Republic of VeniceThe Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a sovereign state and maritime republic in parts of present-day Italy (mainly northeastern Italy) that existed for 1100 years from AD 697 until AD 1797. Centered on the lagoon communities of the prosperous city of Venice, it incorporated numerous overseas possessions in modern Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Albania and Cyprus. The republic grew into a trading power during the Middle Ages and strengthened this position during the Renaissance.
Unification of ItalyThe unification of Italy (Unità d'Italia uniˈta ddiˈtaːlja), also known as the Risorgimento (rɪˌsɔːrdʒɪˈmɛntoʊ, risordʒiˈmento; Resurgence), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula and its outlying isles into a single state in 1861, the Kingdom of Italy. Inspired by the rebellions in the 1820s and 1830s against the outcome of the Congress of Vienna, the unification process was precipitated by the Revolutions of 1848, and reached completion in 1871 after the capture of Rome and its designation as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
FerraraFerrara (fəˈrɑːrə, ferˈraːra; Fràra ˈfraːra) is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the Renaissance, when it hosted the court of the House of Este. For its beauty and cultural importance, it has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
GenoaGenoa (ˈdʒɛnoʊə ; Genova ˈdʒɛːnova; Zêna ˈzeːna) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2023, 558,745 people lived within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan area has 813,626 inhabitants. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. On the Gulf of Genoa in the Ligurian Sea, Genoa has historically been one of the most important ports on the Mediterranean: it is currently the busiest in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the European Union.
RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino (raffaˈɛllo ˈsantsjo da urˈbiːno; March 28 or April 6, 1483 April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael (UKˈræfeɪ.əl , USˈræfi.əl,_ˈreɪfi-,_ˌrɑːfaɪˈɛl ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
LombardyLombardy (Lombardia; Lombardia) is an administrative region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Over a fifth of the Italian gross domestic product (GDP) is produced in the region. The Lombardy region is located between the Alps mountain range and tributaries of the river Po, and includes Milan, the largest metropolitan area in the country, and among the largest in the European Union (EU).
Lake GardaLake Garda (Lago di Garda ˈlaːɡo di ˈɡarda or (Lago) Benaco beˈnaːko; Lach de Garda; Ƚago de Garda) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into the edge of the Italian Alps, particularly the Alpine sub-ranges of the Garda Mountains and the Brenta Group. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age.
Po (river)The Po (poʊ , ˈpɔ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso. The Po then extends along the 45th parallel north before ending at a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice.
Renaissance humanismRenaissance humanism was a worldview centered on the nature and importance of humanity, that emerged from the study of Classical antiquity. This first began in Italy and then spread across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term humanist (umanista) referred to teachers and students of the humanities, known as the studia humanitatis, which included the study of Latin and Ancient Greek literatures, grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy.
VenetoVeneto (USˈvɛnətoʊ,_ˈveɪn-, ˈvɛːneto; Vèneto ˈvɛneto; Unieja; Venezien) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the largest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD. Later, after a feudal period, it was part of the Republic of Venice until 1797. Venice ruled for centuries over one of the largest and richest maritime republics and trade empires in the world.
Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world.
Medieval communeMedieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread phenomenon. They had greater development in central-northern Italy, where they became city-states based on partial democracy.