In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, A Return to Venice Production

Traveling in the snow. Denis Beliveau,
Francis O‘Donnel, Camels.

“An extraordinary initiative and travel experience. They set out to demonstrate that Marco Polo actually spent his 25 years in Asia and reported first-hand about all the wonders he had seen, and I think that after Francis’s and Denis’s experience few people could still have doubts in this regard.”

Stefano Carboni
Curator of Islamic Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

“‘Our vision for this project was very focused,’ says Belliveau. ‘We wanted to see for ourselves just how accurate Marco Polo’s words were.’

So look they did. What they found was that nobody had ever followed and photographed Polo’s entire route from Venice to China and back…Their guide on the journey was Sir Henry Yule’s two volume translation The Travels of Marco Polo, a work with which they’d become deeply and intimately familiar.”

- Photographic Magazine -

“When they returned to Venice, they were given a hero’s welcome: a royal regatta of gondolas, a gala reception, a gallery showing of their photographs. There was an official poster commemorating their accomplishment, and the bells of St Mark’s were rung in their honor. Not only were they finally given access to Polo’s will, they were allowed to sleep in the explorer’s home.”

- Biography Magazine -

Denis Belliveau and Francis O’Donnell
with Marco Polo’s Will

O’Donnell and Belliveau with Marco Polo’s will.