Renaissance of Florence

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

his course provides an in-depth examination of the political, social, and cultural history of Florence from approximately the mid-14th to the mid-17th century. During this period, the Renaissance brought significant changes to nearly every aspect of life in early modern Florence. A fundamental point of departure for interpreting the Renaissance lies in the period's own construction of its identity as a rinascita, or rebirth -an era of renewed intellectual and artistic vitality following what was perceived as a prolonged age of darkness separating antiquity from the present. According to Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370-1444), Chancellor of the Florentine Republic, this rebirth began with Petrarch (1304-1374) and the rise of the Italian communes, which he believed restored the political freedom lost with the fall of the ancient Roman republic. By positioning Florence as the paradigmatic "the cradle of the Renaissance", the course investigates the features that made the city unique among Italian city-states and contributed to its status as a cultural, artistic, and political model during the early modern period.