ARTS GUIDE SHOWS IN ITALY ABROAD

The following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's top art exhibitions:

BOLOGNA - Pinacoteca Nazionale: Amico Aspertini (1474-1552), A Bizarre Artist in the Age of Durer and Raphael; until January 26.

BRESCIA - Museo di Santa Giulia: Van Gogh, Masterpieces from the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands; until January 25.
- Santa Giulia museum: Giovanni Guareschi, tribute to Don Camillo writer on 100th anniversary of birth shows 70 cartoons he penned for satirical magazine Bertoldo under Fascist regime; until February 28.

FERRARA - Palazzo Diamanti: Turner and Italy; until February 22.

FLORENCE - Palazzo Medici-Ricciardi: Raphael's Madonna del Cardellino (Madonna of the Goldfinch) on show after eight-year restoration, until March 1.
- Palazzo Strozzi: Caterina and Maria de' Medici, Women in Power; until February 8.
- Palazzo Pitti: The Medicis And Science; large collection of scientific writings and tools; until January 11.
- same venue: The Other Face Of The Soul, 60 portraits by Giovanni Fattori, some unseen, showing other side of 19th-century artist famous for military subjects and Maremma landscapes; until January 25.

FORLI' - Complesso Monumentale San Domenico: Canova, The Classical Ideal, Sculpture and Painting; until June 21.

GENOA - Palazzo Ducale: Lucio Fontana Light And Colour; until February 15.
- Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Via Croce: Shozo Shimamoto; until March 8.

LUCCA - Palazzo Ducale: show marking 300 years from birth of Grand Tour portraitist Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787); until March 29.

MILANO - Palazzo Reale: Rene' Magritte and the Mystery of Nature; one of Italy's largest-ever Magritte events; around 100 paintings featuring Magritte's signature apples, blue skies and birds; until March 29.
- same venue: Georges Seurat, Paul Seignac and the neo-Impressionists; over 100 works from major international museums; until January 25.
- Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation: 'Great Works 1972-2008'; until March 22.
- Brera Academy and Palazzo Stelline (Credito Valtellinese): Mario Schifano 1943-1998, Selected Works; retrospective marking 10th anniversary of artist's death, previously at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome; until February 1.
- Fondazione Mazzotta: ethnic art from Peggy Guggenheim collection; until February 22.
- Museo Poldi Pezzoli: Japanese 'netsuke' mini-sculptures from four Italian collections and Stuttgart's Linden Museum; until March 15.

NAPOLI - Archaeological Museum: Herculaneum: Three Centuries of Discoveries; until April 2009.
- Madre modern art gallery: Robert Rauschenberg, Travelling 1970-76; until January 19.

PALERMO - Palazzo dei Normanni: The Fantastic World of Picasso, 66 works until March 8.

PARMA - National Gallery: Correggio, biggest exhibit on once-neglected artist in years; around 80 works flanked by 40 by contemporaries, plus chance to see three most important frescos up close in city churches; until January 25.

PERUGIA - Palazzo Baldeschi al Corso; From Corot to Picasso and Fattori to De Pisis, modern Italian and European art from two private collections including Monet, Van Gogh and Modigliani; until January 15.

PONTASSIEVE - Sala delle Colonne: 49 paintings and sculptures by Antonio Ligabue including celebrated Self Portrait With Dog; until June 7.

ROMA - National Modern Art Gallery (GNAM): big Giorgio de Chirico show marking 30 years from artist's death; 100 works, never sold and most never seen, from vaults of GNAM and de Chirico Foundation, spanning career, apart from well-known metaphysical works, from 1919 until early 1970s; until January 25.
- Chiostro del Bramante: The Myth of Julius Caesar, first ever show focusing on him alone; 200 items from ancient times until the 20th century; until April 5.
- Museo della Civilta' Romana: The Die Is Cast, sketches of Ancient Rome by Gilles Chaillet; until March 1.
- Castel Sant'Angelo: Logos of Italy; Stories in the Art of Excellence; until January 25.
- Vittoriano: Picasso 1917-1937, the Harlequin of Art; more than 180 works in first major Rome show on Spanish artist in 55 years; until February 8.
- Colosseum: Ruins and Rebirths, 80 works charting development of heritage protection; until February 15.
- Museo di San Salvatore in Lauro: Visions of Grand Tour by Russian visitors to Italy (1640-1880), 60 works in collaboration with Hermitage showing how landmarks like Rome's Pantheon, Milan's Piazza Duomo and Florence's Piazza della Signoria have changed; until February 22.
- Fondazione Memmo: Basquiat, 40 works until February 1.
- Museo dell'Ara Pacis: Bruno Munari, retrospective on artist and designer; until February 22.
- Museo Capitolini: More than 100 pieces of Sevres porcelain including Betrand Louvre's famed La Bouche (The Mouth); until March 8.

TREVISO - Casa dei Carraresi: Canaletto, Venice and its Splendours; until April 5.

TRIESTE - Ex-Pescheria Centrale: Trieste 1918, The First Redemption; military equipment, memorabilia, photos from WWI; until January 25.

TORINO - Palazzo Mazzonis: New Oriental Art Museum (MAO) opened on December 5 with large Chinese collection that belonged to late Fiat chief Gianni Agnelli and Japanese masterpieces from San Paolo foundation, as well as rare Indian, Khmer pieces.
- Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli: 164 works from the famous Bischofberger collection until March 1.

VENEZIA - Guggenheim Museum: Carlo Cardazzo, A New Vision Of Art, pieces from his collection including de Chirico, Sironi, Campigli, Scipione, Marini and the architect Carlo Scarpa; until February 9.

VICENZA - Palazzo Barbaran: 'Palladio 500', 200 works including 30 models of Palladian architecture plus art by Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian celebrate Andrea Palladio on the 500th anniversary of his birth; until January 6, when it moves to London (Royal Academy of Arts, 31 January - 13 April 2009) and on to Washington in autumn 2009. Photo: Works by Man Ray.