The Florentine Renaissance

Looking at what course you want to take during the Florence Summer Institute? Well look no further than the Florentine Renaissance.

At KSU Florence, students will have the chance to immerse themselves in great literary conversations with figures such as Machiavelli, Savonarola, Valla, Ariosto and more through lectures by Professor Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor of the Humanities for Italian at Yale University.

Professor Mazzotta has inspired generations of students to explore the wonder and imagination of Italian writers from every epoch. Professor Mazzotta will lead students through the “weave of intellectual history” and will demonstrate how the Florentine Renaissance is the time of genuine revolution in the ways that we think about ourselves, politics and the deepest questions of life.

Course Description

The aim of this course is to study key thinkers of the Renaissance. They encompass neoplatonic philosophers such as Pico; political theorists, such as Machiavelli; religious reformers such as Savonarola; tracts about language and rhetoric by Valla; Columbus' letters from the "New World" he discovered; poets such as Ariosto, who, in the aftermath of the Fall of Constantinople and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, wrote plays about the immanent crisis of the values and achievements of their culture. The weave of intellectual history, engagement with texts, and exposure to the wonders of Rome, Florence, and Ferrara will show the Florentine Renaissance as the time of a genuine revolution in the ways of thinking about oneself, politics, and the deepest questions of life.

Where do I sign up?

1. Apply to participate in the Florence Summer Institute
2. On your application, indicate you are interested in taking the Florentine Renaissance course.

Please Note: If you are not a Kent State student, you will need to submit a Guest Application to participate in this program.