Ready for Your Next Great Travel Adventure?
To get you started, in the scene, below are descriptions from my books of some of the world’s most amazing destinations. These clips are to help you learn about the location, prep for your travels and drive up your excitement about a specific place.
After the quotes, you’ll find a short-hand overview of my overall impression, with guidance for rising entrepreneurs.
ITALY
Venice
…in Venice at St. Mark’s Square. Piazza San Marco was one of the most evidential European settings, experienced without explanation for its water, its pigeons and its crowds. To have descended on the square was to at once be in the heart of Venice and to be so shockingly separated from the city itself. The widest open space in the city had the water pushed to its edges, not running through it. We were standing in front of St. Mark’s Basilica trying to ignore the tourist jostle for photo opportunities as we looked up at the exquisite exterior…
“La Serenissima, Venice is the canals, the neighborhoods,” I said pointing away from the square, to acknowledge the extent of the city over its more than one hundred islands. “It’s singular, you have to experience the peace to truly put up with the chaos.” From our standing spot, we were shadowed on three sides by the Procuratie, the least artistically offensive government buildings in the world, entered through arches into arcades running around three sides of the area and anchored by the clock tower at the opening to the water.
We pushed in the other direction, bypassing the priceless artwork in the Ducal Palace to peek inside the golden walls of St. Mark’s famed for both sculptures and paintings. Continuing beyond the Basilica, we wandered away from the crowds to lose ourselves in the alleys, pathways, stairs and bridges that linked each broken corner of the city. “This must be the only city in the world that is full of meandering obscured alleyways that are not a source of fear. You can wander here for hours, days and simply be experiencing the city, not expecting anything untoward to happen to you. That’s a special kind of peace available to anyone who gives themselves over to not being afraid to get lost. And lost is not really the right word – you are exploring – can you really be lost in Venice? And even if you could, would you care? Would the alleys absorb you into the night and impose a half-baked light on your escape before you could get out? I doubt it. I do not think the concept of lost is real in Venice.” We emerged at the foot of the stone archway of the Rialto Bridge, crossed over the Grand Canal and continued on our way, passing churches tucked into every corner and mini-bridges linking one group of structures to the next…
…at the Basilica dei Frari,..“One cannot begin to count the breadth and depth of art in this city,” I whispered as we walked through to admire the masterpieces aligning the church walls. “Renaissance artists brought the biblical stories to life in paintings and sculpture that have no equal. But with the artistic manifestation of the story, so came the administrative manipulation of its intent…
Venice was a leading post of Roman civilization, the city-state…Weeks could go by if we had wanted to linger in Venice, we could wander from church to church to view one timeless work of art after another. Or we could move on knowing that the city, despite its literal sinking into the sea, would be there again to enjoy on another day…
– Describing Venice in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters
Rome
Crossing the hills of Tuscany where the Duomo of Florence shown up at us, we descended into Rome…standing alongside the Pantheon. “The temple to all the Pagan Gods that has stood for nearly two thousand years,” I remarked as I pointed to this most enduring and specifically designed symbol of Roman creativity. “A symbol of the homage paid to dozens of ancient Gods, …stepping off the grey platform of the Pantheon, we immersed ourselves into the streets of Rome.
“Here in Rome, great, glorious, sprawling Rome, after all technically no longer the seat of the church, just another capital city of another animated European culture.” We fell upon the worn pavement flashing its story back across the ages. This was an endless city. If technology, culture and organization marked the heavenly capabilities of living man, then Rome drew equal to its barbarity with the gifts that it left open across so many lands. “What I love the most about ancient Rome’s legacy is the arches. I love the ones that traverse the countryside as aqueducts carrying water to the cities, it was ingenious. And I love the way they look. I have a thing for arches, and arches always remind me of the Roman Empire…
I like the pillars too – think they’re beautiful with all the different types and designs. I mean the architecture, art and the civilization that inspired it is absolutely foundational to our world. Look at this city…” We were walking through the grey-brown ruins of the Forum grounds towards the crumbled glory of the Colosseum, glancing at lovers holding hands and children running around the ancient stone.
