Verrazzano
The last thing I expected last week in Tuscany was to find the origin of Verrazzano Bridge in NYC. But that’s how travel works. Invisible lines are drawn around the world. Connecting people and places. Ideas and energies. Last week I had my laptop out and was working overlooking the view of the Chianti hills at @ancoradelchianti. I could see a castle in the distance. I asked Spartacus about it, and he immediately said I should go for a wine tasting. Never one to turn down a tipple, I scheduled a visit after my conference call. This was afterall a working vacation. This is how I found myself Castello di Verrazzano looking at 3 stones from NYC cemented into the castle walls. The castle dates back to an Etruscan and then Roman, settlement. The Verrazzano family held the castle for centuries and the navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano is said to have been born there in 1485. He studied navigation as a young man and became a master mariner. He was engaged by the King of France to lead a voyage to North America in 1524. The purpose of Verrazzano’s journey was to learn more about the continent. He journaled extensively about his travels. He was not setting out to conquer lands but rather to chart them. He explored coastal areas from the present-day State of North Carolina to Canada, observing the natural abundance of the land and the vibrant culture of its native peoples. His voyage is the earliest documented European exploration of this part of the Atlantic Coast. Verrazzano’s reputation was particularly obscure in New York City, where the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson on behalf of the Dutch Republic came to be regarded as the de facto start of European exploration of New York. It was only by a great effort in the 1950s and 1960s that Verrazzano’s name and reputation were re-established as the European discoverer of the harbour, during an effort to name the newly built Narrows bridge after him. Verrazano in 1524 was probably the first European to sail the coast of North America. His map and account of his findings comprise the earliest description of the land and native people pioneered the way towards the eventual European settlement of North America.
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