A world tour
Whether he’s touring the Amazon rainforest or looking up at Dracula’s castle, Carl Lanzilli ’66 has found a way to bring Boston College along for the adventure.
Before every flight, Lanzilli tucks a travel-size banner into his luggage, and then carries it with him for the duration of his trip. When he sees a good photo op—a crystal clear lake in Slovenia or an ancient Greek temple in Sicily, perhaps—he pulls it out. Over the past 15 years, the maroon and gold flag has made appearances in hundreds of snapshots, oftentimes held by locals who Lanzilli has met on his travels (so far, the only person who has refused to hold the banner was a guard at the Tower of London, who told Lanzilli “We’re not allowed to hold messages from anybody”).
![Carl Lanzilli playing harmonica in front of Eqyptian pyramids](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720016039076/carl-eqypt.jpeg)
Carl Lanzilli playing harmonica on a trip to Eqypt.
Lanzilli, a Massachusetts native, caught the travel bug when the Army sent him to Vietnam in his 20s. After finishing law school, he spent several years backpacking through the Pacific Islands, sleeping on beaches in Hawaii and Tahiti, and working on a sheep ranch in New Zealand and in the Australian backcountry before coming home and starting his career as an attorney.
Years later, while on an African safari, Lanzilli noticed a fellow traveler incorporating the University of Maryland mascot, a terrapin, into her photographs, and it struck him as a creative way to honor one’s alma mater. He took his banner on his next trip to Venice, where he photographed it in the hands of a gondolier, and then to Paris, making sure to get shots in front of the Notre Dame cathedral and atop the Eiffel Tower. Since then, the banner has traveled to Iceland and Greenland, to the streets of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, and to the Colosseum in Rome. It’s accompanied Lanzilli, a talented harmonica player (“I think I’m the only one who can play ‘For Boston’”) to music festivals across the U.S., and will be the first thing he packs when he heads to Chile this fall.
“I just love ,” he said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else.”
![A castle on a cliff](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns/col1/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.png/1720018016177/count-draculas-castle-500.png)
Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania
![A woman dressed in a colorful costume](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns/col2/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720018010590/carnival-dancer-at-rio-500.jpeg)
A Carnival performer in Rio de Janeiro
![A nobleman holding a banner](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns/col3/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720018004125/nobleman-in-stirling-castle-500.jpeg)
A nobleman at Stirling Castle in Scotland
![Medieval knight holding a banner](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns/col4/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017997712/medieval-knight-estonia-500.jpeg)
A medieval knight in Tallin, Estonia
![The banner in front of the view from the Eiffel Tower](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_863585738/col1/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017351769/eiffel-tower-600.jpeg)
The view from the Eiffel Tower
![The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge in Venice](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_863585738/col2/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720016754101/grand-canal-from-the-rialto-bridge-in-venicegrand-canal-from-the-rialto-bridge-in-venice-600.jpeg)
The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge in Venice
![A banner in front of the Moai statues of Easter Island](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_863585738/col3/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017316347/easter-isnald-600.jpeg)
The Moai statues of Easter Island
![A Celtic warrior holding a banner](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c/col1/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720016602764/celtic-warrior-at-urquart-castle-500.jpeg)
A Celtic warrior at Urquhart Castle in Scotland
![A banner hanging on an orange building](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c/col2/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017766779/prime-minister-office-faroe-islands-500.jpeg)
Office of the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
![A gondolier in Venice holding a banner](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c/col3/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720016702933/gondolier-500.jpeg)
A gondolier in Venice
![Roman soldiers holding a banner at the Colosseum](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_1752171701/col1/bc_image_content_ext_644183309.coreimg.jpeg/1720017509560/colosseum-600.jpeg)
Roman soldiers at the Colosseum
![A fisherman holding a banner](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_1752171701/col2/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017728072/fisherman-faroe-islands-600.jpeg)
A fisherman in Klaksvík, on the Faroe Islands
![The banner in front of a waterfall](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_1752171701/col3/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017419001/iceland-600.jpeg)
The Godafoss Waterfall in Iceland
![A banner in front of a Greek temple](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_454019663/col1/bc_image_content_ext_644183309.coreimg.jpeg/1720017478722/temple-600.jpeg)
An ancient Greek temple in Sicily
![A castle on a lake](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_454019663/col2/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720016656744/urquhart-castle-on-loch-ness-500.jpeg)
Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland
![The banner held in front of a cityscape](/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2024/summer/a-bc-world-tour/_jcr_content/par/responsive_columns_c_454019663/col3/bc_image_content_ext.coreimg.jpeg/1720017550396/toledo--spain-600.jpeg)
Toledo, Spain