Are you planning a vacation to Italy? Maybe you want to find the best tour for your interests, and also figure out what art to see in your free time? Or, maybe you want to plan your own tour to Italy? In any event, you want to see the best of Italy's art, glowing in the silence of hidden chapels, or glittering on dark tomb walls.

I am Barbara Lynn-Davis, Ph.D. , Princeton University, a specialist in Italian art, architecture, and gardens.

Here are my choices for some of the best, not-to-be-missed art to be enjoyed in Italy, all illuminated with essays to inspire your vacation planning now, and bring to life what you are looking at when you are in Italy. These are not dry travel guide summaries. Instead, let my essays begin to open your eyes to the most artistically accomplished and memorable masterpieces in Italy -- art that will live forever in your mind's eye even after your vacation to Italy is over.