Cosimo de' Medici

I found Brunelleschi's design of the dome for Florence's cathedral to be a fascinating topic on scientific discovery. I also chose this topic because several years ago I watched a documentary that showed the construction of a one-fifth scale model of Brunelleschi’s dome and the possible construction methods that he may have used. The story begins in Florence, Italy in the year 1296 when the fathers of the city had decided to build a church to “showcase the status of Florence as one of Europe’s…

Ser Giovanni Guidi’s 1449 piece, The Triumph of Fame (Desco Da Parto di Lorenzo De’ Medici) stands out as a key work of the time period. Foremost, the subject matter seems to call to attention both a mythologized scene recalling characters of antiquity presiding over the representations of persons who were presumably alive at the time of the commission, all gathered for the birth of the new family heir, Lorenzo De’ Medici. Of equal importance to this is the medium of which the piece is made,…

Antonio Barberini SR Antonio Barberini is the younger brother of Maffeo Barberini, who became pope in 1623. In 1624 he made a cardinal and spent the whole day in religious devotions in Rome and eventually became a secretary after being an Inquisitor in 1629 following the death of Gian Garzia Millini. Barberini “conducted the final phase of Galileo’s trial” and sought to dominate his order with illegal actions such as appointing “one of its friars as consultor to the Inquisition” forcefully. At…

St. Catherine of Siena was known as a Christian reformer and mystic who had a significant impact on the church. She is the patron of fire prevention. Her real name was Caterina Benincasa. She was born March 25, 13447 in Siena, Italy. Catherine was the daughter of Giacomo Benincasa. St. Catherine wrote a book called “Dialogue” which talks about the love of neighbours as an expression of love for God. Catherine received a vision of Jesus Christ when she was 6 and at the age of 16, she spent most…

“Creative nonfiction has become the most popular genre in the literary and publishing communities” states Lee Gutkind. Before reading the webpage I would have with no doubt said that fiction was better than nonfiction, but now I think differently. Most people would label nonfiction as boring facts and documentary, as I myself always have. But that’s not the case. Creative nonfiction can be written in many forms, one of them being an essay. The main difference between a fiction and nonfiction…

many offices in the upper echelon of Florentine Government, from which he gained an ample amount of diplomatic knowledge. Florence, like the most of the Italian peninsula during this time, was constantly changing political representation. When the Medici family took power in 1513, Machiavelli was forced into exile. This fall from the occupation he adored weighed heavily on him; forcing him to seek desperate measures to try and get back into his esteemed political profession. His work, The…

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli was written as a gift to gain favor of Lorenzo de Medici, the de facto oligarchic ruler of the Florentine Republic and one of the most powerful persons of the Renaissance. Niccolò Machiavelli was a Renaissance historian, diplomat, philosopher, and writer. He witnessed the expulsion of the Medici family and the rise of Girolamo Savanorola, a Dominican religious zealot who controlled the region after. During this time, Italy became a landscape of political…

families that had a major influence on Italy. An example is the Medici family of Florence. The Medici family helped to build up a system of banking, manufacturing, and trade. Capitalism began to emerge during this time period. The Medici family was not selfish with there wealth unlike aristocrats that controlled countries from other time periods. The helped to make Florence look better through supporting public works. The book says “Medici wealth is vine in the statement that, from 1434 to…

History has proven that oftentimes hierarchy powers are willing to use barbaric, vicious, and remorseless strategies to get to the top. An example of this is the Borgia Family who was a dominant family during the time of the Renaissance. The Borgia Family was an Italian family with Spanish origin, mainly known for their heartless reputation. Along with the dominating families, the Papacy had much control over Italy. Both the Borgia Family and the Papacy were extremely relevant and significant…

Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, written in 1513, stands out as the one advice book that transcended all others. In The Prince, Machiavelli argued against the humanist ideal for its insistence on the prince’s virtues as he, instead, provided a synthesis of rational deployment of force as well as the exercise of virtue. Perhaps due to his encouragement for a prince to dissemble, in other words, to make all his actions appear virtuous, whether they are so or not, Machiavelli’s political…