1. Early modern city: culture and governance

2. Humanism
Humanist ideas for social and cultural reform. Court culture and patronage. The urbanization of art. The ideal city. The impact of Protestan Reformation and Counter- Reformation. Schools and new universities. Jesuit colleges.

4. Reinassance landscape
Rebuilding and expanding city walls. A growth of new secular buildings. The renewal of streets and squares. Urban rituals. The tourist function of urban ceremony. Built environment and image of the city.

5. Florence. Piazza SS. Annunziata

6. regulations
A general diminution in the local independence of urban communities. The decline of city leagues. The growth of municipal officials and the increase of trading regulations. The consolidation of civic oligarchy. Greater role of professional men. Fiscal pressure on urban communities.

7. Baroque landscape
Baroque ideas on geometrical planning were only haphazardly implemented within existing towns. The example of Noto in Sicily. Ruralization of urban landscape and urbanization of surrounding areas. The ‘petrification’ of town dwellings.

9. New Urban culture
The fondness of citizens for possessions. New consumer patterns. Diversification in domestic spaces. The metropolitan context gained wider moral and social acceptance. The changed notion of time.

10. Enlightened City
The Enlightenment values: rationality, toleration, secularization. An international network. Education and public opinion. The growing importance of the press. A new image of the city: neoclassical style, urban decor, cleanness and order. The improvement of the urban government.

11. modern landscape
The transfomation of the central areas. Street lighting, widening and paving. Pedestrian walkways. Demolition of old town wall and gates. The development of new urban district. Green areas.

12. cultural tourism
The Gran Tour in the Italian cities. Venice, Florence and Naples. The case of Stratford-upon-Avon. Monuments, museums, archeological sites. Economy and urban image. Shopping roads and fashionable leisure activity.