The Florentine Renaissance
The Florentines have built many famous works of architecture which are considered as the most famous Renaissance buildings in Italy. While the humanists were busily immersing themselves in the cult and cultivation of Greek and Latin antiquity, the artists of the Italian Renaissance were blazing out a new vision of the emotional and intellectual world. They were engaged in the quest for the ideal beauty. This ideal and formal perfection was to rise from the congruence between its earthly representation and the ideal prototype that existed in the Platonic realm of Ideas. Ancient estheticians had laid down the fundamental laws of structure which were eternally, immutably valid for all future ages. The word "Renaissance," which we use today to describe the principal components and the universally recognized features of this time, was not really used until the sixteenth century, when the era could be observed retrospectively as past history.
The importance in artistic, literary, and scientific investigation that occurred in Florence in the 14th-16th centuries was precipitated by Florentines' preoccupation with money, banking and trade and with the display of wealth and leisure. Additionally to this, the crises of the Roman Catholic church (particularly the polemic over the French Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism), also the catastrophic effects of the Black Death, led to a re-evaluation of medieval values, resulting in the development of a humanist culture, stimulated by the works of Petrarch and Boccaccio. This prompted a review and study of the classical antiquity, leading to the Renaissance. Florence benefited materially and culturally from this sea-change in social consciousness.
The works most known of Florentine Architecture is The Duomo and The Baptistery of Florence. These works of architecture were conceived and decorated by several distinguished painters and architects of Renaissance Florence-Brunellesci, Donatello, Giotto, and Vasari. Today, these sights are considered as some of the most important Renaissance sights in the world. Some of the other famous architectural achievements of Renaissance Florence were the design of The Medici Palace, The Pitti Palace, The Vecchio Palace, The Convent of St. Mark, The Medici Chapels, The Church of San Lorenzo, The Foundling Hospital of Florence, and The Strozzi Palace. Besides these sights, there are many other famous Renaissance palaces and churches in the city of Florence. The Florentine Renaissance realised many famous architectural achievements which will always be admired by people around the world.