Compared with the other two peninsulas of Mediterranean Europe, Italy appears to be in more favorable conditions from the point of view of land use, both due to the presence of a vast plain to the north (in which climatic conditions are also propitious, at least to some more essential herbaceous crops) and to other smaller plains and coastal plains, both for the development of hilly regions, fairly well watered by rain, and for the climate, which presents fewer contrasts compared to Iberia and to the Balkans. Much more unfavorable is the comparison with the countries of central Europe. The mountainous soil entirely takes away from Italy considerable space for agriculture and in others limits agricultural possibilities or requires a great deal of effort from man to prepare and adapt the land.
According to official statistics 63,322 sq km are classified as plain. of the national territory, ie 20.4%; 124,132 sq km as a hill, that is 40%, and a slightly lower area as a mountain, 122,565 sq km, that is 39.6%. Northern Italy has more than half of the area classified as mountain, but about two thirds of the plain area. As for the climate, it should be remembered that in many parts of peninsular Italy and in the islands, the summer drought, often very harsh and prolonged, as already mentioned, can be very harmful to agricultural work and no less harmful is the irregular regime. , both in quantity and in time, of autumn and spring rains. The work that man does on the ground is therefore neither easy nor sure to end.
However, agriculture can be said to be the fundamental basis of the national economy. Having been practiced for millennia, with increasingly developed tools and procedures, the agricultural use of the soil has achieved impressive results, as is also attested by the statistics. These indicate that in Italy taken as a whole 49.4% of the soil is cultivated (44.1% for arable land; 5.3% for specialized wood crops); 20.3% is in natural pastures and meadows; 18% is occupied by woods (including chestnut groves, 2%); only 12.3% is uncultivated and of this uncultivated, about a third is also in some way productive. The percentage of unproductive land is very small for such a mountainous country, and is lower than that of all major European states. However, as we will see shortly,
According to REMZFAMILY, the prevailing importance of agriculture in Italy also results from the fact that, according to the agricultural census of March 19, 1930, as many as 8,810,000 people had agricultural employment as their main occupation and another 4,105,000 were interested in agriculture and occupations connected, on a secondary line. But it should also be noted that, of the total sum of farmers, only 28% are owners of the land, therefore interested in taking care of the maximum yield by any means; 41% are tenants linked by agricultural agreements of different types; 30% and more are day laborers. These and those have a less direct interest in a rational and progressive improvement of production on the land entrusted to them. In particular, the diffusion of large properties (large estates) with the forms of economy connected to them and often perpetuating conditions of things no longer responding to current interests, hinders the introduction and development of more suitable and convenient agricultural systems. An attempt is made to remedy this with land transformations promoted for reasons of public interest: today there are 43,255 sq km. of land subject to this transformation, especially in the Tavoliere di Puglia and in the so-called Fossa Premurgiana, in Lucania, in Sardinia, in the Agro Romano and in Maremma, in Istria, in the Lower Bresciana, in Emilia, etc. An attempt is made to remedy this with land transformations promoted for reasons of public interest: today there are 43,255 sq km. of land subject to this transformation, especially in the Tavoliere di Puglia and in the so-called Fossa Premurgiana, in Lucania, in Sardinia, in the Agro Romano and in Maremma, in Istria, in the Lower Bresciana, in Emilia, etc. An attempt is made to remedy this with land transformations promoted for reasons of public interest: today there are 43,255 sq km. of land subject to this transformation, especially in the Tavoliere di Puglia and in the so-called Fossa Premurgiana, in Lucania, in Sardinia, in the Agro Romano and in Maremma, in Istria, in the Lower Bresciana, in Emilia, etc.
Regarding the distribution of crops, there is a contrast between mainland Italy on the one hand and the peninsular with the islands on the other; in that, fairly well distributed rains, vast flat areas, wide irrigation possibilities and therefore an environment favorable to intensive cultivation and especially to that of cereals, rice, fodder; in the peninsula and in the islands a Mediterranean climate and therefore an environment favorable to tree crops: vines, olive trees, fruit trees. Cereals, especially wheat, have indeed been very widespread here since ancient times, indeed proportionately occupy a greater area than in continental Italy and also extend over unsuitable altimetric areas; but the harvests, especially in certain regions of the South and of the islands, are somewhat uncertain and at times frustrate the efforts of the farmer.
