First Backpacker in the World ?
Giovan Francesco Gemelli Careri in 1693 decideded to travel all over the world.He’s the most famous of “calabresi†travellers and someone calls him the inventor of travelling.
He was born in Radicena, (today Taurianova) Calabria, Italy, in 1651 and was a magistrate in the law court of Naples.
His Family was not aristocratic, so he couldn’t ever be a successful magistrate. In 1685 he’d been travelling in Europe for a year. Back in Naples, went on working in the law court for a while. But his life was not enough satisfying, and because of his curious mind, he wanted to see many other new things.
So, in 1693 he started is travel around the world.
His travelling lasted five years and sometimes was very dangerous. He sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a galley from Manila to Acapulco: “254 days and 5 years†between storms, deceases, fear… He’s been also walking across Southern America and Asia for the main part of his trip.
When he came back, he wrote a very successful report, printed in Italian five times and translated in others languages.
Someone said that Jule Vernes, writing his Around the World in 80 Days was thinking of Giovan Francesco Gemelli Careri.
We don’t know if it’s true, but certainly true is the fact that he was absolutely maybe the first backpacker.
Considering the fact that at the time hotels and hostels were not as popular as today ( They did not exist at all).
