We’re at the train station in Venice, or I should say, “Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia.” (It sounds so much nicer). We’re taking a train ride from Venice to Florence. Our reservations are confirmed and we’re ready to go. We just have to find “Binario Quindici.” No, that’s not the conductor’s name — it means “Track #15,” remember?
We found our train waiting for us on Binario Quindici. Then we found our car, found our seats, and settled in. Very comfortable. Little by little the car filled up. Everyone settled in.
Then at the exact moment that the second hand ticked over to 10:35:00, the train started to move. No sound, no whistle, no engine noise — we just started gliding along, like the car was being gently pulled by a string.
The Way to Florence
Our train makes an arc through northeastern Italy, going through towns like Padua, where Galileo used to lecture at the university back in the day.
It also goes through Rovigo, Ferrara, and Bologna, where I’m hoping I can get a sandwich. Bologna sandwiches made up a significant portion of my childhood diet. But in my world back then, they were known as “baloney” sandwiches.
As far as I can tell, most trains here don’t have “dining cars,” but they have “bar cars,” where you can get coffee and a snack. Right about the time we reached Bologna, I went to check out the bar car.
In Italy, a “bar” is a place where you get an espresso and maybe something light to eat, but no alcohol. Well, you can probably get vino. You can get vino anywhere in Italy.
I made my way down to the bar car. It’s a train car that’s been modified to accommodate tables or a counter where you can stand and have your coffee or a snack.
Bologna sandwiches weren’t on the menu, so I just got a coffee. I stood at one of the little tables as I watched the Italian countryside go by.
When Italy became Italy
Bologna is in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. This is where “Italy” became “Italy.” We think of European countries as being much older than the US, but “Italy” is younger in comparison.
From the fall of Rome, all the way to the 16th century, the geographic area we know as Italy was a hodgepodge of locals and folks who stuck around after one invasion or another.
For their own protection, people moved into hilltop towns surrounded by walls. As stronger towns swallowed up weaker ones, some grew into major cities and even into city-states. It was still a hodgepodge, though.
From the 16th century to the 19th century, city-states would periodically get mowed over by one big army or another — usually from Spain, France, or Austria. Invading armies would move into an area and stay until someone kicked them out.
The Papal States managed to hang together independently in the area around Rome, but the rest of “the boot” was still a hodgepodge. That was the case all the way up until 1805. Guess what happened then?
Enter Napoleon
In 1805, a young Frenchman with big ideas and a big ego came upon the scene. Young Napoleon Bonaparte was put in charge of a rag-tag assemblage of worn-out French soldiers.
Somehow, this group of soldiers started humiliating one army after another as they swept south and east from France. At the time, the powerful Austrian army occupied Emilia-Romagna.
Napoleon’s army ran the Austrians out of Emilia-Romagna. Then Napoleon assembled together all the territories he’d conquered and pronounced it the “Kingdom of Italy.”
If there’s going to be a “kingdom,” there has to be a king. So of course Napoleon appointed himself king. Then he set up a government, hand-picked a cabinet, defined city and county boundaries, and established laws.
He even established a new coin – the lira – and set its value at a certain amount of silver. Everyone in the new Kingdom of Italy had a common currency to use.
Most of the local population was tired of being bossed around by Austrians, so they were okay with all this change. But the Kingdom of Italy didn’t last long.
In 1813, Napoleon’s army got clobbered at Leipzig. After that defeat, all of the previous occupiers retook their old territories and moved back in. The hodgepodge was back.
To be continued…
