The art of Italy.

In Italy art stands in the open air before it enters a museum: in the temples still standing among the olive trees, in the mosaics beneath the floors of a villa, in the fountains and staircases of the squares. From Sicily, where twenty-five centuries stand face to face, to the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna.

Emilia-Romagna · Sicily Ravenna · Agrigento · Palermo · Piazza Armerina

Ravenna, the art of mosaic.

The starry sky of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the green and gold apse of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, Empress Theodora and her court in San Vitale: in Ravenna the Byzantine mosaics have shone for fifteen centuries. And in the city's workshops the craft goes on, tile by tile, among hammers, mortar and coloured glass.

From the region
Emilia-Romagna

02:25 Ravenna, the mosaics

Video Comune di Ravenna

What you will see
  1. 01The starry sky of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
  2. 02The hammer cutting the tiles
  3. 03Ravenna by night, from above
  4. 04The apse of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
  5. 05The mosaicists' hands: tiles, mortar, colours
  6. 06Empress Theodora and her court, in San Vitale

History.

The Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, from the air and from the ground: the columns of the Temple of Heracles, the Dioscuri among the cypresses, Concordia with Mitoraj's Fallen Icarus at its feet, Juno on the edge of the hill. In between, the green of the Kolymbethra Garden.

From the region
Sicily

01:17 Agrigento, Valley of the Temples

Video Regione Siciliana

What you will see
  1. 01The Temple of Heracles, with Agrigento behind
  2. 02The Temple of the Dioscuri and the Kolymbethra Garden
  3. 03The Temple of Concordia, in flight
  4. 04Igor Mitoraj's Fallen Icarus
  5. 05The Temple of Juno and the way back among the olive trees

Art.

It begins in Palermo, with the Teatro Massimo seen from above and the Fontana Pretoria in its square, and goes down to Piazza Armerina, among the Roman mosaics of the Villa del Casale. Then the Baroque: staircases, domes and spires with Etna behind them, and a mother church with a majolica bell tower in the middle of the wheat fields.

From the region
Sicily

01:17 Palermo, Piazza Armerina and the Baroque

Video Regione Siciliana

What you will see
  1. 01Palermo and the Teatro Massimo, from above
  2. 02The Fontana Pretoria
  3. 03The mosaics of the Villa Romana del Casale
  4. 04Baroque staircases, domes and spires, with Etna behind
  5. 05A mother church among the wheat fields