The Truth is Revealed

Of course! All the dead cities, the hidden, the trading, the continuous ones are actually just one independent city: Venice. It all makes sense now, the network of canals, the domes, the bridges suspended with tracery balustrades, are all characteristics of Venice. I must accept, Calvino does a flawless at tricking the reader, as well as Kublai Khan, that Beeisheba, Anastasia, Cecilia, and all the other cities are in fact one of the most detailed descriptions of the city in Italy. The image propagated by the young venetian is only skimmed at, the true meaning lied deep under the cities names, until the eager Kublai Khan asks: “On the day when I know all the emblems, shall I be able to possess my empire at last?”. He was blinded by pure ambition to defeat each and every one of the last enemy troops. So much that he was late to realize “there is still one of which you never speak. Venice.”(86).

The emperor was taken by surprise, why did he not start off his story by introducing Venice as it is? Polo’s answer was simple, “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little” (87). Marco Polo’s passion is so powerful when it comes to his birthplace that he hesitates in revealing the true essence of Venice all at once. Italo Calvino feels Venice cannot be wasted by lips that speak of the city to the point where it is lost. He cherishes it, and speaking of other cities is the way he can express the images Venice leaves implanted in one's eyes.