Why did the Renaissance originate in Italy?

Answer 1

The Renaissance started in Italy. The people that were benefited were the merchants, artists and musicians. One of the most recognized artist was Leonardo da vinci. One of the most famous writers of that period was William Shakespeare.

Answer 2

There are a number of reasons why the European Renaissance started in Italy. Here are a few examples:

Much of northern Italy was republican. The towns and cities of the area were often run by people whose primary power source was commercial, rather than based on noble titles. They were people who were interested in economic prosperity, rather than dynastic importance.

The location of Italy placed it on the edge of Western Europe, influenced by both the Western civilization and the Byzantine Empire. Northern Italian cities included a number of important ports, and the inland cities were on routes that carried goods to and from Northern Europe. Sea trade carried goods from Muslim lands, including spices, silk, cotton, and other exotic goods. This was carried north, where it was traded for other products, such as furs and amber. The result was that Northern Italy became wealthy.

The people of Italy were able to see the architecture of ancient Rome. They appreciated its beauty, as well as its engineering, and wanted to emulate it.

Italy was the home of the first university of Western Europe, and was also home to one of the best medical schools around. With learning came scholarship and an interest in knowledge. This was fostered by the Church, which issued the Condemnations of 1210 to 1277, giving an official seal of acceptance to empiricism and original research.

The idea of combining art and science was given a boost by the mathematical studies of anatomy and linear perspective, both of which were fostered in Italy of the 13th century. The works of Leonardo were possible in part because people of the time believed it was possible for a person to be both an artist and an engineer at the same time.

The Byzantine Empire was under siege during the Late Middle Ages, and its great scholars and artists were likely to want to escape to the West. Their first stop was Italy, where they added to the earlier knowledge and skills brought back from the East by Crusaders returning home, through Italy.

When Arabic numbers were first introduced to Europe, they were introduced through Italy. Local merchants very quickly saw the advantages of the new system, and wanted their children to learn it. The result was that a large number of business oriented schools opened, teaching Arabic numbers and the use of the abacus. These schools are called abacus schools, in fact. Since these schools were intended for business, children were taught to read and write in the vernacular languages. This, in turn, fostered general education.

Answer 3

The Renaissance began in Italy for a variety of reasons.

RUINS OF ancient Rome: Throughout Italy their were ruins of ancient Rome like art and architecture. The ruins remind Romans about their glorious past.

CITY-STATES: At this time Italy was made up of many states and wasn't a single country some of the most important were Florence, Milan, Venice and Genoa. These states competed in who had the best art and buildings.

WEALTH OF ITALIAN CITIES: During the middle ages, Italy was the centre of trade in Europe. Merchants brought silk and spices from Asia and they became rich. Ideas and knowledge came with them. They used the knowledge to become patrons of the art.

FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Constantinople (now Istanbul) was the capital of the eastern Roman Empire. Scholars in this city kept learning of Greece and Rome alive. Scholars came to Italy and Italians went to Constantinople to learn from their manuscripts. Ottoman Turks threatened their city for many years before capturing it in 1453. Before it was captured, many scholars went to Italy and took their manuscripts with them.

INVENTION OF THE PRINTING-PRESS: Copying manuscripts was slow and expensive. In the fifteenth century was invented. Now the learning of Greece and Rome could spread more rapidly through Europe.

By the fourteenth century much of northern Italy was extremely wealthy. It was a great trade area that sold woolen cloth which sold rapidly. Florence was a major trading city. Positioned near the sea for trade and safe from pirates.cities of Genoa, Venice and Milan also lay on important European trade routes.

The Renaissance is thought of as beginning in Florence, Venice, and other Italian cities, with various historians dating the beginning as early as the late 13th century or as late as about 1350 or 1400. All of these dates place it before the invention of the printing press or the fall of Constantinople, and the earlier ones make the Late Middle Ages coincidental with the first have of the Renaissance.

There were a number of contributory factors, one of which was that the cities in which the Renaissance began were republican city states, which put middle class people in power, rather than the nobility, and these were people who saw a constant need to improve and advertise their importance.

Another cause was that Italy was a focus for shipping in southern Europe, making the merchants there very wealthy.

Another cause was the destruction of the Knights Templar, who had run a very effective system for storage and transportation of money. This produced a financial vacuum in which powerful merchant families could build banking empires with no national boundaries.

Also, Italy had been the center of the Roman Empire. Italy's cities had become very wealthy. The region was still divided into many small city-states.

Answer 4

Beginning in 1150 A.D. and peaking in 1175 Fundamentalist turmoil filled the Arab world. The great scholar Averroes looked out of his prison cell and saw the mob burning his library. His students had fled to Europe with copies of his books.

Considerable trade existed between Italy and the Arab world. Arabs escaping the turmoil fled on the boats going to Italy. There they settled down.

At the time Italy consisted of many small fiefdoms. They could usually find one to lodge. France and Austria were both monarchies. Both would refuse entry to the Arab refugees. Thus, they went where they could.

Answer 5

Wealthy rulers could support artists.

Answer 6

I don know