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Colloque qui se tiendra à Milan (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), les 24-25 octobre 2018The road to Cathay : East-West contacts in Marco Polo's timeArgumentaire:Scholarly interest in contacts between Europe and East Asia during the Middle Ages has not faded over time; rather, it has intensified over the past few decades. In addition to the major contributions by European and American scholars from the 1990s, it is important to remember the numerous works dedicated to this topic by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scholars. Cross-disciplinary dialogue has become essential in a research environment where multiple, highly varied interests and skills cross paths. These specific needs have inspired the international conference The Road to Cathay. East-West Contacts in Marco Polo’s time.In the mid-13th century a particular phase of the contacts between the Western and the Far Eastern worlds began, which ended with the fall of the Yuan dynasty. The unification of most of Asia and Eastern Europe under the Mongols led to the formation of a new space for religious, economic, and cultural exchanges, which stretched from the Danube to the shores of the Pacific. For over a century, emissaries, missionaries, and merchants travelled from West to East and from East to West, moving along the Silk Road or sailing along the sea route that linked the Persian Gulf with southern China. The first Europeans to penetrate into the heart of the Mongol empire were the Franciscans Giovanni da Pian di Carpine and William of Rubrouck, and the Dominicans Ascelin and Andrée de Longjumeau. A few decades later, numerous travellers reached as far as Khanbaliq (modern Beijing), the new capital of the Great Khan: Marco Polo, Giovanni da Montecorvino, Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni dei Marignolli, etc. Material wealth and ideas circulated along with the movement of people. A flow of information reached Europe, gradually reshaping the traditional, consolidated image of East Asia that the Middle Ages inherited from classical sources. With the end of the Mongol dominance in China, the exchanges between Europe and East Asia came to a sharp halt. Nevertheless, the data gathered by travellers up to then continued to circulate, even during the period of Renaissance humanism, often melding with the scant information from Antiquity.The scientific purpose of the international conference The Road to Cathay. East-West Contacts in Marco Polo’s Time is to investigate the diverse aspects and dimensions of religious, economic, and cultural exchanges in the 13th and 14th centuries, focusing on the modes of perception and representation of otherness during the period of the Pax Mongolica.Programme:24 Octobre 2018, 9:30 Aula G.127 PIO XIWelcomeGiovanni GOBBER, Dean of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures Faculty, Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreMarisa VERNA, Director of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures department, Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreAgostino GIOVAGNOLI, Scientific Commitee Istituto Confucio Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreElisa GIUNIPERO, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore : IntroductionAlvise ANDREOSE, Università eCampus - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore : Travellers and texts between Europe and China in Marco Polo’s timeRONG Xinjiang, Peking University : From Sogdian Merchants to Marco PoloFederico MASINI, Università degli Studi di Roma «La Sapienza» :  Marco Polo, one of manyHans Ulrich VOGEL, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen : Marco Polo’s Crouching Dragons and Hidden TigersEugenio BURGIO, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia : Borders. Notes on the relationship between history and geography in the description of the provinces of Central Asia and China in the Devisement dou monde24 Octobre 2018, 15:00Chair: Tiziana LIPPIELLO, Università Ca’ Foscari VeneziaSamuela SIMION, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia : On the road to Cathay: mineralogical entries from the Devisement dou MondeDANG Baohai, Peking University : Maritime Links between China and the Persian Gulf in Marco Polo’s TimeChiara CONCINA, Università degli Studi di Verona : The correspondence between the Papacy and the Mongols: old and new perspectivesMA Xiaolin, Nankai University : The Great Qaan’s court rituals described by Marco Polo and Odorico da PordenoneWANG Yidan, Peking University : “Shu‘ab-i Panjgana” (“The five genealogies”), a Persian historical document of cross-cultural communication25 Octobre,9:00 Aula G.016 Maria ImmacolataChair: Alvise ANDREOSE, Università eCampus - Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreDavor ANTONUCCI, Università degli Studi di Roma «La Sapienza» : The legacy of Marco Polo: the Jesuits and the CathayQIU Zhirong, Peking University : From Mediterranean to China: Mastic in Yuan and Ming SourcesChiara PICCININI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore : The studies of Huang Shijian 黄时鉴 on Marco PoloCHEN Xi, Peking University : A Study of the Ranking of Religions in Yuan Decrees for Temples 