Explores perhaps the most magnificent period of Italian history, from its origins in the late Middle Ages to its decline in the late sixteenth-century. Investigates the relationship between power, patronage and politics among the ruling elites as well as the merchant and lower classes. Concludes by looking at the legacy of the Italian Renaissance and by examining the rise of a northern Renaissance in the Netherlands, England, and France. Themes include: kinship and civic identity; artistic, religious, and scientific patronage; gender and the history of sexuality; Renaissance historiography. Some of the major figures studied include: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Machiavelli and Galileo.