Mina A.A.

Venice is a place of our dreams. We usually imagine a gondola, carnival, and a bottle of Prosecco Veneto with only two glasses. But, the city of love also has its dark side. This is the story about the Venice of our nightmares.
We have finished the Ghost Tour, and returned safely. The organizers are people who keep promises. A day crowd has not invaded the town yet. Childishly we believe we are spared. Ghosts will leave us alone now. Wrong. While darkness is slowly creeping away through the narrow passages, and the waves of the canals are getting tired of composing sounds of their own, the legends of Venice, created many, many moons before, are coming back.
The legends, ghosts, and questions return. They are attacking in some elegant, mysterious way. The suspiciously deceased owners of the Palazzo Dario, all twelve of them, are stirring the faded darkness. These kinds of people are thirsty for attention, as always. Christopher Lambert, the British record producer and manager of the rock band “The Who”, keeps making those aggressive sound effects while committing suicide. Nicolleta Ferrari is burning rubber with her fancy car, and dying in a terrible car accident. Count delle Lanze is obviously murdered. But, even his murderer is haunted, and killed. The certain rule applies around here. Nobody is allowed to take the dark justice into his or her own hands. There are souls appointed to the task. Mario Del Monaco is disturbing the silence with his tenor exercises. He is not supposed to be part of this horror. The famous tenor was just seriously injured in a car accident. Attention, I believe, he wants some attention. Why not, he also belongs to the legend?
The Palazzo Dario had its bright moments only while belonged to Countess de la Baume-Pluvinel, the French aristocrat and writer. Why? No one knows. The lady wrote under the false name of Laurent Evrard. During her time, in the 19th century, the house served as a gathering place for French and Venetian writers. How did she avoid the curse?
Then, this petite strange woman. Her etheric figure is constantly hovering over the canal, right in front of the old Marco Polo’s House. Scary. We see everything we want to see, or everything somebody else wants us to see.
“Spritz Aperol” is the cure for the soul, the Venetians recommend. Whose soul, they don’t answer. It is made out of Aperol, Prosecco Veneto, strictly Prosecco Veneto, no other wine is allowed, orange slices, and sugar with orange zest for the glass rim. It helps, they say.
Maybe, but our thoughts keep going back to that woman. The locals try to avoid the old Marco Polo’s House. There is a strange woman wandering around the house under the full moon, they claim. In the meantime she is just hovering over the canal, every now and then. Marco Polo’s wife, the Venetians have been persistently repeating for centuries.
Marco Polo was officially the Venetian merchant, born in 1254, died in 1324. He was married to Donata Badoer and had three daughters. This lady went gracefully to heaven and never showed any intention to return down to Venice. About another wife we are talking here.
The Polo family tended to travel the world. Marco’s father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo, spent most of their lives adventuring through Asia, and other far away places. Although on business, traveling turned into a genetic disorder affecting the entire family. Young Marco hit the high seas already in 1271. He spent 17 years exploring Asia. The amazing for its time, Marco’s written experiences titled “The Travels of Marco Polo”, reserved a prominent place in history for him.
After 17 years of doing some trustful and important jobs for the Mongol court, Marco decided to return to Venice. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler, and grandson of ill-famed conqueror Genghis Khan, had meanwhile grown very fond of Marco Polo. Therefore, Marco had to finish one more mission for the “Khan of Khans”. He was to escort the Mongol princess who was sent to Persia to marry a Persian prince.
Obviously, Kublai Khan didn’t know for the European saying, very popular at the time: “Never trust a Venetian merchant.” Several hundred of the emperor’s men, accompanied them to protect the princess. But, the route was known to be the very dangerous one, according to Marco. When they reached Persia’s Port of Hormuz, only 18 people were still alive. Conveniently, the princess and Marco were among them. Due to the “danger” of, for us, unknown origin, the princess continued to Venice. This Persian prince already had enough wives anyway.
It was one version of the story. Another said that Marco married an oriental princess with blessings of the Khan, and took her to Venice. Historians had denied a presence of any Asian woman in Marco Polo’s life for centuries. The man was remembered as journalist, explorer, and writer. Such people are known to be, we do not say liars anymore, but people with great imagination. Many believed that Marco had never actually been to Asia. His work they considered just an interesting piece of fiction. The book earned its nickname “Il Milione”, or “The Million Lies”.
His new bride, beautiful and nice, as princesses usually are, at least for a story, was loved and accepted in Venice. The only people who didn’t like her were Marco’s sisters-in-law. These wretched personalities took the opportunity when Marco was captured during the war with Genoa, and announced his death. The poor princess killed herself in despair. Of course, Marco returned home.
This had been considered a legend for centuries. A couple of years ago, the excavations on the location of Polo’s old house revealed human remains. The experts confirmed that remains belonged to an Asian woman. Some sort of a tiara was also found.
Photo by: Matrobriva