Modules

Ideal Cities? Urban Cultures of Renaissance Italy (AHV2208)

15 credits

The Italian city is the crucible for creativity that forged the Renaissance. To this day, Italy is defined by sharp contrasts and distinctions between cities and regions. Local pride and identity are wrapped up in these distinctions and even have a name, campanilismo– pride in your bell-tower, your place. This course looks at the period (c. 1400-1520) in which the cultural variety of Italian cities took shape, and came to be expressed in visual and verbal terms. We will work using examples from cities such as Florence, Siena, Rome and Urbino, read texts produced in those cities and focus, above all, on the buildings, paintings and ritual events that shaped identities of place.