Your Cart is Empty
Relevant Videos
Paoletti Marco Polo 2024 Il Milione Special Edition #4
Contact For More Info
From the brilliant mind of Master Luthier Fabrizio Paoletti, Heartbreaker Guitars is proud to introduce The Paoletti Marco Polo Il Milione Limited Edition Guitar. A masterpiece creation that combines Old world, Italian heritage, with modern, ornate aesthetics.
The Marco Polo guitars will be a limited ten piece, hand made set built exclusively by Mr. Paoletti. Each guitar will take over 6 months to build, with every detail designed to perfection. All ten pieces are due for completion and release in 2024. Consistent with Paoletti’s typical form, the guitar bodies are constructed out of 120 year old Chestnut, reclaimed from wine barrels that originally housed the Paoletti family wine. The top of the guitars feature a full recreation of the artwork that opens Marco Polo’s manuscript depicting the beginning of his journey along the Silk Road, ornately designed with 2800 small pieces of authentic Venetian Mother of Pearl and accented with 24K real gold hardware. Additionally, the guitar includes a Canadian Roasted Maple neck, a Paoletti designed and hand-wired undersaddle Piezo pickup, and a luxury glass display case.
In May of 2024, each purchaser of the Marco Polo will be invited to a special ceremony in Venice, Italy where every guitar will be bestowed upon its new owner by the Paoletti team. The Marco Polo guitars are an incredible representation of Paoletti’s design philosophies, their admiration for the storied history of their beautiful home country, and their commitment to bringing magnificent, unique pieces of art to the guitar community.
In the year 1271, Venetian explorer Marco Polo set out from Venice to China along the Silk Road, a journey that lasted four years during the height of the Mongol Empire. Upon reaching China and being received by the Kublai Khan, Marco Polo and his family members elected to remain in China for an extended period of time, some of the Polos even receiving significant positions in Khan’s court, with Marco himself being selected by Khan as an ambassador bade to venture to further areas of Asia that had been unexplored by Europeans. During his time in China, he was venerated by many, and awarded several highly noteworthy positions including the governor of Yangzhou and an official of the Privy Council. After a period of seventeen years, the Polos decided to return to Venice, eventually reaching their destination in 1295.
Upon their return, Marco elected to compose and release a manuscript documenting the details of his family’s journey to China, as well as the many years they had spent there. Though the majority of readers at the time believed the account to be fictitious, it became the most popular literature in Europe. Shortly after his return, he became a ship commander in the Venetian–Genoese Wars, eventually being captured and imprisoned until 1299. Following his release and return to Venice, he continued to live and work, marrying and eventually raising his three children until his death in 1324. As family and admirers gathered to pay their last wishes, many encouraged him on his deathbed to admit that his manuscript was fictitious, as he responded famously “I have not told half of what I saw”. The Marco Polo guitar pays tribute to one of mankind’s greatest expeditions, and one of Italy’s most revered historical figures, commemorating the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death in 1324.
For more information on the Marco Polo guitars, contact Heartbreaker Guitars today!