This volume was published in concomitance with the 9th International Congress on Oriental Carpets, which took place in Italy, precisely in Milan and Florence, on 23-29 September 1999. A complete bibliography of the Italian titles on Oriental carpets may be found in this book, which also includes an accurate analysis of the Italian market of Oriental carpets in the 20th Century. This historical starts in the 1920s, when there were only few antiquarians and collectors in Italy, and continues through the years of the Italian resurgence after the two world wars, when market growth led to the founding of a number of renowned family-owned galleries, some of which are still running today.