The will of Maffeo Polo the younger, made in 1300, which
we shall give hereafter in abstract, appears to be the first document that
connects the family with S. Giovanni Grisostomo.
It indeed styles the
testator's father "the late Nicolo Paulo of the confine of St. John
Chrysostom," but that only shows what is not disputed, that the Travellers
after their return from the East settled in this locality. And the same
will appears to indicate a surviving connexion with S. Felice, for the
priests and clerks who drew it up and witness it are all of the church of
S. Felice, and it is to the parson of S. Felice and his successor that
Maffeo bequeaths an annuity to procure their prayers for the souls of his
father, his mother, and himself, through after the successor the annuity
is to pass on the same condition to the senior priest of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo. Marco Polo the Elder is in his will described as of S.
Severo, as is also his sister-in-law Fiordelisa, and the document
contains no reference to S. Giovanni. On the whole therefore it seems
probable that the Palazzo in the latter parish was purchased by the
Travellers after their return from the East.[1]
[Sidenote: Relic of the Casa Polo in the Corte Sabbionera.]
24. The Court which was known in the 16th century as the Corte del
Millioni has been generally understood to be that now known as the Corte
Sabbionera, and here is still pointed out a relic of Marco Polo's mansion.
[Indeed it is called now (1899) Corte del Milione; see p. 30.
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