Renaissance Florence

by Roger J. Crum (Editor)

This book examines the social history of Florence during the critical period of its growth and development in the early modern period, from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. Treating the city, its art, and its rituals as lived experiences that extended through space and time, the contributors to this volume consider well-known objects, monuments, sites, and events in the vivifying context of a variety of spaces, which are here understood as a dimension of physical, psychological, religious, and political perceptions for the city of Florence during the Renaissance. The volume provides a multi-dimensional view of Florence as it evolved into an economic powerhouse and dynamic center of artistic achievement, as well as the setting for political and religious struggles. It also demonstrates how permeable boundaries between the disciplines of history and art history have become.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction

694 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conceptually, this is a really cool book. It's not quite a broad as the title implies, but instead collects 15-20 essays that explore Florentine social life through the lens of space, both public and private. This sounds like a very academia-ish thing to do (let's conceptualize the notion of space!) but in the best articles in this volume it results in a view of civic life in Florence that's wonderfully vivid and interesting. It's like taking a look at Renaissance Florence through Google Street View.

My favorite essays in here are by John Najemy and Philip Gavitt (for what it's worth, the latter is one of my teachers). Najemy's article discusses how Florence's urban planning and architecture evolved in four major stages that matched the four major political stages of the city's medieval and Renaissance history. The era dominated by Guelf/Ghibilline noble families featured fortified towers and insular, protected neighborhoods. The arrival of the popular government in the late 13th century brought bigger piazzas, wider streets, and open public space (and a new palace built directly on the ruins of the Uberti palace, which had been the headquarters of the city's defeated Ghibilline faction). The 15th century aristocratization (?) of the city brought a return to earlier neighborhood dominance, but with more emphasis on palaces and public displays than towers and defense. And, finally, the 16th century brought the arrival of a ducal government and its appropriation of older republican symbols. It's really, really cool and gives a great idea about how public space reflects (and is shaped by) political power. Gavitt's article discusses how charitable organizations created public devotional spaces, particularly how architectural planning at the Piazza Santissima Annunziata created a sacred space focused on fertility and youth in the aftermath of the Black Death.

Not all the articles are quite as interesting, and some of them really stretch to incorporate spatial ideas into their arguments or theorize about conceptions of space to unnecessarily abstract levels. But it's a really interesting and unique look at the city of Florence.

[Mati · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interesting insights on the social life of Florence in its peak of power in influence on Italian peninsula.