The era known as the Renaissance began approximately around the beginning of the fifteenth century. The philosophy behind the whole movement is one of \"rebirth\" or the re-establishing of ancient classical culture. Following the collapse of the Roman civilization, much of Europe fell into decline,...

My initial motivation for traveling to Italy is my mother. Years ago she took a trip with her father to visit the villages that he had fought for in World War II as a part of the 10th Mountain Division. She is always telling stories about the food, landscape, and people that they encountered. The mo...

Saint Catherine, originally named Caterina Benincasa, was born in Siena, a city in west-central Italy south of Florence. She was born on March 25, 1347, the feast of the Annunciation. She had a twin sister who did not live long after her birth. Catherine was the youngest of twenty-five children...

Michelangelo was pessimistic in his poetry and an optimist in his artwork. Michelangelo\'s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in its natural state. Michelangelo\'s poetry was pessimistic in his response to Strazzi even though he was complimenting him. Michelangelo\'s ...

Italy has been an attractive tourist destination for centuries. It offers gentle climate, beautiful mountains, picturesque sceneries, gorgeous coastline, and vibrant, historically and culturally rich cities, such as Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan to name only the four most popular tourist destina...

Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque painter of the sixteenth and seventeenth century focused his work namely upon the nude, a typical fixation, especially with Italian-based artists during the Renaissance and Mannerism periods. Italy - particularly Florence and Rome – was at the heart of the Ren...

Raphael\'s \"School of Athens\" is considered by many art historians to be the absolute masterpiece of the Renaissance. It is the perfect pictorial counterpart to the enormous changes in thinking that came about in the 1300s as a result of economic and technological developments. Its rational perspe...