Imogen is a south Londoner born and bred, who loves exploring her home city and is amazed that despite 33 years of running around town, it can still offer up unexpected surprises and unknown spots. A graduate in Italian literature from Oxford University, she lived in Rome for a few years where she met the Context Team. She now works in magazine publishing as an editor on a variety of projects, including the London tourist boards Official Visit London Guide to London which makes her well-qualified to recommend great places to visit, be it the latest hot restaurant or a long-standing hidden gem.

Originally from Rome, Adriano graduated in History of Art at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" with a thesis on the later artistic production of Paolo Veronese. He spent almost two years in Venice conducting his research in various public and religious archives of the town. He then moved to London where he obtained a Master's degree at the Warburg Institute with a research on one of the most famous magical-philosphical treatise of the Renaissance: the De Occulta Philosphia by Cornelius Agrippa. He is currently living in London where he's writing his PhD thesis on the English patronage and collecting activities of the XVIII century, with a particular interest on the Grand Tour and the Anglo-Italian relations.

Born and raised in London, Andrew Campbell is currently doing a PhD in Renaissance history and philosophy at University College London. He combines his research with teaching English to Italian Erasmus students and giving seminars on Renaissance texts. Despite having lived in London for nearly all of his life, Andrew has still not found a view to beat that from the upper deck of a bus crossing Waterloo Bridge.

Sarah Ciacci has lived and worked in London all her life, but pops over to Rome fairly often. After completing her MA in History of Art at University College London, specialising in late 19th Century French Painting and mid 20th Century Art, she has worked in the contemporary art world in both London and Rome. Sarah is passionate about London, a fabulously rich, diverse and multi-layered city and for the past three years has been learning the skill of guiding London and telling its 2,000 year old story - spanning its history, culture, and the famous personalities who have lived here.

Nigel Cliff is a historian, biographer and critic. He has a BA and MA from the University of Oxford, where he was awarded a double First class degree in English and the Beddington Prize for English Literature. He is a former film and theatre critic for the London Times and writer for The Economist. His first book, The Shakespeare Riots, was published in 2007 by Random House and was a finalist for the National Award for Arts Writing. He makes his home in London, but as a longtime aficionado of all things Italian, he is researching and writing part of his new book in Rome.

Following in the footsteps of numerous nineteenth-century, English watercolourists, London-born artist Charles Foster-Hall has traveled widely to observe and paint the natural world. In the course of a long journey through Asia and the Far East he stopped in Japan for an extended period to paint and study Noh Theatre. Then, after 10 years in Paris, he moved to New York, where he received many mural commissions, public art commissions and worked with the New York artist, Jeff Koons. On return to London in 2005 he was awarded the St Cuthbert's Mill Prize by the Royal Watercolour Society and has exhibited in their Open Exhibitions. Foster-Hall received a degree in Microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Bristol, UK, after which he decided to devote himself more fully to painting. His desire to reconcile scientific interests with artistic practice led to his involvement in a project to create a 10-foot-tall boiled egg originally proposed by Salvador Dali. Although he considers his original inspiration to come from early memories of the English landscape, he is now taking great pleasure in rediscovering the gardens and country houses of his native land. His work can be viewed at www.charlesfoster-hall.com

Mariana Giovino specialises in the art of the ancient Middle East, particularly ancient Iraq. She is also interested in the history of excavation and museum collecting. She wrote about the meaning of ancient Iraqi symbols for her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she also wrote about the meaning of the Parthenon friezes for her M.A. She has published on ancient Iraqi and Iranian art, and lectures at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Caroline Goodson received her Ph.d. in art history and archaeology from Columbia and wrote her dissertation on 9th century architecture in Rome. She is currently working on interdisciplinary studies of archaeology, art history, and history. She is lecturer of medieval history at Birbeck College, University of London, but spends as much time as she can researching in Italy.

Archeaologist Luke Lavan received his Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham. A specialist in late antiquity, he has published a number of important scholarly papers and been involved in countless digs throughout the Western Mediterranean region, including France.

Alessandro Lorenzetti, gained his degree in History of Art from the University of Parma, where he specialised in the History of Illuminated Manuscripts. He currently lives in London and is completing his MA in “Cultural and Intellectual History, 1300-1650” at the Warburg Institute, with a dissertation on History of Renaissance Architecture.

Following a two-year stint at the British Museum, Susanne has returned for a post-doctoral fellowship to the Warburg Institute, where she also completed her PhD in art history in 2005. She specializes in 16th and 17th century art, focusing on the links between Italy and the North. Although based in London, she has spent every minute of her free time in Rome since meeting her partner, a Roman, in 2001.

Michael Mulryan has just completed his PhD thesis at UCL and has lived in London for seven years. He has taught at Royal Holloway and University College London. Michael specialises in late antique Rome but is interested in ancient and medieval urbanism in general, and the transition between the two. As part of his research he studied at the British School at Rome. Michael thinks London is one of the greatest cities in the world, but thinks the Luftwaffe and post-war architects have a lot to answer for.

Jacob is a painter from London currently living in Rome; a move made in order to be close to the artworks about which he cares most, hoping that this will help develop his own work. Jacob studied Fine Art at Oxford University in The Ruskin School of Drawing, however he also has a background in Art History, having previously studied at The Courtauld Institute, London. He retains an interest in the history of art, and is very much concerned with the reappraisal and maintenance of certain aspects of the painterly tradition, particularly Italian.