The Beginning

The Renaissance means "rebirth". It is called the Italian Renaissance because during the 1300-1550, Europe had a rebirth in art and learning. After the horrible years of the Black Death, Europeans started looking at the past times when things seemed better. They wanted to learn how to make their own society even better than the past ones.

Why Did the Renaissance Begin in Italy???

There is three main reasons why the Renaissance began in Italy. First, Italy was the center of the Roman Empire. The art and ruins of the Romans and Greeks surrounded the Italians. Remember what I just said? The Italians looked at their past and that also included the Romans and Greeks. Since Roman and Greek arts were so good, they had to try to make theirs even better.

The second reason is that the Renaissance began around the 1300s. During that time, Italy's cities had become very wealthy. They could afford lots of artists to produce new works. Those artists could consist of painters, sculptors, architects, and other artists. As you can see, Italy was very advanced in art.

The third reason is that Italy was divided up into small city-states. Some important cities included, Florence, Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Rome. The city-states competed against each other with their art. This helped the growth of the Renaissance. In addition, the wealthy nobles and merchants wanted artists to produce works that increased the fame of their cities.