Lo “stravedamento” di Marco Polo. Un’avventura iconografica tra storia, mito e fiction

The relationship between the imaginary and the real in the story of Marco Polo and his famous book Il Milione is complex, blending rational and metaphysical elements. This ambiguity is echoed in other literary works, such as Calvino’s Invisible Cities and Eco’s Baudolino, where the protagonists navigate between reality and fantasy. In these works, the fantastical narrative style, filled with exaggerated and improbable details, becomes a means to access a deeper truth. Polo’s Devisement dou monde is similarly marked by an unstable identity, a hybrid of travelogue, mercantile manual, and geographical treatise. This textual instability has fueled its enduring fascination, as seen in the continued reinterpretation of Polo’s adventures through illustrations, maps, and cultural adaptations. The oscillation between the real and imaginary is a constant feature of his iconographic fortune, as evidenced by recent celebrations of Polo’s legacy. This paper explores contemporary examples of this dynamic, highlighting how the myth of Marco Polo persists in modern media.