Italian American Herald - April 2022

IN MEMORIAM
Pietro Giorgi, kitchen designer, passes at 83
PAGE 3
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APRIL 2022
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Considered to be the best artwork by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1498, the Last Supper is an important painting of the Renaissance period.
By Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo
Spring is here and once again we enjoy the rebirth of nature. Centuries ago, Italy was the epicenter of a rebirth of society which influenced the entire globe. During this time, other powers sought to exert their control over the city states that controlled the territories across the peninsula.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, barbarians overran the peninsula. The country, as we know it today, ceased to exist. After almost 10 centuries and numerous conquests, particularly in the south by
the Moors, the Saracens, the Franks, and even the Vikings in the 15th century, Italy remained unlike any other place in Europe. In the north, the peninsula was divided into independent city-states, each with a different form of government. The city of Florence
was an independent republic. It was also a banking and commercial capital and, after London and Constantinople, the third-largest city in Europe.
The Renaissance had its inception in Florence, Italy, a place with a rich cultural history where wealthy citizens could afford to support budding artists. Members of the powerful Medici family, which ruled Florence for more than 60 years, were famous backers of the movement. By the 1300s the city became the cultural center of Europe and the birthplace of the Renaissance, while the south remained impoverished and dominated by foreign powers.
The word renaissance itself is a French word, but its origins come from the Italian word rinascita, which means “rebirth.” Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), a man of many
talents (he was an artist, art theorist, architect, writer, and engineer), first introduced this term to describe this new period of awakening in Italy in his publication Le Vite, meaning “The Lives.”
The Renaissance was an important event in European history that stretched from the 14th century to the 17th century. It was a time of extreme change after the darkness of the Middle Ages. This period of reawakening eventually led to the Age of Enlightenment. In historical terms the Renaissance is important because it led to a major shift in European thought and worldview. While the Renaissance is recognized to have begun in the city-states of the peninsula in the 14th century, the main ideas of the movement eventually spread to all of Europe by the 16th century.
The most significant changes that emerged in this time are expressed in European architecture, art, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, politics, religion, and science. Historians have identified quite a few causes for the emergence of the Renaissance following the Middle Ages, such as: increased interaction between diverse cultures, the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman texts, the emergence of humanism, different artistic and technological innovations, and the impacts of conflict and death. This “rebirth” also sought to reawaken what is referred to as “classical antiquity” from the ancient times of Greek and Rome.
`Italian Renaissance artists focused more on the ideas of humanism and naturalistic
continued on page 5
Renaissance and remembrance
Foreign invasions of Italy did not prevent dawn of a new era
Vol. 9 / No. 4