Invisible cities

"The most beautiful of his books throws up ideas, allusions, and breathtaking imaginative insights on almost every page.

Each time he returns from his travels, Marco Polo is invited by Kublai Khan to describe the cities he has visited.

Although he makes Marco Polo summon up many cities for the Khan's imagination to feed on, Calvino is describing only one city in this book.

Venice, that decaying heap of incomparable splendour, still stands as substantial evidence of man's ability to create something perfect out of chaos" - Paul Bailey, "Times Literary Supplement".