The Italian Renaissance was the earliest manifestation of the general European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt Although the origins of a movement that was confined largely to the literate culture of intellectual endeavor and patronage can be traced to the earlier part of the 14th century, many aspects of Italian culture and society remained largely Medieval; the Renaissance did not come into full swing until the end of the century The French word renaissance means “Rebirth”, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages

The Italian Renaissance was the earliest manifestation of the general European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century and lasted until the 16th century, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe The term Renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the 19th century, in the work of historians such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt Although the origins of a movement that was confined largely to the literate culture of intellectual endeavor and patronage can be traced to the earlier part of the 14th century, many aspects of Italian culture and society remained largely Medieval; the Renaissance did not come into full swing until the end of the century The French word renaissance (Rinascimento in Italian) means “Rebirth”, and the era is best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the period that Renaissance humanists labeled the Dark Ages

Though today perhaps best known for Italian Renaissance art and architecture, the period saw major achievements in literature, music, philosophy, and other arts, as well as science Italy became the recognized European leader in all these areas by the late 15th century, and to varying degrees retained this lead until about 1600 This was despite a turbulent and generally disastrous period in Italian politics, in the course of which most of Italy was carved up by the major European powers The European Renaissance began in Tuscany (Central Italy), and centred in the city of Florence It later spread to Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, providing humanist scholars with new texts The Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new all’antico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist sixteenth-century popes The Italian Renaissance peaked in the mid-16th century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, and the English Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements Accounts of Renaissance literature usually begin with Petrarch (best known for the elegantly polished vernacular sonnet sequence of the Canzoniere and for the craze for book collecting that he initiated) and his friend and contemporary Boccaccio (author of the Decameron) Famous vernacular poets of the 15th century include the renaissance epic authors Luigi Pulci (author of Morgante), Matteo Maria Boiardo (Orlando Innamorato), and Ludovico Ariosto (Orlando Furioso) 15th century writers such as the poet Poliziano and the Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino made extensive translations from both Latin and Greek In the early 16th century, Castiglione (The Book of the Courtier) laid out his vision of the ideal gentleman and lady, while Machiavelli cast a jaundiced eye on “la verità effettuale della cosa”—the actual truth of things—in The Prince, composed, in humanistic style, chiefly of parallel ancient and modern examples of Virtù Italian Renaissance painting exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting for centuries afterwards, with artists such as Giotto di Bondone, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian

The same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante Their works include Florence Cathedral, St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini (to name only a few, not to mention many splendid private residences: see Renaissance architecture) Finally, the Aldine Press, founded by the printer Aldo Manuzio, active in Venice, developed Italic type and the small, relatively portable and inexpensive printed book that could be carried in one’s pocket, as well as being the first to publish editions of books in Ancient Greek Yet cultural contributions notwithstanding, some present-day historians also see the era as one of the beginning of economic regression for Italy