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Museums and art galleries closed in Italy in the spring and again in the fall to contain the spread of COVID-19, leaving virtual tours as the best option for art lovers.
Some exquisite pieces of Italy’s cultural heritage remain on display for in-person viewing inside the country’s churches, which stayed open during the autumn resurgence of the virus.
A woman admires the 1514 fresco "Sybils receiving instruction from Angels" by Italian High Renaissance master painter Raffaello Sanzio, known as Raphael, adorns the inside of Santa Maria della Pace church, in Rome.
A woman looks at paintings by 16th-century artist Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, on the life of St.Matthew, inside the Contarelli chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi Church, in Rome.
Visitors admire the "Conversion (of St. Paul) on the Way to Damascus" Renaissance master Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio of 1601, flanking "The Assumption of the Virgin", 1601.
A woman wearing a face mask to curb the spread of COVID-19 admires paintings he Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo church, Rome
Visitors admire the marble sculpture "The Piety", made in 1499 by Italian sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti, inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican.
Visitors admire the tomb of Pope Julius II, with the central marble statue of Mosè, made by Italian sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1505 and 1545, inside the San Pietro in Vincoli church, in Rome.
A visitor admires the marble sculptural group "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" made between 1647 and 1652, by Baroque architect in the Cornaro Chapel of Rome's Saint Mary of Victory church.