Italian Wars

The minute plans start to come together for any vacation, the excitement and counting down the days doesn’t stop until it’s finally time to start the journey. Trips to an unfamiliar, foreign place are invariably my first choice because I am able to explore things that I’ve never experienced in my life before. Getting to see how diverse the buildings and cultures are in peculiar countries is an extraordinary opportunity that not everybody gets to do in their lifetime. My first vacation abroad was…

One of the most notable and most influential artists that came out of the time of Northern Renaissance art was undoubtedly the artist by the name Albrecht Dürer. Albrecht was born in the city of Nuremberg, Germany in the late fifteenth century. The city of Nuremberg also happened to be one of the biggest artistic hubs in Europe during the time of the Renaissance. Albrecht grew up working as a goldsmith following in the footsteps of his father, but he was said to have had a few local artists that…

Have you ever smelled a freshly baked pizza? The smell of the pepperoni and the spices that steamed up the windows of the kitchen , the cheese melting under the tray and once you bite the crunchy crust you can taste the warm cheese and the hot pepperoni that makes your mouth water just by seeing and tasting the freshly baked pizza. In the book Relish: My Life in The Kitchen by Lucy Knisley, she uses a memoir of her own life to tell her story with vivid colors and a unique way of seeing food.…

How cinema created the Italian American mobster stereotype Migrating to the United States because of economic opportunities, Italians faced many discriminations and stereotypes about their culture. Stereotyping is having a generalized idea of a certain group of people. The American cinema portrayed Italians as mobsters, pasta loving people, or thugs. We choose to accept and believe these stereotypes. Although Italians have made their way in America, they are still affiliated with many cultural…

The Renaissance was an age of learning and revival of classic Roman and Greek art and culture. Paintings of the Renaissance often focused on religion but also focused on creating realistic humans. In 1518 the Renaissance painter Titian completed his masterpiece “The Assumption of the Virgin” for the altar Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari Basilica in Venice. The piece is a depiction of the Virgin Mary rising from Earth into heaven through angels taking her away from the Apostles and towards God.…

These Cluniac monasteries cultivated the liturgy as it was celebrated in Francia, and it was there that the Mixed Franco-German Gregorian liturgy found a beautiful expression. The Franko-German sacramentaries made their way into Italy as enthusiasm heightened for the liturgy as it was celebrated north of the alps. The Cluniac Monks would give liturgical books to clergy who wanted them, and the Saxon rulers Otto I and Otto II also gave the Frankish sacramentaries in Italy in an attempt to revive…

Italian Renaissance (ital. Rinascimento-"rebirth" or "born again") – a period in the history of European culture, which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and the previous culture of modern times. Renaissance art emerged based on humanism-- currents of public thought, which originated in the XIV century. In Italy, and then during the second half of the XV and XVI centuries spread to other European countries. Humanism is proclaimed the highest value of man and his benefit. The followers of…

The start of the 16th century is known as the High Renaissance, It is most famous for the Italian Art Masters such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. These remarkable artists made art no longer a craft being made by craftsmen, on the contrary art became an almost noble like statues, something perceived as valuable and glorious. These Italian master arose in the time when Italy was in need of prestige and honorable buildings and in a time were artists no longer had to accommodate to the…

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , or more commonly known as Donatello(born around 1386 and died in 1466 in Florence), is considered to be one of the Renaissance’s most distinguished Italian artists and sculptors, with his advancements holding a great impact on the Renaissance and the development of art. Donatello’s works were mostly considered as breakthroughs or new discoveries. He was a humanist and a realist, he used more of a realistic approach instead of the gothic style other artists were…

Benozzo Gozzoli was an influential Italian painter in the Renaissance. He helped impact art as we know it today in many ways. Some of his most acclaimed pieces included Madonna and Child Giving Blessings, Adoration of the Magi, and Women at the Tomb. His style of artwork was fresco which is a painting done expeditiously on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling with watercolor. Gozzoli was born around the year 1421 in a village in Italy called Sant’llaria a Colombano. His birth name was Benozzo…