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The Renaissance in Italy

The term, used for the first time by Vasari in his "Lives of the Artists" (1550), refers to a period between the late 14th century and the second half of the 16th century characterised by a re-flowering of cultural and artistic activity.

This was a phenomenon that swept across the whole of Europe but whose indisputable roots are to be traced to Florentine Humanism.
The rediscovery of the study of the classics from an autonomous and secular point of view made it possible, through a critical analysis of the world and under the guidance of the ancient masters, for man to declare his thoughts and actions freely.

In the field of philosophy the Renaissance dealt essentially with naturalism, i.e. the study of man and the cosmos, without recourse to metaphysics. Man was the centre and measure of all things.

An analogous liberation from the rigid bonds of metaphysics took place also in the field of science, and the bases were laid for the elaboration of the mathematical/experimental method.

Literature passed from dealing in the Divine to treating the human. That transcendent and providential notion about human events was replaced by a view of man who was, at the same time, orphan of certainty and free agent in the Universe.

A similar evolution marks the theories of Nicolò Machiavelli who, with his "Principles" (1513), became the fonder of politology in the modern sense of the term.

Finally, the visual arts were the true triumph of the Italian Renaissance and figures such as Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo are certainly in no need of introduction.

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