Since April 1991, when Georgia regained her independence, the nation has been attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors. At first, not too many facilities existed to welcome tourists, though now, in most parts of the country, they enjoy excellent services. But any early visitor who might think, “Well, I was a pioneer: when I came in the 1990s, the going was tough,” would do well to consider Madame Carla Serena and her extraordinary solo travels on horseback throughout Georgia, from Abkhazia through the heartlands to Kakheti and beyond, between 1875-1881. She could truly claim to be a pioneer who roughed it, and her detailed, colorful and analytic travel narrative, lavishly illustrated with woodcuts based on excellent photographs, fully reflects her extraordinary capabilities and achievement. Moreover, any deeper exploration of her little-known life reveals even greater qualities.

Who was Carla Serena? And why doesn’t she immediately spring to mind? Part of the answer is that ironically such was her background and life that no one nation has done anything significant to lay claim to her or to promote her achievements. She was born in 1824, in Antwerp, Belgium, as Caroline Hartog Morgensthein. In 1847, she married Leone Serena, a wealthy Venetian shipping-broker, taking on the name Carla Serena. In 1849, the ruling Austrian government exiled the Serenas for pro-independence activities, and after sojourning in Marseille, Paris, and Belgium, they settled in London, actively maintaining their Italian ties through the curiously named “Société anti-etiquette,” a salon that Carla hosted in her home. Some 25 years of domestic life followed, during the early years of which, between 1850 and 1858, Carla gave birth to two sons and three daughters. She also sent news articles to Le Précurseur, a newspaper published in Antwerp. In 1873, the paper sent Carla, now 54 with five children still at home, to Vienna, for the Universal Exposition being held to celebrate “culture and education.” Georgia Today