Italian history books
Karie A Colacicco
Hello! Could anyone tell me some good sources for Italian history,
approximately from 1100 to 1600? Do any of the books cover that long an
historical period? I am interested in the town of Milan, but also how the
other city-states were influencing it.
I am interested mainly to help flesh out my persona, a lady from Milan,
although I am unsure of when. So lots of detail about personal lives would
interest me greatly too.
I appreciate any help anyone could give.
Allessandre (e-mail kac...@utarlg.uta.edu)
Lenny Zimmermann
> Hello! Could anyone tell me some good sources for Italian history,
> approximately from 1100 to 1600? Do any of the books cover that long
> an historical period? I am interested in the town of Milan, but also
> how the other city-states were influencing it.
This is certainly a tall order! I can tell you that Milan itself is a
difficult Italian city to choose for historical research. There are
simply nowhere near the number of sources available on Milan as there is
for Florence, Venice or Rome. Mainly due to a sacked and destroyed
library in the late 1300s (or was it early 1400s?).
At any rate, Florence is close enough and was a large enough of a rival
to at least provide a good deal of general cultural information for
Northwestern Italy. (Only partially since Florence was a Republic in the
Rennaisance, where most other city-states were not).
I would suggest "Rennaisance Diplomacy" as a good book for some good
general information on the times. Benvenuto Cellini's (1500-1571)
Autobiography is exceptionally interesting for study of the life of a
sculptor/soldier during the High Rennasiance since it carries his life
story through to 1562. Just remember that Cellini was most certainly a
braggart and a bully, but it is still a most interesting piece. "The Book
of the Courtier" by Baldasare Castiglione was published in the late 1520s
and was the definitive book of proper behaviour for a Courtier for the
next 300 years. If you want Italian court life from 1450 on, I would
HIGHLY reccomend his work. There is also a new book out that I have heard
excellent reviews on about the lives of the ruling family in Mantua but I
cannot for the life of me remember the name.
As you can tell, however, most of my suggestions follow the Italian High
Rennaisance where my own interests lie. My best suggestion is to hit the
Library and check out their history section and don't forget to check out
their historical literature as well. Plutarch's Lives, Dante's Inferno
and The Decamaron were all highly influential works on Italian culture
and most Italians were at least familiar with them. Machiavelli can
provide some good insight as well, as long as you remember his frame of
mind when he wrote things like "The Prince". I found a very interesting
book called "The Joys of Italian Humor" which had a few chapters on humor
from the time period you are looking at.
It is a fascinating culture and luckily the Italians were fairly prolific
writers (when their libraries weren't burned down by other Italians).
Personally I wallow in the joy of going to the library and finding
something new on Italian culture. Now if only I could learn the Italian
language better....
Leonardo Acquistapace
(MKA Lenny Zimmermann)
zar...@acm.org
MrCSeverne
In addition to the books Leonardo mentioned (and the book on the Gonzaga
of Mantua is called "A Renaissance Tapestry", written by Kate Simon, if I
be not mistaken,) I would recommend Edward Burman's "Italian Dynasties"
and a biography simply called "The Borgias" (and here it is I who am stuck
for a name... I can't recall who wrote it.) Both are fairly late, and I
confess that I share Leonardo's bias for things Renaissance. Another
source which I have found excellent is Jacqueline Herald's "Dress in
Renaissance Italy :1450-1500" Although this is a book about clothes, it
tells a great deal about the people and the culture, going so far as to
discuss moral standards in dress and the financial burdens of fashion.
Also, Elisabeth Birbari's book "Dress in Italian Painting", one of the
best books I have read about how to decipher the truth of a garment out of
a picture. Also makes some comments on life as pertinent to clothing, and
shows some of the unlikeliest shots you will ever see of painting
details... laundry hanging out to dry, the inside of the cloak of a man
struck dead, the hook-and-eye on a child's doublet, the dart (yes,
really!) on a woman's bodice.
I am sorry that my suggestions seem to have turned to costume, but
then... what good is life without fashion? I remain yours in
service......................................Colin
Susan and Ken Reed
In article <4p797q$3...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, mrcse...@aol.com
(MrCSeverne) wrote:
> Also, Elisabeth Birbari's book "Dress in Italian Painting", one of the
> best books I have read about how to decipher the truth of a garment out of
> a picture. Also makes some comments on life as pertinent to clothing, and
> shows some of the unlikeliest shots you will ever see of painting
> details... laundry hanging out to dry, the inside of the cloak of a man
> struck dead, the hook-and-eye on a child's doublet, the dart (yes,
> really!) on a woman's bodice.
> I am sorry that my suggestions seem to have turned to costume, but
> then... what good is life without fashion? I remain yours in
> service......................................Colin
Along this line, another excellent book is _Painting and Experience in
Fifteenth-Century Italy_ by Michael Baxandall, 2d edition (Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press, 1988) which shows how patrons of the arts were
educated and how this, in turn, influenced the development of art and of
how art was perceived. It also discusses pictorial depiction of costume in
this light as well.
One caution on Elisabeth Birbari, though. She bought into the concept that
the Italians showed everything exactly as it appeared in "real life" lock,
stock, and barrel. I also have a background in art history both at the
undergrad and grad levels, and from what I have studied, the Italians were
into "idealized beauty" rather than painting "what they saw" (read some of
the artist's own discussions of "art" being more important than "nature").
They did not paint every little detail "accurately" (where are the
piecing seams on the narrow silks?) and everything they painted did not
necessarily exist. Jacqueline Herald in _Dress in Renaissance Italy,
1400-1500_ has good discussion on what I call "iconographic" clothing,
clothing that serves as a symbol rather than being garments worn in "real"
life (Margaret Scott in _Late Gothic Europe_ of the same series has an
even better one). Otherwise, Birbari's book is a very good source for
interpretation.
--
Susan and Ken Reed AFPOPA nach...@patriot.net
Jeff Suzuki
: > Hello! Could anyone tell me some good sources for Italian history,
: > approximately from 1100 to 1600? Do any of the books cover that long
: > an historical period? I am interested in the town of Milan, but also
: > how the other city-states were influencing it.
I haven't read it, but there is Machiavelli's _History of Florence_,
which will tell you what the Florentines thought about history...Also,
didn't Dante write a history of Florence? From the look of things, it
looks like Florence was the only city in Italy during the
Renaissance...so I'll start with a few not about Florence:
_A Renaissance Tapestry_, by Kate Simon. Tells about the Gonzaga of
Mantua; a great story about a house that didn't quite make it. The
story of how Vincenzo had to prove his manhood is, by itself, worth
the price of the book.
_Before the Industrial Revolution_, by Carlo Cipolla. This is
economic history; a bit dry, but if you want to know how the European
economy worked in the time period between 1100 and 1700, utterly
fascinating.
_History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages_, by
J. C. L. Sismondi. Haven't read it, don't know if you can find it
anywhere (I got mine at a library sale for 25c), but the table of
contents is intriguing: entries include chapters on all the major
city-states, including the lesser ones like Pisa and Siena.
(A quick check through my Britannica gives me the impression that the
English version is a condensation of his sixteen volume --- ! --- work
of the same name. Sismondi was one of the early economic historians,
ca. 1800, FWIW.)
Now for the Florence section...
_Renaissance Florence_, by Gene Brucker. The title tells you what you
need to know.
_Florence and the Medici_, by H. R. Hale. I haven't read this yet,
but it looks interesting.
_The Medici_, by Ferdinand Shevil. A good introduction to the family.
Jeffs