What sense does Columbus still have for us? The lesson begins here, in a narrative where past and present intertwine. Between statues to be taken down and papers to be read, Christopher Columbus tells us his story: the waiting, the studies, the travels, the discoveries, the triumphs; and the challenge of that distant and incomprehensible world. Unfolding before his and our eyes is that vast horizon that he, unable to comprehend the meaning of the path he had traced, could never fully recognize. And his story is about us. Of our heritage, our future, our roots.

Alessandro Vanoli, historian and writer, is an expert on Mediterranean history.