Arrivederci, Venezia, Andiamo al Milano!

After six days in beautiful Venice, we are leaving from the Mestre train station to finish our adventure in Milan. The traffic in Mestre caused our van ride from the hotel to the train station to be more eventful than we wanted, but we made the train just in time.

Blizzard's steak >> Dante's Inferno

This photo essay comes to us courtesy of Trey Blizzard, who writes: "This is Dante’s, the restaurant we ate at in Florence. A family friend had recommended this restaurant based on their food and service. We really enjoyed this dinner and as you can see they really know how to cook a steak." Truer words about steak cooking on this trip were never spoken. All of us in the Entrepreneurship Italy study-abroad course hope that there was no inferno-like influence on the diners who enjoyed this main course.

How hard could it be? Cart-based sales from the Lido beach

This postcard comes to us courtesy of Ronnie Norris: "This cart provided a service to a large number of people on the beach. The selling point of the cart was the fact it was closer and easier to access than the shops across the street off the beach. This is a very simple service selling products that don't cost much money, I can not image the cart has much up keep/ maintenance issues. Good business idea. He could grow the business by setting up the same cart around the island, on beaches and corners."


Do you want to start your own restaurant? Before you launch into the full restaurant model, think about how you can make a name for yourself with as little fixed costs as possible. For many aspiring chefs, this means offering your services as a chef-for-hire or caterer for parties. If you have a replicable model based on a few compelling food offerings that can be made ahead of time and presented to customers, you might want to think about the food cart route. Virtually all of my students have heard me pitch my idea for "Crimson Dogs" on home-game Saturdays. You might find that the catering gig or your replicable cart business is more fun and more profitable than running a "real" restaurant. Thanks, Ronnie!


For anyone who wasn't fixed in a trance-like state by the Adriatic waves, check out the menu prices for individual items, buy both a food and appropriate beverage product, then count how many customers the cart vendor sells to over the course of the day. You will be witnessing first-hand how people solve their "big pain" of not having some food or drink to accompany their day at the beach.

Sopra Milano: The View from the Cathedral Top

 Most of us have seen pictures of the beautiful Gothic-themed duomo in Milan, but one of its real treasures lies above on its rooftop. Go around the right side of the cathedral and climb the stairs to the top of the duomo for breathtaking views and incredibly intricate sculptured features. Ponder why someone would need a duck-faced gargoyle or the guard-dog pictured to the left of this text. Once you've arrived on the top of the duomo, consider the amount of labor, materials, and design inputs that went into the creation of this beautiful structure.

Sushi in Milan: The Armstrong Endorsement

Milan is the most modern city in Italy, and for many it feels like you've left Italy when you arrive here. After days of pasta, pizza, and risotto, you may have developed a monstrous appetite for sushi. To satisfy that appetite, you should go to La Rinascente at the Piazza Duomo (Metro: Duomo). (Monday-Thursday: 9:30AM - 9:00PM; Friday-Saturday: 9:30AM - 10:00PM; Sunday: 10:00AM - 9:00PM). La Rinascente is a big department store to the left of the Cathedral - you'll need take the elevators to the 7th floor to get there. The sushi offerings tantalize you from conveyor belts - take whatever looks good when it gets to you.

International Herald Tribune - 36 Hours in Milan

We are finishing our time here in Venice and preparing for our final destination in Milan. The International Herald Tribune decided to honor our group with a feature article on Milan in its weekend travel section. A link to the IHT article is here.

I say "Lambo," you say "rghini"

Aaron Norris led a group of adventurous auto enthusiasts on a pilgrimage to the Lamborghini factory on Monday. In the midst of scores of elementary school kids from Thailand, our students saw first-hand how Lamborghini maintains its craftsman-like approach to automobile design and manufacture. Updates to this post coming soon.

15-minute lesson in customer (dis)service

Trey Blizzerd shared this picture from the Supermarket across from our hotel in Venice (it's the Cardoro, a supermarket and bus stop). Says Trey, "They had two lines open at a peak purchasing time. It was around a 15 minute wait to get a couple bottles of water. Since I have a concentration in Logistics/Supply Chain Management I’m all about doing things the most efficient way possible. The grocery store should analyze their data to determine their “high traffic” times and schedule more employees at those times so more registers can be open. This is simply just a pain that could be easily fixed." 
Sadly, the attitude is that most businesses don't care because consumers don't have a lot of options and they've been conditioned to expect disengaged service. Plus, many of these businesses have "reward cards" that allow customers to accrue points for their purchases over time - this raises their customers' switching costs, even though the points only get them chump prizes. This is truly a culture-level phenomenon. Until this culture changes the solution can be summed up in two words: Vending machines.

