For 300 years, Italian merchants were the middlemen of world trade. Silk, spices, and gold flowed through Venice, Genova, Pisa, and Florence.
Plan a history trip →Venice → Constantinople → Central Asia: the western end of the Silk Road. Marco Polo’s route (1271–1295). Genova → Black Sea → Central Asia: Genoese traded alongside Venetians. Amalfi/Pisa → North Africa/Egypt: spices, textiles, slaves. Overland Via Francigena: pilgrimage and trade route from Canterbury to Rome (1,800km), revived today as a walking trail.
Walk the Via Francigena through Tuscany (Lucca–Siena–Rome sections are best). Visit Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice (now a DFS luxury store, but originally the German merchants’ warehouse, 1228). Loggia dei Mercanti in Bologna/Siena/other cities: the covered exchanges where deals were made.
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