Italy

A well-preserved silver denarius of the Roman moneyer Postumius Albinus, ca. 96 BCE, struck at the height of the late Roman Republic — among the finest examples of Roman numismatic portraiture and reverse iconography.

Rome began as a small city on the Tiber and grew into an empire that ruled the entire Mediterranean world for five centuries, leaving behind a legacy in law, language, architecture, and governance that shapes the modern world.

Flourishing in the city-states of 14th to 17th century Italy, the Renaissance produced Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, and a transformation in how humanity understood itself and the natural world.