Florentine Writers and Poets in the Renaissance
Niccolò Machiavelli
Although the Renaissance was above all characterized by the development of figurative arts, under the impulse of rulers such as Lorenzo de` Medici, who wrote the carnival song
The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne (1490), so-called
Humanism developed.
One of the most important literary humanists was he architect, mathematician and linguist Leon Battista Alberti. Between 1433 and 1441, Alberti dedicated to his literary masterpiece,
Della famiglia (On the Family), a treaty in the Tuscan dialect on marriage, education and household management.
In 1475, Agnolo Ambrogini, best known as Poliziano, began to write
La Giostra, a short poem on Giuliano de` Medici`s victory in a tournament. Poliziano`s masterpiece is, however,
Orfeo, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
One of the 16th-century masterpieces is
The Prince, a political treaty by Niccolò Machiavelli. The Florentine wrote also
The Mandrake, a comedy on the corruption of the 16th-century Italian society.
Francesco Guicciardini stood out for his activity as a writer and for his political commitment. His
Storia d`Italia (History of Italy) and
Storia fiorentina (History of Florence) are considered the basis of modern historiography.
