Corto Maltese is the famous ocean created by Hugo Pratt, who through their adventures in comics has traveled around the world. Short is a savvy traveler who knows the secret corners of Venice, Ethiopia, Siberia or the secrets of the desert.

Photography by www.archivespratt.net

The character was born in 1887 in La Valetta (Malta) and from an early age he sailed to discover the world. He did his first trip to Egypt and traveled only 13 Manchuria. Corto Maltese is an adventurous use of time and travel is not just as an observer, but always eventually become involved in the events around him. Not a hero, but inevitably, always provides assistance to the weakest.

This is how it interacts with history and with their real characters. Known for example to Russian Rasputin, the writer Jack London, or the bandits Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the Far West, which inspired the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Photography by forbiddenplanet.co.uk

Corto Maltese is a character who has guided his adventures to thousands of readers. Son of a gypsy of Gibraltar and a sailor from Cornwall, its origins are equally mysterious than his own life. But Short is Venice’s heart and always returns to the city of canals between trips.

A reference to Venice to be reeled in his books is so wide that has been collected in a guide entitled «The Secret Venice of Corto Maltese. Fantastic hidden pathways of Corto Maltese in Venice». Guido Fuga Lele Vianello and published by Norma Editorial.

Through this guide, we plunge into the vagaries of Corto Maltese by seven routes created by the Venice Pratt and Corto Maltese. One of the strengths of the book is the illustration cartoons and drawings, which mix in our tour images we remember from our reading, with the real scenario we are visiting, obtaining a magical journey that navigates the canals of Venice between fiction and reality.

The guide covers many details that would set us is not a typical guidebook. Similarly, following these routes, it manages to combine the most crowded and tourist areas of Venice, as the Campo de San Bartolomé, yet find labyrinthine streets where daily life continues and we are immersed in medieval and Renaissance treasures.

Photography by lambiek.net

One of the most significant routes is running through the streets of the old ghetto or Jewish quarter, where Corto Maltese recalls some of his childhood memories, which appear in the book Story of Venice.

Another of the great virtues of the guide is the selection of bars and restaurants. Displayed a total of 115 local and old inns, some of which were renovated and converted into restaurants, pizzerias and cafes, but we can still discern some details that will take us to the tavern conversations kept short with different characters.