Newscoronavirus
Five European museum directors explain their reopening strategies
From capped visitor numbers to surgical gloves and temperature checks, here's how cultural institutions are getting ready to leave lockdown
NewsHeritage
Steve Bannon wins first major battle for medieval monastery
Italy retaliates with criminal prosecution of right-wing religious group funded by US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist
NewsExhibitions
Major Raphael show in Rome returns for three-month run
Securing the loan extensions was “really easy” says director of the Scuderie del Quirinale
NewsMuseums
Italian museums start to reopen from today after €55bn lifeline from government
National spending package includes emergency support for state museums, arts organisations and cultural businesses
NewsVenice
Explosion in chemicals factory threatens Venice with cloud of toxic smoke
The fire is now under control, but the mayor warns people to stay indoors and keep their windows closed
NewsMuseums
Museums in Belgium and Italy to reopen mid-May under phased lifting of lockdown
Belgian museum director says his institution is “ready to serve as a test room”
NewsCommissions
Inspired by Italy's spontaneous singing, museums commission artists to make 'balcony art' during coronavirus crisis
Fourteen artists have been asked by the L’Internationale museum group to participate in the project, which supports artists with "quick, modest commissions"
NewsArts funding
'Save Italian culture from suffocation': art world leaders sign petition calling for national art fund in the wake of coronavirus crisis
Signatories include leaders at Rome's MaXXI Museum and Venice’s civic museums as well as the artist Paola Pivi
Newscoronavirus
Take a virtual tour of once-in-a-lifetime Raphael show in Rome that closed after four days due to coronavirus
Video is part of Italy's "Culture never stops!" initiative providing online access to cultural and heritage sites
Commentcoronavirus
Letter from Italy: the churches—open, but without services—are the only place to see art
The Art Newspaper's founder-editor Anna Somers Cocks on the impact of Covid-19 on Turin, where she is in lockdown
Podcast
Coronavirus: dispatches from Italy and China
We speak to our journalists Anna Somers Cocks and Lisa Movius about their experiences of lockdown. Plus, we begin a new feature—Lonely Works—where we look at individual works of art that are now hanging unseen in galleries. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793
NewsObituaries
Vittorio Gregotti, the last modern architect of Venice, dies of coronavirus aged 92
He designed many prestigious buildings in Italy and internationally and led the visual arts section of the Venice Biennale twice in the 1970s
Newscoronavirus
Venice canals appear cleaner amid coronavirus lockdown
Images of clearer water and returning wildlife to the Italian city are being posted on social media
Newscoronavirus
Coronavirus in Italy: Ai Weiwei criticised for 'insensitive' pasta meme and Raphael blockbuster closes
An emergency decree means that all museums in the country are on lock down until 3 April
Newscoronavirus
Coronavirus travel restrictions force Venice Architecture Biennale to postpone opening until August
The biennial's 17th edition will now only run for three months rather than six
NewsArt market
Old Master scandal: Italy rejects European arrest warrant for painter connected to forgery case
Lino Frongia was arrested in September as part of a major investigation involving works purportedly by Lucas Cranach, Frans Hals, Parmigianino, Gentileschi and Bronzino
Newscoronavirus
Coronavirus: Louvre closes while Italian museums reopen following government green light
Italian officials say cultural institutions can open to the public so long as they ensure “visitors respect a distance of at least a metre between each other”
NewsExhibitions
Uffizi scientific committee resigns in dispute over Raphael loan
The committee had advised against moving Raphael’s portrait of Pope Leo X; the museum loaned it to Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale regardless
NewsItaly
Steve Bannon wins again in battle against Italian ministry of culture
President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist wants to set up a nationalist bootcamp in an Italian monastery
Newscoronavirus
Mass museum shutdown in northern Italy—including Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Fondazione Prada—as coronavirus spreads
Public and private institutions in Venice, Milan and Turin will stay closed for at least a week as more than 200 cases of Covid-2019 are confirmed
NewsRestitution
Italy hands Nazi-looted Renaissance sculpture from the Uffizi to Germany
