Italian 116A: Italian Renaissance: Renewal of Art and Thought

Instructor: Massimo Ciavolella

This course considers the idea of Humanism and Renaissance in Italy from the prism of literature, the visual arts, medicine, and political and social life. We will start with the 1347-48 black plague and the epochal changes that came about in the aftermath of this deadly catastrophe, and follow the “rebirth” of the peninsula through to the second half of the sixteenth century.