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Good books about the Italian Renaissance?

nickhb — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:04:43 -0800

Can anyone recommend good books about the interaction of Italian City-States during the Renaissance? My brother is writing a 200 page paper over the next three years, and his topic is Rome, Venice, Florence, and Milan and how their interactions shaped the Italian Renaissance. He doesn't have any good books to go on, and I'm at a loss to help him (I'm not a history person) Any help would be appreciated.

Walking from Firenze to Roma!

vespr1610 — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:30:42 -0800

Calling all Italians: Walking from Firenze to Roma, advice needed! This is what I have so far: Route

Firenze and Roma are the only fixed points. I'm planning to take a train from Firenze to Arezzo, the rest of the journey will be taken on foot. Here is a rough idea of the sorts of things I'm interested in seeing:

2) Arezzo: Basilica of San Francesco, Basilica of San Francesco, Casa Vasari, Vasari Loggia
3) Urbino: Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Raphael's house (I know Urbino is a massive detour, but the artistic pull is to strong to resist)
4) Assisi: Basilica of San Francesco (very excited about this)

I'm spreading this over about 3 weeks. I can easily walk 30 miles a day on the flat, but once I get into the Apennines it will probably be more like 15, especially with the heat.

I'm looking for any advice on how to improve this route - places I've missed, places not worth visiting, sections I should take by train. All I care about is seeing beautiful art, and getting high into the mountains. I would love to know about any lesser known villages of that 'Renaissance spirit'. Also any advice on good routes through the Apennines to Roma would be very useful, do you have footpaths in Italy?

A few practical questions:
- will anyone mind me camping in the mountains? I pitch late and pack up early, never leave a trace, and camp above 600m. In the UK this is never a problem.
- is there plenty of water in the mountains during the summer months?
- will I have any trouble finding food shops in the mountain villages?
- long shot: are you allowed to light camp-fires?
- given that I'm 18, and that I don't speak great Italian, will I be well received by Italians in those villages off the tourist route?

Anything else I should know? Religious festivals? Mountain hostels? Whatever you can think of, highly appreciated!

Thank you.

Goya-ist?

Ogre Lawless — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:07:16 -0800

I'd thought it was a Goya, but the (self?) portrait I'm looking for isn't turning up amongst his collected works. The striking feature of the Renaissance-y painting is the joyous, somewhat impish expression of the subject. Things that may or may not also be in the portrait: a dark background, one of those great floppy hats and an easel on the left.

Quick dose of the Bard

Hargrimm — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:27:32 -0800

Searching for an understandable snippet of Shakespeare. In school, we are putting on a miniature Renaissance Faire, and I am going to be doing a quick reading of Shakespeare. I need a short selection from Shakespeare that would be understandable to 9th graders that I can memorize. Any suggestions welcome.

Matengna Essay Question Ideas

trashcan — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:20:07 -0800

Help me think of a suitable question for an essay on Mantegna's prints. The essay is approx. 4,500 words so I need a fair amount of depth, I am thinking of specialising on the Battle of Sea Gods.

Particularly my essay should cover the areas of how the prints were made, how they were located and/or how they were viewed.

I am thinking of bringing iconography into the question...but would appreciate some help thinking of a nice topic to get my teeth into.

It has to be prints and Mantegna.

Thanks

Renaissance thesis?

jckll — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:29:20 -0800

HistoryFilter: Help me think of an interesting and researchable thesis for a Renaissance History course. I am taking a History grad course at the moment that deals exclusively with the Renaissance, and in particular with historiographical conflicts and disagreements surrounding the period. I have a 25+ page research paper to write, and am having the darndest time coming up with a topic that seems both interesting, not too daunting (i.e. not overly broad) and not too specific (i.e. I need to be able to find books and scholarly articles to draw from). The thesis needn't deal specifically with historiographical debate, although I may be wise to pick one that did. Can any history nerds out there help me?

Albrecht Dürer's hat

Stove — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:09:56 -0800

I want Albrecht Dürer's hat. The hat is the one in this self-portrait. I would like to make a replica of this hat. It looks fairly simple at a glance, but examining it closely, I can't figure out how it's constructed. Other paintings or illustrations of this type of hat would be helpful, too.

mystery painting

extrabox — Tue, 23 May 2006 21:57:00 -0800

Can anyone identify the artist, title, and location of this artwork? (It's a cropping of a larger work, and it may be a version of the Last Judgement, that's all I know....)

Historical fiction featuring Renaissance popes?

bmckenzie — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 18:40:21 -0800

I've been reading Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly, an account of notable historical episodes where governing bodies persisted in the pursuit of policies contrary to the interests of the governed. Among the most amusing and weird episodes is the history of the papacy in the decades around 1500 -- when popes led troops in battle, presided over orgies, and generally fiddled while Rome was about to be sacked (in 1527). Anyone know of a really sprightly historical novel on this subject?

Anyone know about old type faces?

IndigoJones — Mon, 09 May 2005 15:34:21 -0800

I'm reading a French text printed in Paris in 1527. The language is clear enough, no less intuitive than Olde Englysh, but the typography can be a poser. Can anyone recommend a particularly good reference text (or web site) that lists the various abbreviations, letter, and number variations, that keep cropping up?

renaissance florence reading?

amberglow — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 08:05:38 -0800

NovelFilter: I just finished Romola, by Eliot, and didn't love it, but want to learn more about Florence in the era--a very interesting time, to put it mildly--with the Medicis, Savanarola, etc. Any good novels or non-boring non-fiction on Florence in the late 1400s-early 1500s?