the renaissance was a cultural movement in europe that revitalized the learning of
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance (Italian: Rinascimento [rinaʃʃiˈmento]) was the earliest manifestation of the general European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century (Trecento) and lasted until the 17th century (Seicento), marking the transition between Medieval and Modern Europe. The French word renaissance (Rinascimento in Italian) means "Rebirth" and defines the period as one of renewed interest in the culture of classical antiquity after the centuries labeled the Dark Ages by Renaissance humanists, as well as an era of economic revival after the Black Death. The Renaissance author Giorgio Vasari used the term "Rinascita" in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the works of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt.