The Hermitage in St Petersburg, one of the world's most prestigious art galleries, is to set up a base in Italy to study and exhibit parts of its huge art collection.
The scientific study centre will be housed in Ferrara's 14th-century Castello Estense, not far from the northern city's university, whose art history experts will be involved in studying the art treasures.
"One of the reasons Ferrara was chosen was its strong tradition in studying art and art history," the city's mayor, Gaetano Sateriale, said, adding that it had beaten off challenges from Mantua and Verona.
"The Hermitage has reputedly the biggest collection in the world and even they don't know exactly what some of the stuff is. This is where we can help," he added.
Russian and Italian experts will work together identifying and examining the numerous paintings, sculptures and other works that the St Petersburg museum has still not managed to catalogue.
Under an agreement which was sealed at a Russian-Italian summit in Bari last week, Ferrara will get to host major exhibitions of Hermitage art at least every two years.
The first of these will be an important exhibition of 16th century paintings of the Ferrara school in 2008. A second one will focus on Islamic art.
"We expect these shows will help attract 'quality' tourism to Ferrara, which already has several top-notch exhibition spaces," Sateriale said.
Ferrara, one of the jewels of the Emilia Romagna region, is famous as the former residence of the Este dukes, whose court was one of the most illustrious of the Italian Renaissance. The moated Castello Estense, where the dukes lived, is at the centre of the city.
The Hermitage is one of the largest, oldest and most famous art galleries in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, including the Winter Palace which used to be the residence of the Russian Tsars.
Strong points of the Hermitage collection of Western art include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Poussin, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Canova, Rodin, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso and Matisse.
Catherine the Great started the famed collection in 1764 by purchasing more than two hundred paintings in Europe. Russian ambassadors in foreign capitals were commissioned to acquire the best collections offered for sale.
As the Russian tsars continued to amass their art holdings in the 19th century, several works of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael were bought in Italy.
Catherine called her art gallery "my hermitage", as very few people were allowed inside to see its riches.
Officials said that the annual running costs of the Hermitage's Italian operation would be no more than 500,000 euros shared by Italy and Russia. They hope the new venture will pay for itself many times over.
The Hermitage already has satellite branches in Las Vegas, Amsterdam and London.
