Outrage at Marco Polo claim

Korcula island, Croatia. Photo / Thinkstock

Italians have reacted angrily to an attempt by Croatia to claim explorer Marco Polo as one of their own.

The outcry came after a museum dedicated to the Venetian explorer in the Chinese city of Yangzhou was opened by a former President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic.

Most scholars believe Marco Polo came from Venice but some historians have argued he was born on the island of Korcula on the Adriatic coast, in what is today Croatia.

Mesic described Marco Polo as a "world explorer, born in Croatia, who opened up China to Europe". Corriere della Sera described the Croatian claim to Marco Polo as "ridiculous" and a "provocation".