Greece Goes West
A look at a new exhibition in Venice, which shows the flow of culture between East and West in early Greece.
Italy
Un americano a Roma
David Ellwood discusses America's cultural take-over of Europe in a seemingly innocent Italian 1950s comedy called "Un Americano a Roma". The comedy features a hapless hero whose attempts to Americanise himself mirror Italy's struggle to handle a clash of cultures after World War II.
Italy: A Geographical Expression
Harry Hearder argues that Metternich got it wrong - Italy's sense of unity is the oldest and most deeply rooted in Europe.
Charlemagne in Italy
The celebrated King of the Franks may have become the first Holy Roman Emperor, but what other impact and legacies did he leave Dark Age Italy? Ross Balzaretti investigates.
The Battle for Art in the 1930s
David Elliott looks at how Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler used culture to their own ends and how the ramifications of this has continued to the present.
Futurism and Fascism
Italy's Futurists - led by Filippo Marinetti - exploded onto the European cultural scene during and after the Great War with all the garishness and fizz of some of their founder's anarchic recipes. But was the menu taken up by Mussolini and his Fascists? Richard Jensen investigates.
Sperandio's Renaissance Medals
Luke Syson examines how artifice, art and political calculation combined to produce medal portraits by Sperandio of Mantua for two of Renaissance Italy's "warhorses", Giovanni Bentivoglio and Federico da Montelfeltro.
The Pope in the Palace: The Alexander Cycle, Siena
Andrew Martindale explains why Renaissance Sienese doctored the history of a 12th-century papacy when decorating their new city hall.
Whose Identity? Italy and the Italians
Harry Hearder argues that language has been a help rather than a hindrance in Italy's past and present struggle to achieve political and psychological unity.
The Church of San Frediano, Lucca
Diana Webb looks at the miracles and saints populating the basilica of the San Frediano in Lucca.