The World Image at the Time of Marco Polo

This year marks an important anniversary: the disappearance, in January of the year 1324, of Marco Polo, a Venetian of great fame. His adventurous experiences, later narrated in an equally famous text, "Il Milione," captured the attention of his contemporaries and preserved his memory for centuries to come, reaching us today.

 

For the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, the Municipality of Venice has initiated official celebrations that will last for over a year, coordinating a schedule of initiatives promoted by both public and private entities operating in the cultural sector. The Ateneo Veneto also includes the first series of meetings within the official MarcoPolo700 program, dedicated to the great traveler.

 

Through the mediation of specialists who, through their studies, have investigated and shed new light on that character and on that Venice of the early Trecento, the series "In the sign of Marco Polo: Venice 1324-2024," curated by Alessandra Schiavon, aims to propose a renewed interpretation of the context in which the figure of Marco Polo was inserted, not only from a biographical and family point of view.

Indeed, the geographical and linguistic scope will be analyzed, as well as aspects related to the economy and daily life and mercantile practices of a city/state that increasingly looks towards the world, including the Eastern Mediterranean basin, and which, from the encounter with different peoples and civilizations, will draw strength and wealth.

 

In that cosmopolitan Venice, the conditions matured for Nicolò, Matteo, and Marco Polo to face the great adventure of travels to the vast lands of the Great Khan; to that Venice, they will then return, delivering to the entire Europe invaluable treasures, extraordinary artifacts, and fabulous tales.

 

 

 

 

Thursday, January 18 - 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

 

 

Piero Falchetta, former National Marciana Library of Venice

            

Camillo Tonini, formerly Civic Museums of Venice