Islamic Arms and Armour from the Odescalchi Collection at Palazzo Venezia in Rome

Abstract The brief paper introduces a barely known group of Islamic arms and armour belonging to the larger Odescalchi collection owned by Palazzo Venezia, today part of the museum complex Vittoriano and Palazzo Venezia ( VIVE ) in Rome. As these Islamic arms have been so far overlooked by scholarship, the paper provides a preliminary description, putting them in the cultural context of Italian collecting during the second half of the 19th century, and envisaging an in-depth study.