Infamous Venetian Marco Polo was a Croat…Apparently…But Maybe Not….Who Cares….

Marco Polo, who we all thought was an Italian, a Venetian to be precise, appears to be a Croatian…according to the Croatians anyway. And Stepan Mesic, the former President of Croatia, claimed the Chinese asked him to open a new Marco Polo “Memorial Hall” in Yangzhou (more on that here should you be able to work up the enthusiasm – it looks about as historically rigorous as all those Zheng He “museums” and replica boats that have popped up all over in recent years since 1421 massaged the Chinese nationalist soul).

Needless to say the Italians are not best pleased by this “hi-jacking” of their Marco by Croatian nationalists. Realising that they might have strayed into the dangerous waters of Italo-Balkan rivalry (not the sort of thing that ever ends well or without some bloodshed) the Chinese have now backtracked and say they only invited Mesic to attend, not to officiate. Still the ever tin eared local officials are adamant in their hope that the Memorial Hall will “boost and further strengthen Sino-Croatian trade and cultural ties” – obviously we all wish both Yangzhou and Zagreb well with that noble endeavour.

More here from Shanghaiist should you give a sh*t

Shame Yangzhou couldn’t lure the mighty Silvio Berlusconi to town for some Marco-inspired celebratory Bunga Bunga…

Marco…

and, what we thought was his lovely home town of Venice…

But to be honest Zagreb’s none too shabby…