Food, music, and fine art — welcome to Italy. The country has been renowned for centuries as a global cultural center, but until 150 years ago, the nation of “Italy” existed only as a series of independent city-states. To celebrate the anniversary of its unification, the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago is partnering with the Art Institute of Chicago to offer “Highlights of Italian Art,” a free gallery guide to some of the museum’s most spectacular Italian works.

As Chicagoans, we’re lucky enough to have one of the world’s premier art museums right in our backyard. But navigating the Art Institute’s massive collections can be a bit of a daunting task if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

For anyone hoping to experience some of the most influential Western art, though, this new guide will be available through September at the Art Institute of Chicago and should help you manage your next visit.

Appropriate to the occasion, the guide itself serves as a unifier of the museum’s diverse Italian collection. Artists from across the country — Naples, Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena — all make an appearance. And just as the unification of the country brought together drastically different cultures and influences, each work in the collection displays a distinct bit of the Italian flavor.

Featuring (of course) a number of paintings from the Italian Renaissance, religious themes play rather heavily into many of the featured works. Even for those museum-goers who aren’t drawn in by the subject matter alone, though, there’s plenty to enjoy.

The earliest featured paintings date back to the mid-1400s, with a series of panels by the Sienese Giovanni di Paolo detailing the life of St. Paul. Here, elements of Renaissance naturalism are just beginning to develop. As guided chronologically through these works, though, artists from across the peninsula begin to build upon one another to create new and influential styles.

From Florence, 20 years later, Sandro Boticelli is featured with the delicately painted scene of “The Virgin and Child with an Angel.” From early 17th century Rome, Cecco del Caravaggio’s “The Resurrection” stands boldly over the rest of its gallery with its incredibly stark contrasts of highlights and shadows.

As the centuries roll on, the pieces focus less on religion and more on secular life, emphasizing increasing stylization.

Francesco Guardi’s 18th century painting, “The Grand Canal, Venice” uses fluid brushstrokes and a subtle palette to bring out natural worldly beauty. Antonio Mancini’s “Resting,” simply featuring a young woman lying in bed, stands as one of Italy’s contributions to the Impressionist movement of the late 19th century.

Venturing into the modern wing, the paintings featured in this section of the guide are about as far as possible from the naturalism of early Renaissance work.

Early 20th century painter Gino Severini pursues an exercise in abstraction with “Festival in Montmartre.” As a founding member of the Futurists, Severini uses bright colors and sharp angles to depict the high-energy modern world. Giorgio de Chirico’s “The Philosopher’s Conquest” takes an even less intelligible turn in his avant-garde rendering of a deserted piazza, occupied solely by the inanimate (two artichokes, a cannon, a train, and a large clock).

Trying to extract meaning form these later paintings is not quite as easy as, say, deciphering a straightforward Renaissance-era depiction of a saint’s life. The diversity of subject and style outlined in this guide is a testament to the diversity of the country itself. From across the nation and throughout the decades, this little peninsula has put out a lot of significant work. If you’re looking to get a true taste of Italian culture right here in Chicago, pick up “Highlights of Italian Art” this summer.