Italian Renaissance the Reasons Behind

¶ … Italian Renaissance

The reasons behind the Renaissance began in Italy cannot be isolated to one specific incident but rather several aspects that culminated in toward a common cause. Economic and political conditions coupled with an increased awareness in art and learning were significant characteristics of the Renaissance equation. Individuals were poised for change in a society that welcomed something different and they found their answer in the ideas of the Renaissance.

Italy was a popular trading center, which brought individuals from across the world to her shores. This myriad of peoples meant a myriad of just as many ideas and one of the most popular ideas associated with the Renaissance is humanism, which stemmed from the individual searching for a new way to approach life. When looking at why the Renaissance began in Italy, we must factor in the prospect that these new ideas were stemming from a certain amount of discontent with the status quo. Bennett observes, "It was not a passion for elegant Latin which motivated the humanistic movement, but a search for guidance toward a new way of life. Religion and morality constituted the major field of discontent" (Bennett 5). These two important aspects of life helped the Renaissance flourish in Italy.

One aspect that contributed to the Renaissance was the matter of city-states in Italy. The fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries experienced "constant uncertainty, both economic and political" (Hooker). In addition, merchants and political bureaucrats were suddenly able to commission some of the most significant artists of that era. As a result, the mood and tone of Renaissance blossomed within the walls of Italy through artistic expression. Venice, Florence, and Rome are examples of how the Renaissance became an identifiable movement associated specifically with artisans. Josephine Waters Bennett believes that the Renaissance was the culmination of many things that most notably manifested themselves in humanism because of the discontent that was caused by "religious and political efforts" (Bennett 6). This uncertainty "provided the material for new intellectual, cultural, and social experiments that would at their conclusion provide the means of constructing a new European monocultural identity, one focused on humanistic studies, science, and the arts" (Hooker). According the History Channel, the Renaissance was "above all an urban phenomenon" (History) that is conceptually linked with the past in that while "medieval scholars looked askance at the pagan Greek and Roman world, believing that they were living in the final age before the last judgment, their Renaissance counterparts adored the ancients, condemned the Middle Ages as ignorant and barbaric, and proclaimed their own age one of light and the rebirth of the classical heritage" (history). In the midst of challenge and change, answers to life's questions were discovered.