Iran is a frontier country. It’s a transit area, a hinge between East and West, and a privileged cradle of an autonomous artistic elaboration. Persian culture is among the greatest in ancient times which have kept alive throughout the centuries political, urban and artistic traditions, adapting and modifying them in accordance with needs, but always with totally original results. Giovanni Curatola traces the contours of this civilization, presenting Persian architecture (including the analysis of its ornamental aspects), and the so-called decorative arts, like miniature, ceramics, carpets. The influence of typically Islamic artistic elements (fundamentally of Iran’s Islam) spread with various nuances through the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and, obviously, Europe.