High angular resolution observations across the electromagnetic spectrum of the nearest AGN are providing a view of the nuclear region rather different from- and somewhat simpler than-the one envisaged by the canonical AGN Unification Schemes. I will review the challenges that parsec-scale observations in the IR when combined with comparable physical scales in radio, millimetre, optical, UV and X-ray of some of the nearest AGN are revealing about the nature of the nuclear emission, the transition from the most luminous to the feeble ones, and their accretion power. I will discuss how these observations challenge the requirement of a torus and question one of its fundamental attributes which is the collimation of the nuclear radiation.