Seven hundred years ago Marco Polo died and Venice, his hometown, is preparing to honor the deeds of the great traveller. The municipal council has in fact approved the addresses for the celebrations of the seventh centenary of the explorer's death, which took place on 8 January 1324.
Venice celebrates Marco Polo
“We have also formalized the start of the process of setting up a steering committee which, as already happened for the 1600th anniversary of Venice, will have the task of celebrating Marco Polo. A calendar of events to be organized on the occasion of the seven hundredth anniversary of his death. The fulcrum of the initiatives will revolve around a major exhibition organized by the Foundation Civic Museums of Venice, which we have already deliberated and which will take place a Ducal Palace. An event that will begin in the spring of 2024, which we would like to continue throughout the year. And which will see exhibited works that mainly come from the rich heritage owned by the city”.
Thus the mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who added: "A series of events is planned around the exhibition which will give prestige to the memory of our fellow citizen who, as the Treccani Encyclopedia mentions, is given the merit of having written 'the first reliable and complete account of the Orient and the first contribution to mutual understanding between Asia and Europe”. The steering committee will be made up of eminent personalities and representatives of the city's public, academic, cultural, economic and social institutions. The partnership will have the task of collecting the solicitations and ideas that will allow Venice to pay homage to a great figure in our history, a man who, with deeds, created a bridge to the East and who, with his resourcefulness, is become symbol of Venice in the world.
(Featured photo: Marco Polo mosaic Palazzo Grimaldi Doria-Tursi – Commons Wikimedia public domain)
