Italy

Uffizi launches Leonardo da Vinci 500th celebrations across Italy

New exhibition in Florence decodes the “startlingly radical” scientific ideas of the Codex Leicester

Artissimapreview

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

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

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

Venice rallies to save its ancient glass-blowing industry from Chinese competition

The Venice Glass Week is a city-wide collaboration between museums, commercial galleries and artisans of Murano

Renzo Piano designs replacement for collapsed Genoa bridge

Since the Morandi tragedy, architect "can’t think of anything else but that bridge"

Booksreview

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

‘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”

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

Booksreview

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

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

Largest exhibition ever of Mario Merz igloos to take over Milan’s Pirelli HangarBicocca space

Major loan show is based on 1985 display of the Italian artist organised by pioneering curator Harald Szeemann

Lawnews

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

Lost artfeature

Lost art: Has Caravaggio’s long missing Nativity been found?

Noah Charney on the Carabinieri's efforts to track down the stolen painting

Venice analysis

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

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

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

Design or colour? Look to Titian

A shoestring trip to La Serenissima—and a thumbs-up for Simon Schama

New territory for Glenn Ligon with first solo show in Italy

US artist tries new techniques and tackles immigration in Naples exhibition

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

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

Why Miart is starting to attract high-profile exhibitors

Galleries, benefitting from Milan's April buzz, are already reporting healthy sales

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

Milan's Fondazione Prada sheds light on Italy's Fascist past on eve of country's elections

Timing of mega-exhibition organised by Germano Celant is coincidental but timely

Fondazione Prada recreates 20 Italian exhibits made under Fascist rule

Show of more than 500 works ranges from Giorgio de Chirico to Gruppo 7

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?

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