Yulia Ivanova and Pavel Sokolov, Leading Research Fellows at the HSE Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities, conducted three seminars for the students of the University of Cologne’s Slavic Department on June 27 and 28. The aim of the HSE researchers was to inform students about the relations between Rus and Italy during the Middle Ages and the early Modern period, as well as shed light on some facts of how Italian culture was perceived in Russia from the 18th through the 20th centuries.