How to turn kababs into gold in Venice

Nearly all of us have discovered the value of the close, fast, and delicious Kabab restaurant around the corner from the beautiful and peaceful Hotel Nuove Mestre. Have you thought about how the owners and managers of this store might run this business profitably? This restaurant is not in the heart (or even the chest cavity) of Venice, yet it draws satisfied customers consistently each day. How much in revenues do you think this place takes in each day? (# of customers X sales per customer / day). E.g., 150 customers X 6 euro = 900 euro. Subtract out wages (100 euro?), cost of goods sold (100 euro?), and fixed costs (rent, utilities, insurance, maybe 50 euro) and you have 650 euro profit. If my average sales per customer goes up by just one euro, then my profit for the day is 800. Just some back-of-the-envelope stuff, but you can quickly do some numbers to see how kebabs can turn into gold. The purpose of the exercise is not to reverse-engineer the numbers to complete accuracy, but to gain an understanding about the moving parts - revenues per customer, number of customers, additional incremental revenues, cost of goods sold, and fixed costs - that make or break a small business.


Thanks to Andrew Slusser for putting down his gyro long enough to take this picture!

Gondola Manufacturing in Venice

Student postcard from Will Bomberg: "On Friday, we took a tour of Roberto’ s gondola workshop. His luxury business requires much skill and attention to detail. Roberto informed our group that it takes around two months to build a gondola, selling for €35,000+ each. His target market only includes wealthy customers or those in the business of providing gondola rides, due to the cost and regular maintenance. In Venice, artisan’s skills are truly valuable! Now, Roberto is “cashing in” on the opportunity to provide thirty minute tours for €120."

Things you might not have thought you could do while in Venice

Everyone knows about the gondolas, Saint Mark's Square, and the Rialto Bridge, but what about other attractions in Venice? Here is a quick and certainly not exhaustive list of some other things to do in Venice.


1. Visit the beach in Lido. You can take a ferry from the Tronchetto port to Lido. From there you can rent a bike for the day or take a cab to the beach on the tip of the island for an afternoon on the Adriatic.

2. Take a guided boat tour of ancient villas along the channel between Venice and Padova. See and experience the grandeur of the villas that the wealthy merchants of Venice lived in during the summers to escape the Venetian heat. More information about the guided tour is available at http://www.battellidelbrenta.it/home.php?setlan=en.

3. Rent a Shuttle-Bike to ride on the channels of Venice. Not long ago I saw someone riding one of these bikes on a side channel in Venice - don't know if it was for a promotion for the product or for a rental outfit in Venice, but it's worth Googling to find out more. Obviously, I didn't find the main site, or I would have posted more information...

"Seens" from the Roman Metro

This attention-grabbing poster appears inside the Cornelia sub station as an advertisement for the Saint Loius College of Music, a degree-granting school of rock, blues, and jazz in Rome. I suspect Mr. Tarantino would approve! 

Venice and Peggy Guggenheim's Collection

The front door opens to the Grand Canal of Venice. The buildings house all varieties of art, including sculptures, glass, scores of paintings, and the famous Jackson Pollocks. The gardens on the grounds are a joy to spend some time in. Watch everyone take a turn sitting in the stone throne while sipping a cappuccino. I'm not much of a fan of Vorticists, but there is a Vorticism exhibition through mid-May. This is the type of exhibition in which the Guggenheim excels: quirky, charming, a bit obscure, but unforgettable. Link: Guggenheim Collection Venice.

World Champion Gelato in San Gimignano

Those of you planning to take the day trip to San Gimignano will enjoy a special opportunity to sample some of the best gelato in the world. Sergio is the master ice cream maker of the "Gelateria di Piazza" located in the central Piazza della Cisterna in San Gimignano, known all over the world and visited by a large number of celebrities. His original and unusual flavors include Crema di Santa Fina® (cream with saffron and pine nuts), Champelmo® (pink grapefruit and sparkling wine), Dolceamaro® (cream with aromatic herbs) and Vernaccia (wine flavor) Sorbet.


Nearby, the Collegiata is one of Tuscany's most richly decorated churches, with an admission price of 3 euro 50. For a truly depressing trip through humankind's treatment of its own, visit the Museo della Tortura, housed in two separate buildings and home to some really scary devices. I'll stick to torture by gelato.
View from the street.

Validate those train and bus tickets!

