Italy Illuminated, Volume 1: Books I-IV

by Biondo Flavio

Overview

Biondo Flavio (1392-1463), humanist and historian, was a pioneering figure in the Renaissance recovery of classical antiquity. While serving a number of the Renaissance popes, he inaugurated an extraordinary program of research into the history, institutions, cultural life, and physical remains of the ancient Roman empire. The Italia Illustrata (1453), which appears here for the first time in English, is a topographical work describing Italy region by region. Its aim is to explore the Roman roots of the Renaissance world. As such, it is the quintessential work of Renaissance antiquarianism. This is the first edition of the Latin text since 1559.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674017436
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	07/29/2005
Series:	The I Tatti Renaissance Library , #20
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Language:	Latin

About the Author

Jeffrey A. White is Professor of Classical Languages at St. Bonaventure University.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Preface

Book I

1. Liguria

2. Tuscany

Book II

3. Lazio

Book III

4. Umbria

5. Piceno

Book IV

6. Romagna

Note on the Text

Notes to the Text

Notes to the Translation

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

This is an extremely valuable edition and translation that serious students of the history of classical scholarship, the Renaissance, and Italian topography will want to have in their libraries...There is much to praise in this new edition and translation of an especially interesting text and invaluable work of Renaissance humanism. White states that he feels "lucky" to belong to the I Tatti series, but the series itself is fortunate to have a book of this quality within it. I look forward eagerly to the appearance of its second volume.

New England Classical Journal - Harry B. Evans

The I Tatti edition makes the complete Italia illustrata immediately available to scholars and students in a form that not only will suit most needs but also has the advantage of replicating the text in at least one of the ways it was preserved and read through the later fifteenth century and into the next. [Jeffrey A.] White’s work is a welcome addition to an essential series.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review - Oren Margolis

An informative and immensely readable book.

New York Review of Books - Anthony T. Grafton

This is an extremely valuable edition and translation that serious students of the history of classical scholarship, the Renaissance, and Italian topography will want to have in their libraries...There is much to praise in this new edition and translation of an especially interesting text and invaluable work of Renaissance humanism. White states that he feels "lucky" to belong to the I Tatti series, but the series itself is fortunate to have a book of this quality within it. I look forward eagerly to the appearance of its second volume.

— Harry B. Evans

New England Classical Journal

An informative and immensely readable book.
— Anthony T. Grafton

New York Review of Books