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

Claude Monet painted over 500 pictures in the last twenty-eight years of his life. Thirty-seven of those were Venetian views inspired by his 1908 stay. Monet became smitten with the city and regretted not having visited and painted it earlier in his career. He called Venice “too beautiful to paint,” unsure initially if he could capture the city’s light and atmosphere.

Veronese was a celebrated sixteenth century Venetian artist and the only painter summoned by the Inquisition. We have the transcript of his interrogation before the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition, and his stunning response to their charges. The role of images and art became a focus for inquisitors as they searched to counter the Protestant and Lutheran reformation. Religious and government officials comprised the tribunal who sought to keep artists in line with Catholic tea

What is a doge? A canine meme, a crypto currency, or an attempt to create a department of government efficiency? None of the above. The firs

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

Three consequential sixteenth century conclaves illustrate the power wrangling and coalitions in electing a pope: the conclaves for Julius I

Why are so many places and people named after Paul? Paul’s life story from persecutor to preacher inspired his namesake and art from convers

St. Catherine of Siena, was a gutsy fourteenth century history making woman. She was determined to make a difference, even with doubters and

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

Are selfies an evolution of the self-portrait, or do they lack the cleverness and creativity of early modern self-images? The Italian Nation

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

A painting with a peacock, a wheel, a blue garment, a dead tree, and a woman holding pincers – what does it mean? If we could time travel ba

Glass, the Rialto, gondolas, books, St. Mark, and wells are iconic parts of Venetian history, pieces of a historic puzzle of its faded, but

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

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

Venice became a mecca for European and American artists from 1860-1915. Approximately 90 American artists worked in Venice producing over 3,

Some artists came to Venice to make money, and some came because they were drawn to the beauty. Some were destitute like James McNeil Whistl

How did Venice become such an iconic symbol and why do 30 million visitors swarm the city each year? Blame it on the Brits and the Grand Tou

Venice slowly grew on me. At first the tourist mono culture was a turn off, a distraction obscuring the treasures to be discovered. My...

Why Venice? Venice is one of a kind. The location, geography, history, art, culture, and architecture are unmatched in mainland Italy....