Italy’s Renaissance & the modern world

After the fall of ancient Rome, Europe wallowed in a cultural coma for 1,000 years. There was
barely any learning, trade, or travel. Then, in 1400 in Florence, the Renaissance rose. And this
Italian city pulled Europe out of the darkness into the modern world.

The gifts of Florence to Western civilization are immeasurable: the resurrection of arts, science,
and humanism after a millennium of medieval oppression; the seeds of democracy; the modern
Italian language; the art of Leonardo and Michelangelo; the writings of Boccaccio and Dante;
and the explorations of Amerigo Vespucci, who gave his name to a rediscovered continent.

Florence was the heart of it all for good reason. As the middleman of trade between West and
East, the city dominated Italy economically and culturally. With a population 90,000, it was the
most urban part of Europe at that time. And also, the most advanced and most literate. This was
the place where capitalism dethroned feudalism.

In the 13th century, Florence eclipsed its neighbors with smart diplomacy, military conquest, and
pure economic power. The Florentine currency, the gold florin, became the strongest in Europe.
Democracy was also blossoming – the large middle class in the robust trade associations ousted
the nobles to establish the rule of the people.

The Golden Age of Florence started during the rise of the Medici family. The House of Medici
became rich from its silk factories, and then the family switched to banking. The branches of
Medici bank appeared in all major European cities, including London, Geneva, Bruges, and
Lyon. The pope kept his money in the Rome branch.

With wealth came power, and both the Medici and Florence reached its peak in the 15th century,
under Lorenzo de Medici. He was a comic poet, an athletic horseman, and an intelligent leader.
His drinking marathons and love affairs were legendary. He studied the Greek and Latin classics,
but his biggest passion was hunting. He was the original Renaissance Man – a patron of arts, a
scholar of the world, and a man of action. He was Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Lorenzo embodied the Florentine optimism. Born on New Year’s Day and raised in affluence by
loving parents, he felt that he could achieve anything. He conceived the term “Dark Ages” for
the previous era and saw himself shaping a new epoch – an epoch of great progress in the history
of mankind. He boasted that there were more geniuses in Florence at that time than in the world
in the thousand years before.

And Florence – admiring geniuses like no one before – unleashed an explosion of innovation.
Lorenzo surrounded himself with the brightest. He formed an Academy to meet under the stars at
the Medici villa and discuss art, science, and politics.

Its members stressed the goodness of man and were convinced that their conversations improved
their souls. This new humanism didn't reject religion. Instead, Florentines believed in a common
truth behind all religions, and understood that living religiously was not to bow down in church
all day, but to recognize our given talents and use them.
And that's what Florence did. Never before were artists asked to do so much or granted so much
money and freedom. And the best ones — like Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael — gained
celebrity status, dictating their terms and creating as the spirit moved them.

Leonardo – a sculptor, engineer, inventor, and scientist – epitomized the versatile Renaissance
Man. And he wasn't a bad painter either. His notebooks reveal him as a sensitive observer and a
daring thinker – he dissected corpses, diagrammed bird flight, and hypothesized about water
movements.

Michelangelo was no less gifted than Leonardo, and he was equally praised. During his 88 years,
nine popes had hired him, and his Sistine Chapel became the essence of Renaissance humanism.
When Michelangelo shows God giving Adam the spark of life, man is truly made as glorious as
his creator.

Raphael united the tranquil elegance of Leonardo with the raw power of Michelangelo. In his
huge Vatican fresco, the School of Athens, he celebrated the great Greek thinkers – a shocking
break from religious tradition. And Raphael even depicted these figures as the Renaissance
geniuses of his generation.

Renaissance artists earned the respect they received. They fused art and science to forge realistic
paintings and sculptures. They studied anatomy like doctors, nature like biologists, and the rules
of perspective like mathematicians. As a result, their art achieved a much stronger emotional
punch.

The Italian Renaissance faltered by 1600. But already since then, people from around the world
have been coming to Italy to behold its masterpieces.