Florence in the Age of the Renaissance:
From Dante to Machiavelli
Spring Semester 2004
Dee Goertz
goertz@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 (Aquinas, Dante, Boccaccio, Vergerius, Pico, Machiavelli)
Grades
Final grades will be based on an evaluation of papers and class participation.
Schedule
May 4: Arrive in Florence
May 5: Brucker, Chs. 1-3; Aquinas (course pack); Dante, canto 1
May 6: Brucker, Chs. 4-5; Dante, 2-6
May 7: Brucker, Chs. 6-7; Petrarch, 1-19; Vergerius (course pack); Pico (course pack); Dante, 9, 10
May 8: Weekend, No Class
May 9: Weekend, No Class
May 10: Letts, Interpreter, Chs. 1-3; Dante, 11, 13, 15, 18, 19
May 11: Day Trip to Siena
May 12: Letts, Chs. 4-6; Dante, 21, 26, 27, 31, 32
May 13: Letts, Chs. 7-8; Dante, 33, 34; Dante (course pack)
May 14: Weekend, No Class
May 15: Weekend, No Class
May 16: Weekend, No Class
May 17: Boccaccio (course pack)
May 18: Boccaccio (course pack); Petrarch
May 19: Travel to Rome
May 20: Petrarch
May 21: Machiavelli, Prince
May 22: Weekend, No Class
May 23: Weekend, No Class
May 24: Machiavelli, Prince; Machiavelli, Discourses (course pack)
May 25: Machiavelli, Mandragola
May 26: Grading
May 27: Return to Cincinnati
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