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"He travels fastest who travels alone."

―Ezio Auditore, regarding his journey East.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze's journey to Masyaf was a ten month pilgrimage from Italy to Masyaf, in order to locate a library hidden below the city's castle, believing it to be housing something capable of putting an end to the centuries long Assassin-Templar war.

Beginnings

With the Templar threat in Italy extinguished, Ezio Auditore focused on further cementing the Assassins' place in Italy. Establishing his power base in Rome, Ezio rebuilt and restructured the Italian Brotherhood under the benevolent eye of Pope Julius II, also improving lines of communication from Sicily to Venice and standardizing methods of training for novices and fellow Assassins.

Following the removal of the Borgia, the Templars remained in abeyance and Ezio left the running of Assassin operations in the hands of his sister Claudia; though Ezio remained vigilant of an incoming threat, and uncomplainingly devoted himself to the task of retrieving and putting in order what the Templars had wrought damage upon in the mean time. Though happy with his task, Ezio fondly missed the action and open air he previously experienced on a regular basis, prior to his role as Mentor, knowing missions seldom come to men of his age.

In 1509, Ezio came across a leather satchel with a letter inside, written by his father Giovanni, to his uncle Mario. In the letter, Giovanni mentioned a library, built by legendary Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, hidden below a castle in the Syrian mountain city of Masyaf, the former headquarters of the Levantine Assassins. Along with the letter was a sheet of parchment, written by Altaïr himself. In it, Altaïr reflected on his confrontation with his former Mentor Rashid ad-Din Sinan, and the Apple of Eden and its temptations.

Spurred by his desire for adventure, and believing the library to be housing something of great importance, Ezio made preparations for his journey East, first consulting with both Niccolò Machiavelli in Florence, to whom Ezio did not reveal all he had learned, and Bartolomeo d'Alviano in Ostia, who encouraged him with his plans.

Pilgrimage to Syria

Ezio: "I'll forage as I go along."

Claudia: "You're good at that."

—Ezio and Claudia, before Ezio's depature from Rome.

Early in the New Year, on the feast of St. Hilary, preperations were finally ready and a date was set for Ezio's depature from Rome, via Naples, to the southern port of Bari, with an armed escort provided by Bartolomeo.