In 1447 Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples, engaged the humanist antiquarian Biondo Flavio to compose in Latin a catalogue of famous men of Italy. This commission became Italia Illustrata, the first historical topography. In it, Biondo superimposed upon Italy’s classical heritage and her troubled medieval history a panorama of Italy in his own time. Although Italia Illustrata and three other major Latin treatises made Biondo’s reputation as the father of modern historiography and archaeology, these works have been accessible only in early modern printed editions to specialists with entrée to rare book rooms. Catherine J. Castner has now made this important treatise available in modern text with English translation and commentary. The Latin text is the best-known early printed edition, that of Froben (Basel, 1559). A clear, flowing English translation provides modern Italian equivalents for the majority of Biondo’s Latin toponyms. The commentary summarizes scholarship on the location and history of towns and cities of Italy and the building activities of their Renaissance lords. The plates include maps of cities and regions of Italy from medieval and early modern times. Italia Illustrata is an essential resource for any serious scholar of Renaissance humanism. Historians of medieval Italy, and of art and architecture, classicists, archaeologists, and epigraphers will value this work for its treasure of evidence: for example, Biondo’s eye-witness reports on the status of the building projects of the Malatesta; the Renaissance reception of Livy, Pliny, and Virgil (and the transmission of forged or misinterpreted inscriptions); and correlations of ancient sites with fifteenth-century settlements. This book will appeal to interests ranging from the current popular appetite for travel in Italy, to the growing scholarly attention to early modern geographical and travel literature; in short, to any reader with more than superficial interest in the urban centers and landscapes of Italy.

An English translation of Biondo Flavio’s Italia Illustrata, with commentary.

Biondo Flavio was a pioneering figure in the Renaissance discovery of antiquity and 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. Italy Illuminated is a topographical work exploring the Roman roots of Italy.

A Companion to Medieval Genoa introduces non-specialists to recent scholarship on the vibrant and source-rich medieval history of Genoa. Focusing mostly on the eleventh to fifteenth centuries, the volume positions the city of Genoa and the Genoese within the broader history of the Italian peninsula and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Thematic contributions highlight the interdependence of local, regional, and international concerns, and serve as a helpful corrective to the traditional overemphasis of Florence and Venice in the English-language historiography of medieval Italy. The volume thus offers a fresh perspective on the history of medieval Italy—as well as a handy introduction to the riches of the Genoese archives—to undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in related fields. Contributors are Ross Balzaretti, Carrie E. Beneš, Denise Bezzina, Roberta Braccia, Luca Filangieri, George L. Gorse, Paola Guglielmotti, Thomas Kirk, Sandra Macchiavello, Merav Mack, Jeffrey Miner, Rebecca Müller, Antonio Musarra, Sandra Origone, Giovanna Petti Balbi, Valeria Polonio, Gervase Rosser, Antonella Rovere, Stefan Stantchev, and Carlo Taviani.

Reappraisal of the pioneering humanist scholar Biondo Flavio During his lifetime the historian and antiquarian Biondo Flavio (1392– 1463) struggled to obtain recognition as a major contributor to the humanistic movement of the fifteenth century. Throughout the Renaissance, fellow Italian scholars far too often condemned rather than endorsed his scholarly works. His troublesome career and mixed reputation among his peers stand in stark contrast with the highly innovative character of his learning, which proved to be ground-breaking for the further development of various strands of historical and antiquarian research in the Early Modern Age. The authors of this volume aim to contribute to a reappraisal of this pioneering humanist scholar by a fresh assessment of his major writings in the fields of historical linguistics, historiography, Roman topography, and historical geography. Contributors Angelo Mazzocco (Mount Holyoke College), Marc Laureys (Universität Bonn), Giuseppe Marcellino (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), Fulvio Delle Donne (Università della Basilicata), Fabio Della Schiava (Universität Bonn), Paolo Pontari (Università di Pisa), Catherine Castner (University of South Carolina), Jeffrey White (St. Bonaventure University), Frances Muecke (University of Sydney)

Biondo Flavio was a pioneering figure in the Renaissance discovery of antiquity and 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. Rome in Triumph is the capstone of his research program, addressing the question: What made Rome great?

Denys Hay is one of the best known British historians of the Renaissance. His work is marked by a judicious and readable style, an equal interest in the affairs of England and Italy, and an ability to hold in balance the claims of political and cultural history. This collection brings together the important part of Professor Hay's work that has appeared as essays and represents all his major interests.

This important study takes a new approach to understanding Italian Renaissance humanism, one of the most important cultural movements in Western history. Through a series of close textual studies, Patrick Baker explores the meaning that Italian Renaissance humanism had for an essential but neglected group: the humanists themselves.

This monograph studies the constructions of ‘impressive’ historical descent manufactured to create ‘national’, regional, or local antiquities in early modern Europe (1500-1700), especially the Netherlands. This was a period characterised by important political changes and therefore by an increased need for legitimation; a need which was met using historical claims. Literature, scholarship, art and architecture were pivotal media that were used to furnish evidence of the impressively old lineage of states, regions or families. These claims related not only to Classical antiquity (in the generally-known sense) but also to other periods that were regarded as periods of antiquity, such as the chivalric age. The authors of this volume analyse these intriguing early modern constructions of appropriate “antiquities” and investigate the ways in which they were applied in political, intellectual and artistic contexts in Europe, especially in the Northern Low Countries. This book is a revised and augmented translation of Oudheid als ambitie: De zoektocht naar een passend verleden, 1400–1700 (Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2017).