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Italian parliament

Italy aims to become ‘increasingly competitive’ in the global art market after VAT cut

26 June 2025

Italy has announced a cut in VAT for art and antiques from 22% to 5%, making it lower than any other EU state. The country also aims to halve VAT on imports to 5%.

Dressing table

Eagle-eyed bidders spot an Art Deco delight at Italian auction

09 June 2025

A hitherto unrecorded Art Deco masterwork by Armand-Albert Rateau (1882-1938) caught the eye at an Italian sale.

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Modern furniture made with the Niemeyer touch

14 April 2025

As with Pierre Jeanneret and his vision for Chandigarh in India, Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) is famous for his involvement in the city of Brasilia as chief architect.

2685IE Viscontea Niemeyer Chair 1

Modern furniture made with the Niemeyer touch

11 March 2025

As with Pierre Jeanneret and his vision for Chandigarh in India, Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) is famous for his involvement in the city of Brasilia as chief architect.

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Dealer Dickinson offers ‘early Michelangelo’

30 September 2024

London dealer Dickinson is offering what it says is ‘the one of the most exciting old master discoveries to have been made in recent decades, and is an important addition to the small group of extant drawings by Michelangelo’.

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Biennale in Florence attracts British dealers

23 September 2024

Prestigious Italian fair includes UK firms among the strong international contingent attending this year

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Chinese jar at 410 times the low estimate

08 July 2024

There was saleroom drama at Aste di Antiquariato Boetto (25% buyer’s premium) in Genoa on June 19 when a 12in (30cm) Chinese blue and white jar estimated at €2000-2300 shot to €820,000 (£692,000).

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Hours and hours of fresco fun

08 July 2024

The subject of this massive Italian micromosaic panel is taken from the lost series of frescoes depicting the Hours of Day and Night by Raphael.

2651 NEDI Roseberys Neapolitan 1

Rare 18th century Neapolitan crèche figures take off at auction and fly back to Napoli

01 July 2024

Arriving in boxes, a quantity of Italian Nativity figures were delivered to Anna Evans, head of sale and specialist at south London saleroom Roseberys, with Christie’s lot labels dated 1982 still attached.

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Royal approval for the work of George Michael Moser once dubbed ‘England’s favourite goldsmith’

01 July 2024

Watch chatelaine offered at auction was produced by a man who created many works for the Hanoverian household

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Memphis Milano made its mark

27 May 2024

The Memphis Miliano design movement was born on the evening of December 11, 1980, when architect-designer Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) invited young creators and architects to discuss the future of Italian ‘post-modern’ design.

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Italian artist's detailed view of London exhibition emerges in Rome auction

20 May 2024

Although the image may be familiar from stereoscopic photographs and engravings of the period, this view of the 1862 'London International Exhibition of Industry and Art' is an oil and canvas by the Italian painter Federico Moja (1802-85).

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Designs by the daring Dino Martens come to auction in Italy

13 May 2024

Two quite different pieces of glass designed by Dino Martens (1894-1970) led the April 23 sale at Aste di Antiquariato Boetto (25% buyer’s premium) in Genoa.

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Delve into the darker side of Old Master paintings at auction

13 May 2024

Current collecting taste means that Old Master paintings exploring the darker side of the human character can often find more admirers than more typical subject matter of Georgian gentleman or European landscapes. Works of the grotesque are particularly popular.

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A product of his time but Bugatti’s fantasies were all his own

25 March 2024

In 1902, while visiting stands at the Esposizione Internationale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna in Turin, the Queen of Italy congratulated Carlo Bugatti on his ‘Moresque’ style of furniture. He reportedly replied, “You are mistaken, majesty, this style is mine!”

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18th century friar portrait painted by female artist flies over estimate

25 March 2024

This 18th century pastel on paper portrait showing a young friar has many hallmarks of the work of the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757).

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Panoramas pick up six-figure sums in Italy

25 March 2024

Two titled topographical views by a journeyman 18th century Venetian artist excelled at the Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings sale at Wannenes (35% buyer’s premium) in Genoa.

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TEFAF Maastricht Showcase: Tommaso Calabro

04 March 2024

Despite specialising in Modern art, Tommaso Calabro hopes to snag some Old Master collectors at his first TEFAF.

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Venini glass designs from two Italian architects build up transatlantic interest

29 January 2024

Two exceptional pieces of Venini glass surfaced at auction in the final days of 2023 on different sides of the Atlantic.

Roman 2nd century AD statue

Roman marble sold in 1961 auction resurfaces in Italy headless… but the head could be in UK

06 November 2023

In 1961 when Christie’s auctioned off items from the Wilton House Collection, the catalogue included a full-page image of a monumental Roman marble.