Throughout the 17th century a steady stream of Dutch painters made the arduous journey to Italy, the acknowledged "home of art." Where artists of other nationalities studied the great masters of the Renaissance and the contemporary painters of the Baroque, the Dutch were electrified by the magic of Italy itself, its light, people, colours and landscape. In their paintings they recorded the glittering distances of the Roman campagna, the ruins of earlier civilizations, and the colourful characters of the streets and countryside. This volume celebrates the sheer beauty of the Dutch Italianate vision, and the virtuosity, observation and humour of these remarkable artists.