The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow—Russia’s major repositories of Western art—are strengthening ties with their Italian peers. An exhibition of work by the Renaissance master Raphael is due to open on 13 September at the Pushkin (until 11 December) as a result of a co-operation agreement signed this summer with the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Many of the works in the show, including Raphael’s Self-portrait (1506), have never before been shown in Russia. Meanwhile, the Hermitage and the city of Pavia in Italy have signed a four-year agreement to promote joint exhibitions and research projects. The partnership, which follows an earlier agreement from 2009, will kick off with an exhibition at the Hermitage of works by the 19th-century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (11 November-11 March 2017).