The sixteenth century marked a critical period both for the formation of Spain as a cultural and political entity and for a new imperial dominance of the Spanish crown over other areas of Europe, in particular the states of the Italian peninsula. The uniqueness of the case of Spanish Italy lies as one of a handful of historical examples in which the apparent cultural dominance of the nominally subaltern group who, held a disproportionately important agency over both the development of the imperial culture and also how its colonizers came to see themselves. The essays collected here evaluate the broad range of contexts--from political thought and militarism to art and religion--in which images of Spain and Spanish culture were created by the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula in the century or so after 1492. They draw their inspiration from colonial and subaltern studies, reflecting the field's emphasis on the contribution made by colonized groups to how colonizing powers were themselves imagined. The volume excavates how those who came into contact with the imperial power of the Spanish crown in Italy during this period perceived and discussed the wider Iberian culture brought amongst them by its servants and subjects. In particular, it demonstrates the factors and circumstances that determined Italians' responses to the Spanish presence, their intentions for the images they created, and the forums in and media through which they articulated and projected them.