Italy

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

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

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

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"

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

Lawarchive

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

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

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

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

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

Booksreview

Michelangelo for beginners, and a new view of the master’s bronzes

Three new books offer fresh angles on the Renaissance master

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'

Venice analysis

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

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

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

Italian galleries no longer have to pay artist royalties on primary market sales

New guidelines are published after six year negotiation, but dealers will have to provide written contracts with artists when acting on consignment

Italynews

Battle over Bannon’s nationalist bootcamp in Italian monastery

Protests against the right-wing group’s takeover of a 13th-century cloister are growing

Gaetano Pesce's anti-patriarchy sculpture outrages feminists in Milan

Work created for Milan Design Week perpetuates violence against women, critics say

Art fairspreview

Big-hitters join Miart for first time

Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac and other well-known galleries have joined the Milan fair

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

In pictures: the unfinished 'ghost' projects of Italy

The 696 incomplete public works are not simply a result of crime, corruption and incompetence, new book says

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

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

Lawnews

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

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

Lawcomment

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