This volume of the "Mathematics and Culture" series is dedicated to Italian artist Armando Pizzicato. The work of Pollock is also discussed, thanks to the collaboration of the Venice Guggenheim Collection. Mathematics creates beauty in architecture, from topology to the projects of Gehry and Piano to the muqarnas of Islam. But mathematics can also save lives. Mathematical models can help fight cancer and AIDS, and intervene in their cure. Mathematics can also be used to protect the environment. In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the discussion of the use of mathematical models in meteorology and the prediction of storms is particularly timely. This volume wouldn't be complete without Venice and its glass, the fantastic collection of murrine of Giovanni Sarpellon. There is even a bit of magic, thanks to Bustric. And finally, an homage to a great mathematician: H.S.M. "Donald" Coxeter.

Michele Emmer is professor of Mathematics at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". As a filmaker he has realized several videos in the series "Art and math", including the one on M.C. Escher. He is editor of the series "Mathematics and Culture", Springer, and "The Visual Mind", MIT press; he is author of a book coauthored by D. Schattschneider "M.C. Escher's Legacy", Springer, and author of "Mathland: from Flatland to Hypersufaces", Birkhäuser. He is one of the editors of the VideoMath series by Springer.