Andrea della Robbia’s Mary Magdalene was acquired by Hermann Göring in 1941
NewsRaphael
For this week only: unrepeatable chance to see Raphael’s tapestries with Michelangelo’s ceiling
The Vatican Museums celebrate Raphael’s 500th anniversary by hanging his tapestries in the Sistine Chapel for which they were created
NewsExhibitions
British dealer James Butterwick cleared of defamation for describing Russian Avant-garde works in Mantua exhibition as fake
Italian judge said his opinion of the 2013 show was based on his “proven and recognised competence and experience”
NewsMuseums
Uffizi wins legal battle against 'cybersquatter' owner of Uffizi.com domain name
The unofficial websites were used to sell tickets to the Florentine museum at inflated prices
NewsPhotography
Vast Fratelli Alinari photographic archive saved by Tuscan government
Tuscany has acquired agency collection and will create a new foundation in Florence to preserve its more than five million items
NewsVenice Biennale
Film producer Roberto Cicutto replaces Paolo Baratta as Venice Biennale president
He will be overseeing the Italian city's art biennial as well as film, dance, theatre and music festivals
ReviewBooks
Born of hate and contempt, how the Bargello's extraordinary collection of medieval ivories came to be
Book tells the tale of how Italian museum amassed such a vast array of important sculptures thanks to Frenchman Louis-Claude Carrand
NewsPolitics
Culture ministry failed to vet right-wing religious group close to Steve Bannon
Decision to lease Italian medieval monastery to an organisation affiliated with President Trump’s former chief strategist is blamed on staff shortages
NewsVenice
Where are the flood barriers, cry the citizens of Venice after its second worst flood since records began
More evidence has emerged that the flood barriers have serious technical problems
NewsConservation & Preservation
Renaissance woman Plautilla Nelli's Last Supper unveiled after restoration in Florence
Seven-metre painting offers "canvas proof" that self-taught nun ran an all-female workshop in her convent 450 years ago
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
Green light for Leonardo's Vitruvian Man to go to Louvre
An Italian appellate court has overturned the ban on the loan of the celebrated drawing
NewsMuseums
Italy extends Eike Schmidt’s leadership of Uffizi for four years
Sylvain Bellenger is reappointed in Capodimonte, Cristiana Collu remains at Rome Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna
NewsPompeii
Fresco of two fighting gladiators discovered in Pompeii
Italy's culture minister Dario Franceschini says the find shows the site is an "inexhaustible mine for archaeological research"
AnalysisArt crime
It’s 50 years since Caravaggio’s Nativity was stolen in Palermo: have the police been chasing red herrings all this time?
New enquiries suggest a US or Swiss connection through the mafia heroin trade
NewsCultural exchange
Louvre secures key Italian loans for Leonardo retrospective
The Vitruvian Man—normally only shown for a few weeks every six years—will travel from Venice’s Gallerie dell'Accademia to Paris
ArchiveLaw
Italy sues for return of antique pottery which they claim to own under national law because they are objects of archaeological interest.
The US has filed a complaint in a federal district court to determine who owns 230 antiquities produced in ancient Italian pottery workshops
NewsGiuliano Ruffini
Old Master fakes scandal: warrant issued for dealer Giuliano Ruffini as painter Lino Frongia arrested
Suspect has been jailed in northern Italy over case that has embroiled major international museums and dealers
NewsObituaries
Marisa Merz, only woman linked to Arte Povera group, dies aged 93
The intensely private artist won the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2013 Venice Biennale
NewsPolitics
Plan to merge Uffizi and Accademia in Florence stokes row over Italian museums reform
Critics say the move by Italy's populist coalition government will compromise the autonomy of museums
ReviewExhibitions
This carefully selected exhibition of the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo is small and perfectly formed
The MA curatorial show at the Barber Institute, Birmingham, challenges many of our assumptions
ReviewBooks
Michelangelo for beginners, and a new view of the master’s bronzes
Three new books offer fresh angles on the Renaissance master
NewsArt & Technology
Get the app and the church door will open to you
How often on our walks do we get to an enticing old church, only to find that it’s locked? Mobile phones provide the 'open sesame'
AnalysisVenice
Where does the cruise ship crash leave Venice?
