Terrain question for Italian friends

[Hans]

I've been to Italy a half dozen times but must admit I didn't note the following geographic features.

In small villages the Church is normally centered in it or towards the outskirts of the village?

The cemetary, near the church or detached and outside the village limits?

Autostrada were (in WWII time frame) concrete roads?

Railroad stations, on the outskirts or incorporated within older structures and buildings?

Thanks

Hans

[massimorocca]

Difficult to have a definitve answer.

Church. Also a little hamlet could have more than one. The principal Church is more or less in the center of the village, town, but there are many important churches also in the outskirts.

Cemetery are usually out of the village.

Autostrada was concrete or macadamized but are very few.

Railroad station usually in the town, some times in the big city in downtown

[Andreas]

Three questions I maybe able to answer from my trips to Italy. Haven't been everywhere though, so regional variety may make this invalid.

1) Churches - I think these are often in the centre of the village. In towns you may also have a lot more than one church.

2) Cemetaries I think are often outside villages though.

3) Railway stations - in the Anzio (Pontine Marshes) area, these seem to be centre of the villages, because the villages were quite new. In particular when you have hill-top villages though, the railway station maybe quite a way away (e.g. in Assissi it is about 2-3km or so), but it may then have a small cluster of buildings associated with it.

4) Autostradas - making a guess, I would say they are likely to be hard surface roads. AIUI they often followed the Roman roads, which were hard surface, so I think it unlikely that they made a step back when constructing them. Roman roads were perfectly serviceable into at least the 19th century in parts of Europe, I think.

[capitano_gino]

The church are always in the center of te village bat the cemetery often are far away (except the villages in AltoAdige/SudTirol were was attached the curch). In the 40s there was not highway anywere in Italy. The street between the mid/big town was in asphalt but all the other wasn't.

Usually the railway station was in the center.

bye

cg

[Abbott]

Originally posted by capitano_gino:

The church are always in the center of te village bat the cemetery often are far away (except the villages in AltoAdige/SudTirol were was attached the curch). In the 40s there was not highway anywere in Italy. The street between the mid/big town was in asphalt but all the other wasn't.

Usually the railway station was in the center.

bye

cg

Excellent post, thank you sir!

[Hans]

When did the autostrada come into being?

Thanks for the info!

[massimorocca]

First what means Autostrada during the war time? Answer: it's a paved road where any non motorized vehicle, such as horsedrawn or bycicle, is forbidden, I think that your equivalent is SuperHighway or Freeway. In Italy there is only one road of this kind, the Via del Mare that connected Rome to the sea coast where now is the International Rome's Airport of Fiumicino, more or less 20 miles long, but be careful it was a two way, single lane, without guardrail. All the other paved road could be called "Route" a two way, single lane, narrow ( two trucks side to side an no more) with curvilinear path, surrounding the natural obstacle more than moving straight with tunnels and bridges. Now we can call them only Blue roads. From Rome to the south you had only two of them useful in military term in 1943-44 the Appia road and the Casilina.