Travel in Italy is especially inexpensive and easy by train, bus, and metro rail, but you must validate your tickets before boarding trains and buses or face a big fine if you are caught. For Italian train lines, use the yellow boxes located in the stations before boarding your train. One time I boarded a train without enough time to get my ticket validated, so I tracked down the conductor immediately to get him to hand-validate my ticket to avoid the fine. Validate bus tickets by inserting them in the machines located just inside the entrance to the bus. Ride easy and travel worry- and fine-free.

Read this link on About.com to learn how to read and understand Italian train tickets.

Rick Steves Useful? Yes!

I am an entrepreneurship professor who is temporarily living in Italy. Rick Steves is an entrepreneur who provides value to travelers with his guidebooks, videos, and websites on how to travel the world rewardingly and inexpensively. Rick and his staff continue to provide a lot of great information for free (the Internet has that effect). Here is a link to Rick Steve's blog for traveling in Italy.

Rick's videos are worth checking out from your local public library or purchase from your whatever video source. His guidebooks are enlightening and entertaining, full of "big picture" observations as well as idiosyncratic tidbits that make your trip more enjoyable. (Based on my experiences...)

I hope that at least one of you will give serious thought to the entrepreneurship of tourism. What models work and why? What makes for a delightful experience when traveling abroad? What problems have you experienced that could be avoided with a new product or service? And what models aren't being used that could be game-changers for you as an entrepreneur of international travel?

Entrepreneurship, unproductive, illegal, and otherwise

In many cities in Italy, but especially in Florence, there are a large number of people who sell purses, sunglasses, watches, and other small trinkets along the side of major tourist routes. Most of the items being sold are knockoffs of brand name items, such as fake Rolex watches and fake Louis Vitton handbags. This practice is illegal. Some police units, especially those in Florence, have begun to crack down on these vendors and the people who buy from them. If you are caught buying something from these illegal vendors you can expect to be fined hundreds of euro on the spot, payable immediately. Unlike the illegal sellers, legal street vendors display their licenses in their marketplace booths and pay taxes on the goods they sell. Most illegal vendors display their merchandise on towels or small blankets to make it easy to run away. Note our illegal vendor in the picture whose "tote" for knock-off prints lets him fold up and run at a whistle's notice.

In this photo, a vendor chills while waiting for the polizzia locale to disband.

Italy's Dress Code

Italy is loaded with some of the most beautiful churches in the world, but you'd be hard-pressed to go into any of them dressed like most Americans dress for this time of year. Here it's important to dress (1) so that you don't stand out as an obvious tourist and (2) so that you are respectful of the norms of places you'll visit.

For men, it means no shorts in the evening, and no tank tops, spaghetti straps, or bare-shoulder clothing in churches or cathedrals for men or women. When you are visiting the Vatican, or practically any other place of religious significance, you should not wear short pants or short skirts. An alternative is to bring along scarves that you can drape over your shoulders, but I do not encourage dudes to attempt this. Don't get all the way to the gates of the Vatican only to be turned away for improper wardrobes. Further reading:

• Virtual Tourist
• YourGuidetoItaly
• Slow Travel

Roman Holiday Bungalow Style

Our accommodations in Rome come courtesy of Camping Village Roma. This facility is across the street from the Cornelia bus stop (bus no 246) and minutes away from the Cornelia Metro Station, just east of Vatican City. Check-in is after 1pm so those of you arriving before might need to chill pool-side or visit the Pope (it's Wednesday when you arrive) or both. The best way to get to the camping village is through their own shuttle bus from the Fiumincino airport - it's 11 euro per person. More information on this soon.

I looked at a lot of hotel accommodations before deciding on this venue. The reviews are excellent, the price is unbeatable, the location is decent, and the socializing opportunities for our group should be good, too. Bring your swim suit.

A cautionary note for would-be Bacchanalians

The legal drinking age in Italy is 16. For most Italians, drinking is not such a big thing. Public drunkenness and drunken behavior in general are frowned upon in the Italian culture. For many American students traveling abroad for the first time it might seem like you're a kid in a candy store. Alas, inexperience with drinking alcohol and being in a foreign country do not combine for a memorable (literally) experience. In a study-abroad program in which I was recently involved, three students suffered from alcohol poisoning to the extent that they had to be admitted to a hospital. Do not be like those students! Make sure you eat plenty of food if you're going to drink alcohol, pace yourselves to one drink an hour, drink plenty of water, and travel with at least one other person. Too many times we don't say or do anything before it's too late. Not on this trip - don't be the dude under the goat...