Italy Illuminated, Volume 2: Books V–VIII (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)

Italy Illuminated, Volume 2: Books V–VIII (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)

Biondo Flavio (1392–1463), humanist and historian, was a pioneering figure in the Renaissance discovery of antiquity; famously, he was the author who popularized the term “Middle Age” to describe the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of antiquity in his own time. While serving a number of Renaissance popes, he inaugurated an extraordinary program of research into the history, cultural life, and physical remains of the ancient world. Italy Illuminated (1453), of which this is the second and final volume, is a topographical work describing Italy region by region. Its aim is to explore the Roman roots of modern Italy. As such, it is the quintessential work of Renaissance antiquarianism. “The I Tatti edition makes the complete Italia illustrata immediately available to scholars and students in a form that not only will suit most needs but also has the advantage of replicating the text in at least one of the ways it was preserved and read through the later fifteenth century and into the next. [Jeffrey A.] White’s work is a welcome addition to an essential series.” ― Oren Margolis , Bryn Mawr Classical Review Jeffrey A. White is Professor of Classical Languages at St. Bonaventure University.