The mayor demands that liners use other channels to enter the lagoon but this solution also poses problems
NewsPolitics
Italy blocks Steve Bannon’s plans for nationalist bootcamp in medieval monastery
Despite eviction procedures, the US strategist’s collaborator says they will fight to stay in the 13th-century building
ReviewVenice Biennale 2019
We've chosen the best of the art in Venice, now here's the worst
We’ve seen a lot of exhibitions in the city so you don’t have to
NewsArt market
Italian galleries no longer have to pay artist royalties on primary market sales
New guidelines are published after six year negotiation, but galleries will have to provide written contracts with artists when acting on consignment
NewsItaly
Battle over Bannon’s nationalist bootcamp in Italian monastery
Protests against the right-wing group’s takeover of a 13th-century cloister are growing
NewsControversies
Gaetano Pesce's anti-patriarchy sculpture outrages feminists in Milan
Work created for Milan Design Week perpetuates violence against women, critics say
PreviewArt fairs
Big-hitters join Miart for first time
Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac and other well-known galleries have joined the Milan fair
NewsRestitution
Italy and China team up to fight looting
During president Xi Jinping's visit to Rome, Italy announced that it will return 796 artefacts to China
NewsDisasters & destruction
Tributes pour in for Italian marine archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa who died in Ethiopian Airlines plane crash
He was was an expert on the battle of Egadi of 241BC
NewsArt market
Enigmatic Gino De Dominicis subject of complex fakes investigation in Italy
Market for Italian artist’s works slows as police investigation into alleged forgeries scares off some collectors
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Herculaneum’s museum of relics finally opens its doors, 44 years on
Inaugural show presents jewels and precious objects excavated in the early 20th century alongside more recent discoveries
News
Italian court says Getty Museum must surrender prized bronze Statue of a Victorious Youth
The Los Angeles institution counters that it will keep on fighting to maintain the linchpin of its collection
NewsAppointments & departures
Galleria Borghese director Anna Coliva reinstated after suspension over gym visits
Decision to take case to court prompted a public outcry and an online petition
ReviewBooks
Sidney Knafel's collection of French 16th- to 18th-century faïence promised to the Frick Collection
The collector's collection of 75 magnificent pieces
NewsHeritage
Looted vessels returned at event marking 15 years of US-Italy art crime fighting co-operation
Italian official also says the country will ratify 2017 Nicosia Convention outlining penalties for offenses involving cultural heritage
CommentLaw
Cultural 'matrimony' could resolve heritage disputes
We need to rethink our perceptions of an artist or an artefact as having a single, unified or homogenous heritage
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
Uffizi launches Leonardo da Vinci 500th celebrations across Italy
New exhibition in Florence decodes the “startlingly radical” scientific ideas of the Codex Leicester
PreviewArtissima
Artissima makes some noise with a new section for sound-based art
The Italian contemporary art fair is looking into cutting edge works this November
NewsConservation & Preservation
Turin’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud—almost entirely destroyed by fire—reopens after €30m restoration
State-of-the-art conservation project that took 21 years brings masterpiece of Baroque architecture back to its former glory
NewsArt market
How two missing legs helped the restitution of an Italian secrétaire worth €2m
The Italian state has a permanent right to confiscate illegally exported work
PreviewVenice Glass Week
Venice rallies to save its ancient glass-blowing industry from Chinese competition
Venice Glass Week is a city-wide collaboration between museums, commercial galleries and artisans of Murano
NewsArchitecture
Renzo Piano designs replacement for collapsed Genoa bridge
Since the Morandi tragedy, architect "can’t think of anything else but that bridge"
ReviewBooks
Telling us why and how: a groundbreaking study of Veronese’s techniques and paintings
These two books—very different in approach—analyse the process and works of the Italian Renaissance painter
NewsMarina Abramovic
‘We’re all in the same boat’: Marina Abramovic poster angers Italian right-wing politician
Trieste deputy mayor Paolo Polidori calls image commissioned for sailing regatta “political propaganda”
NewsTourism
Italy scraps free Sundays at cultural sites like Pompeii and the Colosseum
Move introduced by new culture minister sparks political backlash but museum directors express support
ReviewBooks
Very much an acquired taste: how did so many Italian baroque paintings end up in US museums?
Book provides a sampling of personalities, acquisition strategies and collections that many Europeans may not know
NewsArt market
Owner of £10m Giotto to appeal High Court ruling that painting left Italy unlawfully
Judge finds in favour of Arts Council England, but collector Kathleen Simonis argues Italian laws are incompatible with EU free movement of goods
NewsLaw
Top experts dispute Italian police claims about seized ‘antiquities’
“I cannot imagine where a terracotta life-size horse head could come from in antiquity,” a specialist says
CommentReligious art
Pope Francis, his crucifix and the Virgin Mary: miraculous or merely traditional?
Art history removes the numinous from art. At the Vatican’s Covid-19 blessing we saw it invoked again
Anna Somers Cocks