Following the collapse of the Medici rule in 15th century Florence, the centre of Renaissance activity moved first to Rome and finally to Venice. In the Rome of Julius II and Leo X which Michelangelo remoulded and beautified, in the Venice of Titian, Tintoretto and Palladio, as well as the courts, the Renaissance reached the height of its splendour, not only in the visual arts but also in the theatre, history, biography, epic poetry and music. This is the sequel to The Florentine Renaissance and provides a guide to every aspect of the Italian Renaissance.

Florence in the 15th century was the undisputed centre of the Italian Renaissance - one of four exemplary ages in human history, according to Voltaire. What we have been derives largely from Jerusalem, Athens, Rome - and it was in Florence that these inheritances were blended to make us what we are now. Our Christianity, our learning, our literature and art, our civic liberties and even our conception of what constitutes a gentleman, are all the result of ancient thought and practice re-moulded by Florentine mind and deed which influenced science, medicine, geography and cartography as well...