Sit with the same people from yesterday.

Why Italy Was the Birthplace of the Renaissance

The Birth The Renaissance lasted from about 1300- 1600. Renaissance means rebirth. Art Learning Literature Values Italy had three reasons why the Renaissance started there: $$$ Its unique location to Ancient Greece and Rome Thriving cities from trade

$$$ Because many traders came through Italy, money was exchanged between traders and merchants leading to mass amounts of wealth. As a result, bankers such as the Medici family became rich and powerful. Although the Catholic church has lost some prestige during the Middle Ages, they remained quite wealthy. With that wealth, the Medici’s and the Church wanted to invest in art projects that built up their own prestige and became patrons- spending large sums of $- on such artists as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

Location, location, location The Italians naturally looked to their own past for inspiration in art & learning, the Roman Empire. They also looked to their neighbors of the past, Ancient Greece. Looking at these two cultures led to a new movement called humanism, or the study of human achievements which is similar to that of the Greeks and Romans. Humanist mostly focused on history, literature, education & philosophy, today called the humanities.

Thriving Cities Because of the large amount of trade in Italy, many large cities popped up, the rest of Europe was still mostly rural. Since there were so many cities people could easily exchange ideas with one another leading to a revolution in culture and learning. These educational opportunities aloud artists such as da Vinci and Michelangelo to study under other artists. All of the aforementioned reasons led to Europeans becoming more secular, trying to acquire the finest things the world had to offer.

What’s a Thesis? It is a main idea that has several parts: It restates the question Provides an answer Provides examples Question: Why do some schools require students to wear uniforms? Thesis: Some schools require students to wear uniforms because some studies show there are benefits such as fewer issues with dress code, less gang violence on campus and students feeling more equal on a socio- economic level.