When we think of Venice, we think of water and its maritime might, but its most famous citizen went by land. It was in the year 1271 that the young Marco Polo set off for China to accompany his father on a commercial expedition. Plagued by bad weather, war and disease, the long journey east along the "Silk Road" took more than three years.

However, Marco Polo remained in the Far East for 25 years, a period during which the Venetian won the Chinese emperor's confidence as his advisor and was given high office. Born in Venice in 1254 to a family of merchants, Marco Polo has become one of the most famous figures in the history of the Serenissima Republic, thanks to his "extraordinary exploits", which lie somewhere between reality and myth.