“And the people. I know you’re not into material things but the fashion is fabulous and the fast cars are spectacular. Everyone is so beautiful, dressed, coiffed and settled. It’s so bizarre in Italy how on one side people can be idling in a café all day long, but a certain industriousness has kept huge swathes of the country functioning for decades. And look at their aptitude for design – hello Ferrari, hello Gucci, hello Armani – seriously what a country! Their family names are essentially the branded definition of how we all want to look. And then there’s the food…la dolce vita, what the promise of the renaissance can mean, even now.”
– Describing Rome in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters
Mīlle viae dūcunt hominēs per saecula Rōmam. This phrase means ‘a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome.’ Over time, the translation for these 12th century words was shortened to: ‘all roads lead to Rome.’ Figuratively meaning: your specific, targeted actions and activities can take you to the center of action, power and influence.
Today, the Italian capital with its vaunted Renaissance buildings and passionate feel is no longer the center of global power, but its eternal impact is unmatched.
In the glory days of the Roman Empire, everyone who wanted to be someone, set out on a road towards Rome.
Today, once you have made the decision to go into business, stored up motivation and vanquished obstacles, it’s time to set out on your, figurative, road to achieving your life dream of becoming an entrepreneur. This road becomes your own definition of the journey to entrepreneurial freedom.
– Describing Rome in Life Dream: 7 Universal Moves to Get the Life You Really Want through Entrepreneurship by Case Lane
Vatican City
…we had continued walking, the crowded, noisy streets of Rome had morphed into the broad rays of sunshine illuminating us on the open Piazza San Pietro. Through my drooling admiration of the visible Italian revitalization, I had ignored the direction of our route. We had departed the central ruins, crossed the Tiber River over the Palatine Bridge and followed the water north to enter Vatican City from the Via di Conciliazione, the road of conciliation, the word for overcoming anger with appeasement. Following this appropriately named Roman road had brought us… at the very center of the Catholic world in St. Peter’s Square. [and] to the Basilica, the 16th century symbol of Roman contrition that dominates the site. “This one transcends and supersedes all others…” To build a last resting place for St. Peter, in the shadow of Vaticanus hill was the goal of Emperor Constantine when he converted the Romans and it has endured in one form or another for 1,700 years…
Through the elliptical colonnade that has sparked a wave of conspiratorial dialogue, we crossed the pathway of the Popes …Wandering slowly up and down the aisles to encapsulate the artwork into the heart of memory, we spoke no further once under the looming dome of the church. Coming out of the Basilica, we crossed over the square to the Vatican Museums and wandered directly through to the Sistine Chapel where, if possible, we were silenced further beneath the masterwork of Michelangelo as we looked up at the ceiling. Beyond the church, returning through the rooms of the palaces, we were enveloped in the frescoes and carvings in the galleries…
It was a smothering experience to pass through this level of beauty laid out in artistic representation by so few blessed hands within a matter of minutes. The treasures of the Vatican were apt to take decades to study and appreciate properly at least to give the artists a token of common understanding…
– Describing Vatican City in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters
Place: Repubblica Italiana, the Italian Republic in southern Europe, the modern vestige of the Holy Roman Empire
Visited: Twice
Most Recent Visit: TBD probably early 2000s
Original sites: Overwhelming: Get your walking shoes, guide books, art and history books, and just keep going
Familiarity: High
English usage: Often
Surprise: Rome is one of the world’s endless cities which means you can turn a corner on almost any road and find a hidden treasure like a charming cafe or original artwork
For Rising Entrepreneurs in Business: Italians have an extensive and sophisticated market and may surprise you with their tastes for new ideas, products and services
Country Details U.N. Country Data Stats for Italy
Reading Recommendations
Want more information about visiting to Italy: contactcase(at)readyentrepreneur(dot)com
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