The Italians defend their annexation of the Upper Adige by asserting that Italy’s true northern boundary, in the words of Eugene de Beauharnais, written, when Viceroy of Italy, to his stepfather, Napoleon, “is that traced by Nature on the summits of the mountains, where the waters that flow into the Black Sea are divided from those that flow into the Adriatic.”  Viewed from a purely geographical standpoint, Italy’s contention that the great semi-circular barrier of the Alps forms a natural and clearly defined frontier, separating her by a clean-cut line from the countries to the north, is unquestionably a sound one.  Any one who has entered Italy from the north must have instinctively felt, as he reached the summit of this mighty mountain wall and looked down on the warm and fertile slopes sweeping southward to the plains, “Here Italy begins.”

Italy further justifies her annexation of the German-speaking Upper Adige on the ground of national security.  She must, she insists, possess henceforward a strong and easily defended northern frontier.  She is tired of crouching in the valleys while her enemies dominate her from the mountain-tops.  Nor do I blame her.  Her whole history is punctuated by raids and invasions launched from these northern heights.  But the new frontier, in the words of former Premier Orlando, “can be defended by a handful of men, while therefore the defense of the Trentino salient required half the Italian forces, the other half being constantly threatened with envelopment.”

As I have already pointed out, the annexation of the Upper Adige means the passing of 180,000 German-speaking Austrians under Italian sovereignty, including the cities of Botzen and Meran; the ancient centers of German-Alpine culture, Brixen and Sterzing; of Schloss Tyrol, which gives the whole country its name; and, above all, of the Parsier valley, the home of Andreas Hofer, whose life and living memory provide the same inspiration for the Germans of Tyrol that the exploits and traditions of Garibaldi do for the Italians.

That Italy is not insensible to the perils of bringing within her borders a bloc of people who are not and never will be Italian, is clearly shown by the following extract from an Italian official publication: 

“In claiming the Upper Adige, Italy does not forget that the highest valleys are inhabited by 180,000 Germans, a residuum from the immigration in the Middle Ages.  It is not a problem to be taken light-heartedly, but it is impossible for Italy to limit herself only to the Trentino, as that would not give her a satisfactory military frontier.  From that point of view, the basin of Bolzano (Bozen) is as strictly necessary to Italy as the Rhine is to France.”