The list of inventions and discoveries made by man begins with fire and the wheel. Horseback is nowhere to be found in this list, while horseback has played as important a role in creating the world as fire and the wheel. The Roman Empire was also built not only on fire and wheel, but also on horseback. When the horse became the companion of man, it cannot be said, but the companionship of horse and man tied the whole world into small and big empires. The Roman Empire was also one of them.
The horse used to carry swords on its back. The wheel followed him like a slave, and the human settlement where the sword-carrying horse reached, caught fire. Man's blood flowed on the earth and the man on horse suddenly became the emperor and the ten directions resonated with his cry. This was exactly the moment when an institution called Dharma appeared and bestowed divinity on the emperor. A similar story of the Roman Empire has emerged in this book.
Man wants to see the history of his past with his own eyes, so he travels the world. Through the world he wants to understand not only his history but also the creator of the world. This is the reason why millions of people around the world travel to some place every year.
During my eleven-day stay in Italy in the year 2019, I not only saw the faces of Romans roaming the streets of Italy, but they also saw faces ranging from Indian Punjabis to Egyptian Empress Cleopatra and Macedonian King Alexander. Shakespeare's play 'Merchant of Venice' I also saw the face of K Merchant in many merchants. Behind these faces, the faces of the emperors and popes of Rome who set new standards of rule and religion around the world were also seen.
Rome was not always the country of the Pope. Basically it is the country of European tribals, whom the Sanskrit-speaking Aryans from India taught the first lessons of civilization and culture. Rome was founded about 900 years before the birth of Christ, and the Pope was established about 100 years after the death of Jesus.
That is, in the long period of one thousand years before the existence of the institution called Pope, a lot had happened on the soil of Rome which is not only the identity of ancient Rome but also attracts the whole world even today. Yet for the last two thousand years Rome has remained the country of the Pope. It is known only to the Pope. The Pope is the heartbeat of this country and the Pope is the real identity of this country.
Going on a trip to a country for our family doesn't match any action of modern tourism. In these travels of ours, there are absolutely no elements like running after a hobby, throwing money for entertainment, watching sports and spectacle, enjoying the food and drink of that country.
For us, these costly foreign trips are a means to the painstaking process of assimilating the history and culture of that country and then putting it on the pages as it is. Our family trip to Rome in the summer of 2019 was part of one such process.
In this journey of eleven days from May 17 to May 28, 2019, as much as we could see, hear and understand the civilization, culture and history of Italy and its cities, the same is written in the pages of this book but only in such journeys. The days spent in that country are not the only part of writing, but there is a lot to read and understand before traveling to that country. Certainly the history and geography studied and understood before the trip to Italy are also important parts of this book.
During our 11-day stay in Italy, we spent four days in Rome, three days in Florence, one day in Pisa and three days in Venice. During this, many interesting and sour-sweet experiences were also made, efforts have been made to write them as they are.
– Dr. Mohanlal Gupta