cafoscariNEWS

Events

Ca’ Foscari Joins Uzbekistan Delegation with PM Meloni — Presenting Marco Polo and Uzbekistan: 'A Cultural Dialogue Across the Centuries'

On the left, the Italian Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Piergabriele Papadia de Bottini; in the centre, Ca’ Foscari Deputy-Rector Antonio Marcomini; on the right, the Uzbek President’s Representative for Foreign Affairs, Abdulaziz Kamilov.

Marco Polo and Uzbekistan: A Cultural Dialogue Across the Centuries is the title of the book presented by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, during the bilateral summit in Samarkand focused on strengthening the strategic partnership between Italy and Uzbekistan

The publication features a translation into Uzbek — coordinated by Ca’ Foscari professor Elisabetta Ragagnin — of the first book of Giovanni Battista Ramusio’s version of Il Milione, in which Marco Polo recounts his travels through regions that correspond to present-day Uzbekistan.

Ca’ Foscari was represented in the official academic delegation to Uzbekistan by Deputy-Rector Antonio Marcomini, who attended on behalf of the Rector, currently engaged in a CRUI mission to Japan. Marcomini participated alongside representatives from the Polytechnic University of Turin, the University of Pisa, and the University of Tuscia in Viterbo.
 

The Book

Marco Polo and Uzbekistan: A Cultural Dialogue Across the Centuries is a translation of the first book of Ramusio’s version of Il Milione, which is the most relevant for Uzbek readers, as it is in this section that Marco Polo describes the regions of what is now Uzbekistan,” explains Elisabetta Ragagnin. “Thanks to funding from the Regional Council of Veneto, the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University has translated Ramusio’s version of Il Milione from Italian into modern Uzbek. Four translators — lecturers in Italian language at the University of World Languages in Tashkent — were selected: Bakhora Ergashova, Jasurbek Khudayberdiev, Shakhboz Mustafaev, and Rukhsora Abduzokhirova. They produced an initial translation, which was then carefully revised.”

The initiative forms part of the CHANGES project (Spoke 9: Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Sustainable Society).

The Ca’ Foscari team, coordinated by Elisabetta Ragagnin, included Raima Auyeskhan, a research fellow on the CHANGES project; PhD candidate Davide Rizzi; intern Lala Shirinova; and Consuelo Puricelli from the Ca’ Foscari University Foundation. Professor Riccardo Zipoli provided photographs of Venice, while Daan van Meel contributed images of Bukhara and Samarkand. Professors Eugenio Burgio and Samuela Simion offered their valuable expertise on Marco Polo.

Alisher Navo’i Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature supported the stylistic revision of the translation, with contributions from Masuma Obidjonova, Orifjon Olimjonov, and Durdona Ermatova, coordinated by Vice-Rector Nozliya Normurodova and Elisabetta Ragagnin. The translation was also reviewed by Rector Shuhrat Sirojiddinov, an internationally renowned philologist.

“This joint initiative between Ca’ Foscari and the Alisher Navo’i University of Tashkent — the first translation of Marco Polo’s travels into Uzbek — sets an exemplary model for cultural heritage preservation,” concludes Ragagnin. “The project lays the groundwork for long-term bilateral cooperation and establishes methodologies that can be replicated in other cultural heritage enhancement initiatives.”

Map of Marco Polo’s travels created in Uzbek by Davide Rizzi for the publication.