> Also, some people claim Italy's noodle tradition is a post-Marco Polo thing (who, some credible evidence attests, was actually from the now Croatian island of Dubrovnik, under the sway of the piratical Venetian empire but not 'Italian' per-se).
That whole area between Trieste and Dalmatia is a melting pot. Especially prior to WWII, there were quite a few people who were ethnically Italian there. Venice ruled the area during Marco Polo's lifetime, so it's certainly possible that even if he wasn't born in Venice, he was very much Venetian; similar to how John McCain is not Panamanian.
Also, I'm not sure if 'piratical' is particularly accurate in describing the Venetian republic. They probably did their share of looting and pillaging like anyone in power back then, but their wealth came from trade and commerce. Which is why things started going badly when new trade routes were opened to the Indies, and to the Americas.
You are perfectly right to question the piratical adjective to describe the entire empire in Marco-Polo contemporary times; that was my error - recently I read a history of the Venetian seafaring which made out that basically the city grew entirely from a den of swamp-dwelling brigands and ruffians who dwelt there to escape the long arm of other mainland powers. How accurate that picture is I don't know (I assume pretty fair though, given the geography and technology of the time), but looking at the history it seems 400-500 years had passed before Marco Polo... so it's not exactly current characterization regardless!
That whole area between Trieste and Dalmatia is a melting pot. Especially prior to WWII, there were quite a few people who were ethnically Italian there. Venice ruled the area during Marco Polo's lifetime, so it's certainly possible that even if he wasn't born in Venice, he was very much Venetian; similar to how John McCain is not Panamanian.
Also, I'm not sure if 'piratical' is particularly accurate in describing the Venetian republic. They probably did their share of looting and pillaging like anyone in power back then, but their wealth came from trade and commerce. Which is why things started going badly when new trade routes were opened to the Indies, and to the Americas.