Florence in the Age of the Renaissance:
From Dante to Machiavelli
Spring Semester 2002
Melissa Eden
edenm@hanover.edu
Frank Luttmer
historians@hanover.edu
Course Description and Objectives
This course is an introduction to the literature, history, art, philosophy, and theology of the Florentine Renaissance. By analyzing and interpreting primary texts and by experiencing the sights and sounds of Florence and nearby cities, the course seeks to reconstruct the world of Dante, Petrarch, Bocaccio, Donatello, Botticelli, Machiavelli, and Michelangelo.
Readings
Gene Brucker, Renaissance Florence
Dante, Inferno, trans. Robert Pinsky
Rosa Maria Letts, The Renaissance
Niccolo Machiavelli, Mandragola, trans. Mera J. Flaumenhaft
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. Leo Paul S. de Alvarez
Francesco Petrarca, Selections from the Canzoniere and other Works, trans. Mark Musa
Course Pack (Dante, Boccaccio, Aquinas, Vergerius, Pico, Machiavelli, Colonna)
Grades
Final grades will be based on an evaluation of papers and class participation.
Schedule
April 25: Arrive in Florence
April 26: Brucker, 1; Dante, Inferno 1; Aquinas
April 27: Weekend, No Class
April 28: Weekend, No Class
April 29: Letts, Interpreter, 1-2; Dante, Inferno, 2-6
April 30: Brucker, 2; Letts, 3; Dante, Inferno, 9-11, 13, 15
May 1: Brucker, 3; Letts, 4; Dante, Inferno, 18, 19, 21, 26, 27
May 2: Day Trip
May 3: Brucker, 4; Letts, 5; Dante, Inferno, 31-34
May 4: Weekend, No Class
May 5: Weekend, No Class
May 6: Brucker, 5; Letts, 6; Dante, Purgatorio
May 7: Brucker, 6; Letts, 7; Dante, Paradiso
May 8: Day Trip
May 9: Brucker, 7; Letts, 8; Boccaccio
May 10: Boccaccio; Vergerius; Begin Long Weekend
May 11: Weekend, No Class
May 12: Weekend, No Class
May 13: Class 5 PM: Petrarch
May 14: Petrarch; Pico; Colonna
May 15: Leave for Rome
May 16: Machiavelli, Prince
May 17: Machiavelli, Prince; Discourses
May 18: Weekend, No Class
May 19: Weekend, No Class
May 20: Machiavelli, History of Florence
May 21: Machiavelli, Mandragola
May 22: Return to Cincinnati
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