Italian Renaissance Crash Course : Ten Things to Know.

1300-1650

Crash Course of the Italian Renaissance - ten things to know

a little bit of knowledge about the Italian Renaissance

What does ‘Renaissance’ mean anyway?

Renaissance means “rebirth.” It wasn’t something that happened suddenly. It was a slow awakening, a re-discovery, a rebirth of ideas that had been dormant for centuries.

Why the Renaissance was important

The Renaissance in general is an important bookmark in world history - especially the Western world - because it marked the change between medieval times and modern times. We might not think now of the 1300s as being modern. But this is when a big shift in thinking began to happen that still influences us today.

The Italian Renaissance is where it started.

Why did the Renaissance start in Italy?

Remember those Romans and Greeks from a thousand years before? In the mid-1300s, people began to remember them again, after they had been largely forgotten for a millennia. The Medieval era - the Middle Ages - for much of Europe, was a time of regression from the ideals of the Greeks and Romans. Books and entire libraries were destroyed or lost, civilizations crumbled, and the spread of knowledge and emphasis on learning were severely deprioritized.

But why Northern Italy?

Italy was the home of Rome, once the epicenter of Western civilization. Even though its height was a thousand years previous, there were still many cultural and archaeological reminders of the influence it had once been. And even though the Middle Ages were hard on Europe, Italy, especially the northern part, flourished in comparison with many countries and cities. Many cities were located close to the sea, and these became important ports and and points of commerce for trading with the Muslim world - and guess what the Muslim world had done much better than much of Europe?!…

…they had kept alive many of the ideas and learnings from Ancient Greece and Rome. Northern Italian cities such as Florence, Milan, and Venice, benefited from the ideas that were exchanged as a result of trade and commerce.

Isn’t there some TV show about the Medicis?

Probably. The Medicis were an enormously wealthy and powerful family in Florence. They were involved in pretty much anything of consequence during a big section of the Italian Renaissance. There are lots of salacious and gossipy tales about them, but they also were big patrons of the arts and helped transform Florence - and Italy - into a renowned seat of influence in business, politics, and culture.

Artists and thinkers were drawn to Florence because of its generosity and friendliness toward the arts.

Speaking of art, is there anyone famous from the Italian Renaissance?

Painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture were gloriously expressed during this time. Renaissance artists rediscovered or revived old techniques from Greece and Rome that had been lost or forgotten, and used these as springboards to take things even further.

They helped develop ideas on perspective, anatomy, and light that we consider fundamental now.

Oh, and yes, you might have heard of Leonardo da Vinci. Maybe Michelangelo? Perhaps Raphael or Botticelli or Dürer? All fellows from this period.

What’s the difference between Gothic and Renaissance architecture?

Again, Renaissance architects returned to the ideas of the Greeks and Romans; designing more circular buildings with round arches and columns and domes, rather than the vertical, flying buttressed, pointy-arches of Medieval times.

Gothic buildings might feel more dark and intimate; Renaissance more light and open. This is not accidental; the Renaissance was a shift away from a focus on religion and deity and the supernatural to a spotlight on science and humanity and life on earth. Perhaps a greater feeling of hope and confidence in humanity’s ability to problem-solve was reflected in an embrace of light and its symbolism of accepting knowledge as a candle to a better life.

How did government change?

It wasn’t just artists and creatives studying the ancient Greeks and Romans. Fellows like Niccolo Machiavelli carefully examined history - and other countries - for ways rulers could take and maintain power. His famous book The Prince contains many of his ideas on politics. They are generally not high-minded or idealistic, rather, they are pragmatic tips on the accumulation and maintaining of political power. Whatever it takes and the ends just the means were ideas he collected that are still tossed around today.

So was the Renaissance like, anti-God and anti-religion and stuff?

No. In fact, most thinkers and artists and scholars (in the Western world) were still Christians, but they also believed in the importance of learning and education in order to better understand the world. As a result, they focused on humans and humanities (subjects like poetry, literature, history, rhetoric), rather than a more tunnel-visioned study of everything religious.

This focus would eventually grow into humanism, a philosophy of living with ethics that do not involve religion or the supernatural. So the Renaissance did set the groundwork for more individual freedom of thought and freedom of (and from) religious belief. It was a strange and interesting time where many pious and intelligent people were seeking knowledge and explanations outside of easy supernatural answers.

In short, many believed that greater wisdom, increased knowledge, and a focus on earthly life and humanity would lead to greater creativity and a more vivid reflection of God through the achievements of humans. They believed God gave humanity a massive potential and therefore there was a responsibility to pursue truth and beauty in the spirit of renewing and purifying Christianity.