ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on notions of communitas as they play out in two distinct destinations, Venice and Florence, thus exemplifying two particularly different roots of the concept. It describes a trip to Venice and Florence, Italy by Daniel C. Knudsen and his wife, Linda, in June 2013. Venice represents, in this autoethnographic account, a more frequently visited space in which fields of care have begun to develop, thus generating a feeling of community, whereas Florence highlights the often instantaneous nature of communitas. Touring Florence bears strong similarity to secular pilgrimage, partially accounting for the city's immense popularity. Touristic performances of Venice have resulted in community networks that extend well beyond our "home" to include individuals who live in the city. Touristic performances of Florence included participation in rituals of sightseeing that brought us into contact with socio-cultural sites of significance and facilitated numerous communitas experiences.
