Venice, Italy Essay

Now each city-state had a product that made them prosper. For Florence it was cloth, Milan arms, but Venice and Genoa became extremely rich of off trade. That would be why the wealthiest city-state was Venice. That is because they were excellent shipbuilders, sailors, and merchants. They figured out how to trade with the biggest economic power in the region, the Ottomans. They created most their profit from trading paper to the Ottomans. Another way they turned a profit was with the highly sought after Florentine textiles due to the textiles vibrant color that was dyed with alum. Now they could only get this chemical for the Ottomans until 1460. That was when the Pope's godson found alum in Italy and they started to mine the alum. The family in charge of the alum mining rights were the Medici.

The location of Rome was favored by the settlers. It was about 20 miles inland on the Tribe River. Rome also had a route to the sea but it was farther away and not safe from the Pirates. The land was on 7 huge hills and they could cross the river easily. Indo-European people moved into Italy during the period from 1500 BC to 1000 BC. We don't know much about them but they did live in villages. They The Italian Peninsula is an important crossroads between the western and eastern Mediterranean Sea due to the way the land juts into the sea. After the Romans had established their Mediterranean empire, governing it was made easier because of Italy’s central location.

During the fourteenth century Italy witnessed notable changes, which throughout the next couple of centuries extended towards northern Europe. This was later described as the "Renaissance", "the cultural achievements through sixteenth centuries; those achievements rest on the economic and political developments of earlier centuries". (Western Society, 413) This was an era in which Europe emerged from the economic downfall of the Middle Ages and was followed by a time of financial growth, later leading to the Renaissance. But also, most importantly, the Renaissance was a period for artistic, social,

It made Venice get permission and did not allow them to trade unless it was for resources they really needed. Overall, trade became an important force and had many effects in the emergence of modern

Florence is arguably the starting place of the renaissance. With many different artists there, the Medici Family in control and a very strong trading system, it was a very powerful city-state during the renaissance. During this time, the feudal system was no more. The people in

The quantity of wealthy courts and cities allowed writers, scholars and artists to rise up and flourish

This had been happening since the Crusades, which is why Italy held much more wealth during this time than other parts of Europe. Italy also had a relationship with the Ottoman Empire, as they were trading partners. The ottoman empire significantly influenced the Italian Renaissance. This empire encompassed parts Africa, Asia, and Europe. Ottomans were an economic powerhouse. They were experiencing an Islamic Golden Age which meant they were on a serious pursuit of knowledge. They developed and researched subjects such as Mathematics, Science, and Astronomy. So as Italians reestablished trade they were exposed to the new ideas of the Middle East. This acted as a natural Segway to the Italian Renaissance. Feudalism never flourished in Italy. Italy was more urban whereas the rest of Europe was still rural. Money was made through trade and commerce instead of farming. Cities were the place where people exchanged ideas and the site of an intellectual revolution. This is where people would interact with one another and admire art and architecture.

In many ways, Italy had benefits over northern Europe in detaching from the feudal system and accumulating enormous amounts of wealth. I think that above all else, geography was Italy’s anchor in this respect. Being a projecting land mass sticking out into the Mediterranean Sea, and beneficially located between the main part of Europe and the Byzantine Empire, cities within Italy had little choice but to weave endeavors of commerce into every day life while engaging in the market and foreign trade. Therefore, Italy became prone to the extensive continuity of goods and novelties earlier than other European areas. Accordingly,

The Po River or more natively known as the Padiana is a drain basin from the alps and Apennines (Penn 206-9). It then flows through Piedmont then through Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. “Napoleon said “the most fertile plain in the world” (Penn 206-9). Below the line of springs called fontanili provide irrigation for the meadows and help keep the flow of water streams. It ends in a marshy plain which is heavily diked (Penn 206-9). And it then it goes into a delta south of Venice that was built up by a counter-clockwise drift of the adriatic currents.

Venice had the ideal location at the center of a large network of seafaring mercantile trade (Van Brummelen 65). From the far east came silk, from India came spices, and out of Venice went delicacies such as wine and glass (Berg 308). Venetian ships transported salt from the Venetian lagoon, pepper and other spices from North Africa, and slaves, silk and purple textiles from Asia to northern and western Europe (McKay 406). But saying the economic success of Venetian merchants was merely a result of Venice’s location fails to consider the governmental, industrial, and cultural factors that shaped the economy.

Trade prospered, helping out Italy and the rest of Europe. By the end of the 6th century BC, Rome had become the largest and richest city in Italy.

Florence, Italy was a city just like any other during the Renaissance. It was city of 50,000 people, less than there were in Paris and Venice but more than most other European cities. The busiest parts of the city were the Ponte Vecchio, a place lined with markets and houses, the neighborhood of the Orsanmichele and Mercato Vecchio, or the Old Market. Florence was a place of beauty and leisure. A Venetian visitor once said, “There is in my opinion no region more sweeter than that wherein Florence is a placed for Florence is situated in a plain surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains…And the hills are fertile cultivated, pleasant…” (Unger, pg. 1). Florence was a very prosperous city; it made fortunes off of wool and

Economic prosperity because of banking and social dynamism of the city-states made the Reninessance possible. Moreover, Roman infostructure among other things they left behind also made it conceivable. Although in the 14th and 15th centuries the Black Death and other epidemics had ravaged through the Italian peninsula it did not affect the northern part of the peninsula as bad, moreover, it still prospered.

The renaissance was a time of great and immeasurable change within all aspects of European life; so much so that it could be seen as beginnings of our modern western society. Leading this revitalization in culture and society in Europe’s historical development were to the two of the most dominant states of renaissance Italy, Florence and Venice. These small city-states were the powerhouses of the time and assisted speeding up the renaissance and helped spur revolutionary developments along the way being the main hubs of influence in the Italian peninsula during the late 13th and early 16th century. Florence could be characterized as a financial centre, with their banking system considered extraordinarily ahead of time; in addition being the main producers of fine elevated their chances to conduct successful trading ventures. Venice was considered one of the largest centers of trade being a coastal city of the shores of the Adriatic Sea, which allowed for prosperous trade with what was then considered the Eastern world; the city was also well known for their quality in ship building as well which likely contributed to them being a large naval power in the region. Now due to fact that both city-states were two different sovereign parts of Italy meant having two different approaches and views on or about a multitude of ideas. To understand the impact of Florence and Venice, the two very influential and affluent republics in renaissance Italy, it is crucial to analyze their over

?Venice is one of the most fascinating places to travel in Europe.? Its intrigue lies in its unique beginnings, its dominant past, and its remarkable people and their buildings.? Its foundation is unique because of the need for protection that drove the early Venetians to their new home and the location of this new dwelling-place:? ?Rarely in human history has a vigorous and progressive civilization arisen in a less likely place than the mud flats of the Venetian lagoon.?1? Venice rose to power by its domination of the sea and reached its climax during the years of the Renaissance.? It is during this time period that it truly became ?the bride of the Adriatic and the unchallenged