MARCO POLO. THE COSTUMES OF ENRICO SABBATINI

14 May – 30 September 2024
Venice, Palazzo Mocenigo Museum

Curated by Stefano Nicolao

Marking the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death, on 8 January 1324, the exhibition’s purpose is to relive and showcase his extraordinary adventure on the “Silk Road” through a selection of costumes representing the route followed by the great Venetian merchant and traveller. When he was just seventeen, with his father and uncle he sailed the seas, traversed boundless deserts and visited legendary cities, meeting powerful princes and dangerous warlords from very different countries and cultures. This was shown by the RAI’s major TV production with international participation including China itself. The exhibition will pay tribute to the director Giuliano Montaldo, costume designer Enrico Sabbatini and composer Ennio Morricone, to recall these extraordinary Italian geniuses who have passed away.

Specifically, the exhibition reveals the ability of Stefano Nicolao, involved in the production directly by the great costume designer Sabbatini, to work in the Himalayas to create the scenes and costumes of the journey from Persia to China. This initiative presents some thirty costumes recording the route of Marco Polo’s journey from Venice to China, with original sketches, the result of four years of study and preparation of the film and photos of the sets.

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