On Friday, Jan. 7th, we took a guided tour around Genoa and learned about the history and the rise of one of Italy's most historic cities. Because of the craziness of our flight schedule, many of us did not get more than a few hours of sleep on the plane and before we knew it it was the next day when we arrived in Italy. Unfortunately this caused most of us to struggle staying awake and paying attention to this tour, which I wish I would have been more awake from... Although I won't mention names one of us even fell asleep standing up!! Even while battling jetlag, the class learned so much in a relatively short amount of time,  I felt that there was so much more to see and learn about! Bailey and I later read the article titled "The Investment of Wealth in Thirteenth Century Genoa", and many of the questions we had were answered. On our tour we saw many different sites and buildings that were centuries old, including cathedrals and family homes, including the home of Christopher Columbus!

The article that we read described how the value that we currently hold in money and liquid assets was not nearly as prevalent at the time when Genoa saw a huge economic boom. We learned from an article presented by classmates about the funding and investing observed with the expansion of trade during this time. The wealthier families, many of whom that we viewed their homes, paid for the majority of these expeditions, and invested the money earned from their investment in real estate. In such a prominent and growing economy, there was a trend of purchasing real estate and passing it down through the family, in both the wealthy and middle/lower class families. The article described archives that outlined more than 100 bequeaths of families of all social classes, more than 90 of which passed down real estate and coin or other liquid assets were of little importance. It was cool to see the gigantic homes of some of these 13th century investors, showing how over multiple generations families grew in wealth, prominence and power, and their legacies are still seen today in Genoa.

Ciao!
-Jackson Leech