This volume is a survey of society in Italy from the 15th to the 18th centuries - from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. During this period Italy was not a coherent political unit, being divided into many different kinds of states. Particularly apparent was the deep North-South divide economically, socially and linguistically. This book aims to develop an understanding of the diversity, conflicts and incompatibilities from the past that still affect the stability and fragility of united Italy in the 21st century. It covers the whole of the Italian peninsula from the Venetian Republic,...