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ItalianROSE

Italian Renaissance Objects and Spaces of Encounter is an AHRC-funded project based at the universities of Cambridge and St Andrews. 

Our project for the first time places foreigners, migrants and minority groups at the centre of the Renaissance in Italy.

The term ‘Italian Renaissance’ has long suggested a vibrant artistic and literary culture, ‘reborn’ in the peninsula in the 14th and 15th centuries and spreading outward across Europe. We ask, instead, how Italy’s famous Renaissance bears the traces of foreign influence:  We focus on objects, spaces, and texts which reveal the influence of foreign actors, materials, designs and production techniques.

Moving beyond the study of specific minority groups, we investigate the fundamental diversity and connectedness of Italian society and culture.   How Italian really was the Italian Renaissance?