Divided we stand.

Unlike France or Great Britain, Italy has no single city from which the nation's cultural life radiates. Instead, our country's history of decentralization-until the middle of the nineteenth century it was a medley of small independent states - has given us a wealth of diverse urban centers, large and small, with disparate cultural legacies sustained by a range of economies. Taken together, they create a variegated fabric that makes Italy, depending on one's point of view, either a big backwater or a sprawling capital.

When it comes to institutions of contemporary art, this general decentralization is intensified to the point of paradox. This is particularly the case in the north. Two of the most important contemporary art museums, Castello di Rivoli and Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, are found not in an international center like Milan, but in the small cities of Rivoli, outside Turin, and Prato, near Florence. When it comes to galleries and private foundations, though most are located in the largest cities, the decentralized model applies as well: any thorough tour of northern Italy's most influential venues for contemporary art would have to include a series of excursions - not only to Turin, Milan, or Venice, but also to the regions surrounding them.

Some years ago the Tucci Russo gallery, one of the most important in Italy, moved from Turin to Torre Pellice. Located in the heart of a valley inhabited for centuries by Italian Protestants, this gallery has shown the work of Tony Cragg, Jan Vercruysse, and Thomas Schutte, and more recently, Alfredo Pirri, Miroslaw Balka, and Luigi Stoisa. A half hour by car from the Piedmontese capital is Castello di Rivara. Run by Franz Paludetto (a former art dealer from Turin who has worked with Julian Opie and Sylvie Fleury, among others), this forward-thinking institution is known for surveys of contemporary art with a particular emphasis on developments in Germany; memorable solo shows in recent years include those by John Armleder, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Dan Graham.

Of the numerous art spaces that dot the Lombardy countryside around Milan, the most prominent is Massimo Minini's, in Brescia. Minini has been a leading figurefigure on the Italian art scene since the '70s, working with established figurefigures such as Ettore Spalletti, Peter Halley, and Bertrand Lavier, as well as younger artists like Eva Marisaldi, Serse, and Marco Mazzucconi. Every summer, the Fondazione Ratti in Como shows projects by art students from schools around the world, projects that in the past have been selected by such artists as Joseph Kosuth and Allan Kaprow. The season concludes with solo exhibitions in the area's splendid lakeside villas.

Bergamo, a city that boasts one of Italy's most beautiful historic centers, is the site of the Accademia Carrara, which comprises an art school, a substantial collection of ancient art, and a wing dedicated to contemporary work (renovated a few years ago by Vittorio Gregotti). Bergamo has its share of private galleries; Fumagalli, which focuses on Italian artists, such as Piero Dorazio, Carla Accardi, and Enrico Castellani, is only the best known. In the city of Piacenza, south of Milan, an enterprising secondhand car dealer named Lino Baldini has opened an exhibition space with the Latin name Placentia, which shows the work of Antonio Riello, Alessandra Galbiati, and Enrica Borghi, among other young Italians, as well as artists from abroad.

In the Veneto, the city of Verona has become a hot spot for Modern and contemporary art. The Galleria d'Arte Moderna is a bustling establishment that concentrates on the historical avant-garde, having mounted retrospectives of Paul Klee and Rene Magritte, as well as a survey on Spanish Surrealism. Among the city's highly regarded private galleries are the Studio la Citta, which recently exhibited the work of Jessica Stockholder, and the Galleria dello Scudo.

Finally, a few notable centers for contemporary art are located in Liguria, south of Piedmont, and at least two galleries - the Galleria Galliani in Genoa and the Galleria Santandrea in Savona - are committed to showing the work of more established contemporary figurefigures like Wim Delvoye and James Casebere, as well as those, like Luisa Lambri, of the latest generation.

Giorgio Verzotti contributes regularly to Artforum.