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Italian Renaissance Study Guide
Italy
A. Italian City States
1. Papal States (Rome)
2. Florence
3. Venice
4. Genoa
5. Milan
6. Savoy
B. Wealth
1. Venice and Genoa make lots of money in trade
2. The Papal states make money from donations, pilgrimages, sale of indulgences 3. Wealth is an important catalyst of the
Renaissance, wealthy patrons pay for art C. Islamic World
1. The Ottoman Empire is wealthy and an important trading partner for Venice and Genoa
2. Christian contacts with the Middle East and within Spain during and after the
Crusades result in cultural diffusion,
Islamic learning (mathematics, science and medicine) as well as Classical
Greek and Roman learning digested by
Christian scholars (usually churchmen)
D. Papal States (Rome)
1. Suffered from Great Schism
2. Great Schism ended with return of the
Pope to Rome
3. Popes were secular as well as religious leaders 4. Popes were patrons of the arts
5. Much rivalry and fighting between
Roman families (Orsini, della Rovere, etc.) 6. The Della Rovere family produced two
Popes (Sixtus IV and Julius II) who were major patrons of the arts
7. St. Peter’s Basilica was rebuilt
8. Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503, Borgia family) was the most notorious and had a reputation for corruption

Italy during the Renaissance

St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome

Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia)

E. Fall of Constantinople
1. Considered a calamity in Christian
Europe
2. Italy benefitted from the immigration of
Classical scholars from Constantinople
F.

Florence
1. Technically a republic, in reality an oligarchy of influential families
2. Cosimo de Medici became “banker to the Pope,” put the Medici bank “on the map” 3. Cosimo de Medici was the patron for the Construction of the Basilica of
Santa Maria del Fiore, which featured the largest dome in the world.
4. Filippo Brunelleschi was the chief architect Il Duomo, the dome of
Florence’s cathedral
5. Lorenzo de Medici (the Magnificent) presided over an increasingly secular society in Florence and was a major patron of the arts
6. Michelangelo, Donatello, da Vinci and
Botticelli were major Florentine artists
7. Following the death of Lorenzo,
Florence went through a period of religious fundamentalism under the monk Savonarola. Savonarola was eventually burned at the stake

G. Philosophy of the Renaissance: Humanism
1. Centered on humanity, not God
2. Emphasized liberal arts education
3. Secular, worldly
4. Emphasized rebirth of Classical learning (philosophy, poetry, history, drama, etc.)
5. Emphasized the importance of the individual, the ideal was the
“Renaissance man or woman” who was multi-talented
6. Emphasis on the creative
a. Visual art
b. Music
c. Writing in the vernacular, development of literature
7. Humanist Scholars
a. Petrarch

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci

Petrarch, Renaissance Humanist Scholar