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
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
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
FeatureLost art
Lost art: Has Caravaggio’s long missing Nativity been found?
Noah Charney on the Carabinieri's efforts to track down the stolen painting
AnalysisVenice
Venice: a city at a cultural crossroads
As the Venice Architecture Biennale opens, the Venetian journalist Enrico Tantucci analyses culture in the city through the Biennale, historic buildings, the Accademia and the Arsenale
NewsAttribution
Italian museum discovers painting by Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna in its collection
The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo has re-attributed the 15th-century work Resurrection of Christ
NewsConservation & Preservation
Canada’s 1950s Venice Biennale pavilion gets a facelift
The upgrade to the Modernist building and its surrounding landscape has resulted in a new visitor route planned for the Giardini
BlogIn the frame
George Washington dons his best Roman garb for Frick show
BlogDiary of an art historian
Design or colour? Look to Titian
A shoestring trip to La Serenissima—and a thumbs-up for Simon Schama
NewsConservation & Preservation
Reconstruction of quake-damaged church to be led by former head of Vatican Museums
Antonio Paolucci to oversee restoration of Italy's Basilica of St Benedict
NewsCommercial galleries
New territory for Glenn Ligon with first solo show in Italy
US artist tries new techniques and tackles immigration in Naples exhibition
News
Top Italian museum director faces trial over gym visits
The director of the Galleria Borghese in Rome has been suspended without pay for leaving the office
News
Carsten Höller puts plant life to the test—with slides—at Palazzo Strozzi
The Belgian-born artist has devised experiment with Italian scientist Stefano Mancuso
NewsArt market
Why Miart is starting to attract high-profile exhibitors
Galleries, benefitting from Milan's April buzz, are already reporting healthy sales
News
Italian far right wants to turn Fascist HQ into mega-museum
The Lega party—which may soon be in power—believes that Italy, through its culture, can lead the world
ReviewExhibitions
Milan's Fondazione Prada sheds light on Italy's Fascist past on eve of country's elections
Timing of exhibition organised by Germano Celant is coincidental but timely
PreviewExhibitions
Fondazione Prada recreates 20 Italian exhibits made under Fascist rule
Show of more than 500 works ranges from Giorgio de Chirico to Gruppo 7
CommentArt market
Small Italian galleries could suffer from influx of foreign dealers
Il Giornale dell'Arte's deputy editor weighs in
NewsCommercial galleries
Foreign galleries make move on Italy
Thomas Dane is the latest in a string of galleries to open spaces in the country, but are there are enough high-level collectors to sustain them?
NewsExhibitions
Venetian mega-exhibition aims to highlight plight of European craftsmanship
Homo Faber's initiative, focussing on artisanal techniques, will take over the entire Fondazione Giorgio Cini next autumn
NewsExhibitions
Turin exhibition dwells on contemporary art's futile obsession with the new
OGR's first show remixes the city's collections from antiquity to present, reflecting on the over production of contemporary art and the fact nothing is new
NewsArt market
Back to the future: Artissima to champion 80s art and new talent
New director Ilaria Bonacossa introduces a drawings section and plans to return Turin fair to its experimental roots
NewsArtists
Lorenzo Quinn to follow in Christo’s footsteps by creating work for Lake Iseo
Italian artist known for submerging a giant pair of hands in Venice’s Grand Canal plans to install the steel sculpture next year
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Mosaic floor from Caligula’s ship returned to Italy
New York authorities tracked down the object, which was being used as a coffee table by a Manhattan couple, after a photograph appeared in a book on porphyry
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
Sharon Hecker