Italian gardens vary widely according to their historical date and geographic location. This collection of essays approaches Italian gardens of all periods, from the Middle Ages to modern times, and it ranges widely throughout the peninsula, from Genoa to Sicily, the Veneto to Liguria, and Ferrara to Florence. The authors are a distinguished group of Italian, American, English and German scholars, with different backgrounds in art history, literature, architecture, planning and cultural history. Their explorations of the subject from these different perspectives illuminate not only their own disciplines, but are concerned to make many interesting connections between garden art and the politics of nationalism, between the art of gardens and urban infrastructure, between cultural movements like freemasonry and site planning, between design and planting materials.
Anglo-Italian cultural connections in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been the subject of numerous studies in recent decades. Within that wider body of literature, there has been a growin
These studies illustrate the different ways in which the Renaissance made use of its classical heritage, and how a variety of techniques were employed to transform the material that could be derived from the ancient classics so that it could serve the social and cultural purposes of Renaissance man. The scope of the volume covers discussions of catalogues and editions of humanist works; the humanist contribution to the art of discourse; humanism and religion; humanism and political thought; and finally the contribution of the humanists to the useful and fine arts. This volume consists of papers delivered at the second conference on Classical Influences held at King's College, Cambridge, in 1974. This book should be of interest to specialists in classical studies, Renaissance studies and the history of literature and ideas, and specialists in French, German and Italian studies. The last three articles will also interest art historians.
Antonfrancesco Grazzini, known as Il Lasca (The Roach), was born and lived in Florence at the height of the Renaissance. He wrote prolifically in most genres, including novelle, burlesque poetry, and
