Beginning in the city of Esmeralda, Marco Polo begins to describe a struggle between rats and swallows. As they reappear in later cities, the rats become symbolic of corruption, nastiness, and in general, the disgusting underbelly that Calvino suggests is inherent to all cities and, indeed, to the modern world. In the rats’ final appearance in Theodora, Calvino seems to suggest that in the end, corruption will reign supreme—and even if people do manage to get rid of it, something will inevitably rise up to replace it, just as, following the rats’ extermination in Theodora, other previously exterminated mythical creatures reinvigorate themselves and plan to retake the city.
Rats Quotes in Invisible Cities
Was the oracle mistaken? Not necessarily. I interpret it in this way: Marozia consists of two cities, the rat’s and the swallow’s; both change with time, but their relationship does not change; the second is the one about to free itself from the first.
Rats Symbol Timeline in Invisible Cities
