Invisible Cities

About “Invisible Cities”

Italo Calvino's novel begins with Kublai Khan, who does not fully believe everything Marco Polo says about the cities he has visited, but listens with growing interest. Marco describes cities like Armilla, where water pipes form the structure of the city, and Octavia, a city shaped like a spider web. It is unclear whether Marco is inventing these cities, reimagining details of Venice, or describing possible forms cities might take. The story is a collection of fragmented descriptions of urban life, presented through Marco's tales. The novel explores the nature of cities and the ways people perceive and imagine them.