This year marks an important anniversary: the loss of Marco Polo, in January 1324, a Venetian of great fame, whose adventurous events, later narrated in an equally famous book, "Il Milione", won the attention of his contemporaries and passed down his memory to the centuries to come.
With the mediation of some specialists who, through their studies, have had the opportunity to investigate and to shed new light on such character and the city of Venice during the early 14th century, the series of meetings "In the Sign of Marco Polo: Venice 1324-2024", organised by Ateneo Veneto and curated by Alessandra Schiavon, intends to propose a renewed reading of the context in which the figure of Marco Polo was in. The geographical and linguistic context will also be analysed, as well as aspects linked to the economy and daily life and mercantile practices of a city-state that increasingly looks to the world universe included within the Eastern Mediterranean basin, and which will be able to draw strength and wealth from encounters with different peoples and different civilisations.
In that cosmopolitan Venice, Nicolò, Matteo and Marco Polo matured the conditions to face the great adventure of travelling to the boundless lands of the Great Khan; they would later return to Venice, delivering to the whole of Europe priceless treasures, extraordinary artefacts, fabulous stories.
Programme
Thursday 18 January 2024
The Image of the World at the Time of Marco Polo
Piero Falchetta, Globes and Maps from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Camillo Tonini, On the Trail of Marco Polo in the Venetian Civic Collections
Thursday 1 February 2024
Goods, Fashion and Markets in Marco Polo's Venice
Luca Molà, Trading and Investing in Marco Polo's Venice
Paola Venturelli, «Dressed by the Great Khan… Rich Things of Great Value». Marco Polo and Clothing
Thursday 22 February 2024
An International Project: the Edition of Documents Relating to Marco Polo
Andrea Nanetti, Presentation of the Poliano Diplomatic Code
Thursday 14 March 2024
Marco Polo's Legacy Between Sentences and Courts
Alessandra Schiavon, Venice, 13 July 1366: Fantina Polo Asks for Justice
Vittorio Formentin, The Inventory of Marco Polo's Movable Assets as a Linguistic Document
