Why go
A traveler can use the cities to organize a vast subject. Florence is a strong starting point for early Renaissance painting; Venice highlights the rich color of artists such as Titian and Tintoretto; Rome helps bring later Baroque work into view. The contrasts are more useful than trying to see every famous name.
The full story
Giotto’s late medieval paintings gave figures and scenes a stronger sense of physical presence. Florence later became a center of early Renaissance art, with painters such as Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Botticelli and Paolo Uccello. Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo developed different approaches to the figure and composition. In 16th-century Venice, Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto became associated with richly colored painting. Baroque art brought another change in pace and effect, with Caravaggio among its key figures. Italian visual art did not end there. The 20th century included Giorgio de Chirico’s unsettling empty squares and Amedeo Modigliani’s portraits. Museums are only part of the encounter: the source tradition also places art in churches and public buildings. Compare works in their settings where possible, since the building often helps explain their scale and purpose.