in this library, has
reached its eighteenth part; when complete it will constitute a
work of more than 1200 plates in heliotype of large form. The
civic museum of natural history, founded about 1850 with
small resources, has been increased by donations and bequests,
notably by that of Count Turati, who presented to the municipality
his ornithological collection, one of the richest in Europe. In 1888
the museum was installed in a special edifice in the public gardens,
where the mineralogical and fossil collections are displayed to
advantage. The Brera Observatory was furnished in 1882 Avith
a large equatorial refractor, having an objective 18 Paris inches
in diameter. The Milanese Polytechnic, founded in 1865 by the
mathematician Brioschi, has greatly developed. A considerable
number of monuments have been erected in the gardens and squares.
The principal are the equestrian statues of Yictor Emmanuel II.,
Garibaldi, and the monument commemorative of the insurrection of
1848 against the Austrians. Other statues are those to Alessandro
Manzoni, Giuseppe Parini, Antonio Rosmini, G. B. Piatti (inventor
of the drills used in boring the Cenis tunnel), Antonio Stoppani,
Generals Sirtori and Medici, Luciano Manara, and Francesco
Brioschi. The equestrian statue of Napoleon III. is still in the
Senate courtyard awaiting its transfer to the position assigned to
it in front of the Arco della Pace, through Avhich the allied
French and Italian armies entered Milan after the battle of
Magenta. The ancient monuments have, on the whole, been
well cared for. Besides the above-mentioned restoration of the
Gastello Sforzesco, AArorks of restoration have been executed in the
churches of Santa Maria delle Grazie (in terra-cotta), of Santa
Maria presso San Celso, and of San Sepolcro. The belfry of San
Gottardo has been repaired, Palazzo Marino (the seat of the munici¬
pality) completed, and various repairs carried out in the Palazzo
dei Giureconsulti and the Loggia dei Notai. Unfortunately,
Milanese arch geologists have not succeeded in every case in pre-'
venting acts of vandalism during the transformation of the city.
Thus, in 1900, the ancient Porta dei Fabbri was demolished—one
of the last traces of the walls rebuilt by the Milanese after the de¬
struction of their city by Frederick Barbarossa. Milan has retained
its position as musical centre of Italy, and as one of the chief
musical centres of Europe. The Scala Theatre, with a municipal
subsidy, maintained its traditions. In 1897 the municipality with¬
drew its subsidy, and the Scala remained closed during the season
1897-98 ; but, owing to private initiative, the theatre was reopened
for the triennium 1898-1901 wdth a limited subvention from the
commune. The result of this experiment assured the continuance
of the traditions of the Scala.
Province of Milan.—The conditions of Lombard agriculture in
the Milan district have been somewhat modified by the exten¬
sion of irrigation and the development of intensive culture.
The territory of which Milan forms the centre has been for
centuries divided into a dry zone, extending from the Lower Alps
to the city, and an irrigated zone, stretching from the city to
the Po. In 1860 the Cavour and Villoresi canals extended the
irrigated zone towards the north. Milan still remains the centre
of the most rationally irrigated districts in Europe. The poten¬
tiality of the north Italian canals is surpassed only by that of the
great Ganges canal constructed by the British in the second half
of the 19th century. The oldest canals lead from Lakes Maggiore
and Como; the Muzza canal, leading from the Adda, existed
earlier than the year 1000, and has now an average potentiality in
the summer season of 90 cubic metres per minute. The Naviglio
Grande, begun for purposes of irrigation in 1185, was adapted also
for navigation earlier than the 15th century. The Martezana
canal was constructed at the end of the 15th century, Leonardo da
Yinci taking part in its preparation. These two latter canals,
leading respectively from the Ticino and the Adda, discharge
themselves into the Pavia canal, which in its turn flows into the
Ticino at a short distance from the Po. Besides these great
arteries, irrigation is effected with water drawn from springs and
wells, which, on account of the natural slope of the Lombard plain,
are able to irrigate land at several kilometres’ distance. This
system is facilitated by the so-called “right of passage” or “right
of aqueduct ” created in Lombardy, and now included in the civil
codes of several nations. The rent of irrigated land varies from 8
to 11 lire per perch (120 to 165 lire per hectare)—scarcely one-half
of the rent demanded a feAV years back. This reduction has led to