Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more
My significant journey to Italy should be prefaced with the following: my parents had traveled quite a bit in Europe and my Mom always encouraged me to "just get a passport!" with hopes I'm sure that I would actually go somewhere safe/adventurous. I knew/heard of adventurous peers who had traveled to Europe, and I did not have the foggiest idea that I would ever do the same, which was due to either a lack of concrete plans or an ambiguous yet significant dream that I had in college in which a gypsy told me "your only fate will be when you travel the seas" (fate is a strong word and as we unde... full info