Italian Art for Travelers
Your passport to culture, history, and art

Mercenary armies played a pivotal role in conflicts. John Hawkwood was an English mercenary commander who earned fame and fortune in Italy.

The Renaissance bedroom was the room where it happened, serving many purposes, including sleep, sex, childbirth, illness, recovery, death, a

Clothes made the man, from his velvet doublet, brocaded codpiece to his armor.

Renaissance hair served dual functions. Hair beautified the individual and indicated well-being and character. The length and style of hair

Michelangelo’s fame was well founded after completing two early masterpieces, the Pietà and the David. Both speak to his creative genius.

The author presents readers with parallel stories of two young women from different countries, each playing a role in Nazi looted art.

Michelangelo and Titian, the two sixteenth century powerhouse competitive artists, decided to create their own memorial as the end of their

The merchant and banking classes gained their fortunes largely from the textile trade and in turn became patrons of art. Artists paid homage

Sandro Botticelli was a go-getter and lived in time when Florence had no lack of talent and innovators. Competition was intense for commissi

The story of the Ponte Vecchio is one of perseverance and love for Florence. Still standing after almost 700 years, it has withstood World W

Meet three couples, real and mythical, and their romantic stories: Federico and Battista’s arranged marriage, Apollo’s longing for Daphne, a

The Bargello Museum gave me the creeps. Why ? It could be because banker Lorenzo Tornabuoni lost his head in the courtyard. Find out where h

Four mysteries: one is a painting with no clear meaning, an unexplained self-portrait, Botticelli's muse, and a da Vinci painting that might

How did artists represent the Old Testament King David? As giant slayer? Lustful king? Composer of Psalms? Let’s look at some depictions

How would you like to be remembered? That selfie you took on vacation, a wedding photo, or image from a family gathering? We consciously...

A boy from Lombardy wanders into a river and falls in. His parents are desperate to locate him. Later he is found by his family standing...

If you visit Italy you can’t miss the frescoes. Fresco paintings decorate castles, Roman villas, public buildings, and of course,...

What does Covid-19 and plague in Italy have in common? A lot it turns out, including disagreements about what to do or not do, and what reme

The hidden history of women artists continues with Artemisia Gentileschi, the most studied and famous of the sixteenth and seventeenth...

Lorenzo Ghiberti sculpted sixty-ton bronze doors for Florence’s Baptistery. Ghiberti’s masterpiece is the equal to Michelangelo in techniqu