The Rise of Italy's journey begins with Marco Polo and his trips into Asia. Marco Polo wrote a travelogue on his wonderful journeys from Constantinople all the way to East Asia. On his journeys he even met with Kublai Khan. Well during later but no to late of his life he was held captive and POW by Genoa during the Battle of Curzola. Well after his death in the mid 14th century during height of the Plague, all of the Italian city states including the Papacy wanted a United Italy under the grace of the Church. Well, all of the City-states, including the Most Serene republics of Genoa and Venice, agreed to united Italy under Country and God. May 7th of 1408 become the year of Italian unification. With the Church starting to take a back seat without too much financial strains much of the Prot