Italy 655

     The Italian stamp, issued in 1954 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's birth, shows a portrait of Marco Polo, a flying lion of St. Mark and inscription "Pax tibi Marce [Evangelista Meus], for Venice the city of his birth in 1254, as well as a the dragon pillar of Peking and an inscription in Chinese.
     The map shows the route of the Polos across eastern Europe and Asia to China. The stars indicate Venice and Shang-tu the capital of Kublai Khan. Circles mark other cities the Polos visited.
     From Venice, the first circle marks Constantinople, and the second, Acre. The Polos did not visit both of these places on the same journey (either coming or going), so the map is wrong to that extent.
     In China the left hand route represents Marco Polo's travels in China. While the right hand route may indicate the beginning of his route home. I cannot be sure of the identifications of any of these circles. (Any help would be appreciated.)