Changing Cultural Traditions

The revival of Greek and Roman culture in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries included:

- Classical literature and learning: scholars studied ancient authors closely, especially Greek and Roman texts.
- History, grammar, rhetoric, poetry and moral philosophy: these became important humanist subjects.
- Architecture: buildings in Rome and elsewhere copied the classical Roman style.
- Sculpture: artists admired the perfectly proportioned human figures of ancient Roman art and tried to imitate them.
- Painting and realism: artists sought lifelike representation, inspired by the art of the past.
- Interest in antiquity: people valued the ancient world and tried to recover its remains from ruins and manuscripts.

So, the revival was not only of texts, but also of art, architecture, and learning connected with ancient Greece and Rome.

Italian architecture of this period and Islamic architecture were similar in some respects, but the chapter especially stresses the Roman/classical influence on Italian buildings. For comparison:

- Italian architecture revived the classical Roman style.
- Builders used domes, arches, columns and symmetry, inspired by ancient Rome.
- Popes, merchants and aristocrats employed architects to design grand buildings such as churches and cathedrals.
- In the sixteenth century, Italian buildings were also decorated with paintings, sculptures and reliefs.

Compared with this, Islamic architecture is known for:

- Domes and arches
- Large decorative surfaces
- Emphasis on ornamentation and graceful design
- Use of geometric patterns

Thus, both traditions used domes and arches and valued beauty in design, but Italian architecture of the Renaissance deliberately revived imperial Roman/classical forms, while Islamic architecture developed its own decorative and structural style.

Italian towns were the first to experience the ideas of humanism because several conditions there were favourable:

- Towns had revived early because trade increased between Italy, the Byzantine Empire, Islamic countries and western Europe.
- Many Italian towns became independent city-states, so they were politically active and outward-looking.
- Cities like Florence, Venice and Genoa were centres of commerce, banking and wealth.
- Rich merchants and bankers supported artists, writers and scholars.
- Universities such as Padua and Bologna were already important centres of learning.
- Italian scholars could study the remains of Roman civilisation nearby, which encouraged interest in antiquity.
- The urban atmosphere encouraged debate, discussion and individual talent.

Because of trade, wealth, city life and access to Roman heritage, Italian towns became the earliest centres where humanist ideas flourished.