In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy. He was now a very wealthy man. Not long after his returen, a local war broke out near his town. During the war, Marco was the captain of a warship but was caught by the enemy and put into prison. However, Marco was lucky enough to meet another prisoner who enjoyed listening to his stories about China. The prisoner was an author and he took dictation while Marco tol all his stories to him. The prisoner then wrote the stories in a book called The Description of the World, which became one of the best-selling books in Europe. Although people enjoyed reading his book, many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco always stood by his tales. Just belfore he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, "Was it all true?", to which he replied,"I have only told half of what I saw!"