The cities of Italy prospered during the late Middle Ages,serving as trading posts connecting Europe to the Byzantine Empire and the Moslem world via the Mediterranean Sea.Commerce enriched and empowered regions in which the feudal system had not taken a strong hold,especially in northern Italy.The most prosperous of these cities—Florence,Venice,and Milan—became powerful city-states,ruling the regions surrounding them.Further south,the Papal States,centered in Rome,gradually grew to rival the wealth of the northern cities,and as the seat of the papacy,exerted a tremendous influence over Italian life and politics.Along with a few other minor centers of wealth and power,including Urbino,Mantua,and Ferrara,these four regions became the cradle of the Renaissance,beginning in the fourteenth century to undergo political,economic,and artistic changes.
The beginning of the Renaissance in the mid-fourteenth century was marked by a turn from medieval life and values dominated by the Church toward the philosophical principles of humanism.The Italian people,especially the educated middle class,became interested in individual achievement and emphasized life in this world,as opposed to preparation for life in the next world,which was stressed by religion.They believed strongly in the potential for individual accomplishment in the arts,literature,politics,and personal life.Individuals began to be encouraged to excel in a wide range of fields and showcase their talents.Renaissance thinkers decried medieval life as primitive and backwards,and looked further back in history,to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans,for inspiration.
One of the earliest and most prominent humanist writers was Francesco Petrarch,often known as the founder of humanism.Many historians cite April 6,1341,the date on which Petrarch was crowned Poet Laureate upon the Capitol in Rome,as the true beginning of the Renaissance.Petrarch believed that true eloquence and ethical wisdom had been lost during the Middle Ages,and could only be found by looking to the writings of the ancients,especially Virgil and Cicero.Petrarch wrote extensively,producing poetry,biographies of historical figures,and wrote scores of letters,many of which were eventually published and widely read.One of his most popular letters,"The Ascent of Mount Vertoux," describes his journey to the summit of a mountain,but more importantly,it is an allegory comparing the hardships of the climb to the struggle to attain true Christian virtue.