Delle Navigationi et Viaggi

Abstract

This document is the introductory section from the second volume of Giovanni Battista Ramusio's seminal collection of travel writings, "Delle Navigationi et Viaggi." The volume is dedicated to travels in Asia. The text includes a dedication by the publisher Tommaso Giunti, explaining the delays in publishing this volume due to the death of Ramusio and a fire in the printing house. The core of the document is Ramusio's extensive preface, which serves as a biography and defense of Marco Polo. Ramusio praises Polo's detailed accounts of the Tartars and the Orient, arguing for their veracity against critics who dismissed them as fables. He recounts the incredible journey of the Polo family, their long absence from Venice, their dramatic return where they were initially unrecognized, and the famous banquet where they revealed hidden jewels sewn into their clothes. The preface also details Marco Polo's capture by the Genoese and how he dictated his book while in prison. The volume aims to provide a corrected and more complete version of Polo's travels, celebrating his contributions to geography and the knowledge of previously unknown lands