One of the most significant and least studied aspects of Picasso's art is his link with the Italian art tradition, which has never been clearly documented. This catalogue accompanying an exhibition in February 1998 at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, reveals the importance of the Italian experience for the best-known artist of the 20th century. Essays by renowned art historians cover topics ranging from the photographic sources of Picasso's Italianate images, to his work in relation to Eric Satie, and the remarkable painting The Parade. Notes, sketches, drawings and graphic works as well as the greatest masterpieces of painting and photography, etchings and engravings and theatre design are given as evidence of the close relationship between the Renaissance, Classicism, Mannerism, Italian culture and Picasso's art.