THE ITALY OF the seventeenth century was a world away from today’s nation-state with its national identity. It was an Italy of courts and kingdoms, and of centres of artistic production that, while often highly sophisticated and complex, nevertheless operated within the confines of their immediate territories. Even so, artists, writers and intellectuals often moved from one city to another, building networks through the creation of fellowships, such as literary academies, or through less formal, but no less active, circles that contributed to the diffusion of the debate on the figurative arts. One of the main themes of Floriana Conte’s two volumes is, as their subtitles suggest, artists’ travels. By tracing the movements of Tanzio da Varallo, Massimo Stanzione and Salvator Rosa, the author clarifies the origins of a number of their works through the contacts they established with contemporary writers and poets who on occasion were the inspiration for, or even the commissioner of, a work, or otherwise were closely linked to the patrons.