Seven hundred years after his death, Marco Polo re-emerges as a medial figure activating new narratives between East and West. Drawing on Orientalism and Occidentalism, this paper explores how his image functions today as a device of representation and cultural mediation. Two 2024 exhibitions—I mondi di Marco Polo (Venice) and Wonders of the World (Shanghai)—offer mirrored readings: the former still Eurocentric, the latter shaped by a Chinese counter-discourse. Marco Polo thus becomes a site of intersecting projections, a symbolic bridge, and a field of global negotiation.
University of Siena, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-7283-3907
Chapter Title
Marco Polo tra Orientalismo e Occidentalismo: viaggio, rappresentazione e mediazione culturale nelle mostre contemporanee
Authors
Ornella De Nigris
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0883-3.13
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Il Milione nel tempo tra Asia ed Europa: Marco Polo nelle letterature medievali e contemporanee
Book Subtitle
Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Siena, 7–8 novembre 2024) e del Seminario “700 anni di Marco Polo” (Firenze, 11 dicembre 2024)
Editors
Paola Mocella
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
178
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0883-3
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0882-6
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0883-3
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0884-0
Series Title
ConTesti medievali. Studi, ricerche e fonti