Description
Book SynopsisA Companion to the Renaissance in Southern Italy offers readers unfamiliar with Southern Italy an introduction to different aspects of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century history and culture of this vast and significant area of Europe, situated at the center of the Mediterranean. Commonly regarded as a backward, rural region untouched by the Italian Renaissance, the essays in this volume paint a rather different picture. The expert-written contributions present a general survey of the most recent research on the centers of southern Italy, as well as insight into the ground-breaking debates on wider themes, such as the definition of the city, continuity and discontinuity at the turn of the sixteenth century, and the effects of dynastic changes from the Angevin and Aragonese Kingdom to the Spanish Viceroyalty. Taken together, they form an essential resource on an important, yet all too often overlooked or misunderstood part of Renaissance Italy. Contributors: Giancarlo Abbamonte, David Abulafia, Guido Cappelli, Chiara De Caprio, Bianca de Divitiis, Fulvio Delle Donne, Teresa D’Urso, Dinko Fabris, Guido Giglioni, Antonietta Iacono, Fulvio Lenzo, Lorenzo Miletti, Francesco Montuori, Pasquale Palmieri, Eleni Sakellariou, Francesco Senatore, Francesco Storti, Pierluigi Terenzi, Carlo Vecce, Giuliana Vitale, and Andrea Zezza.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Maps and Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction Bianca de Divitiis Part 1 The Context 1 The Aragonese Kingdom of Naples in Its Mediterranean Context David Abulafia 2 The Kingdom of Naples from Aragonese to Spanish Rule Pierluigi Terenzi 3 Demography, Economy, and Trade Eleni Sakellariou 4 Religion: Institutions, Devotion, and Heresy Pasquale Palmieri 5 Linguistic Spaces: Use and Culture Francesco Montuori 6 Mapping the Kingdom: History and Geography Bianca de Divitiis and Fulvio Lenzo Part 2 Urban Networks 7 Cities, Towns, and Urban Districts in Southern Italy Francesco Senatore 8 Urban Spaces and Society in Southern Italy Giuliana Vitale 9 Factional Conflict and Political Struggle in Southern Italian Cities and Towns Francesco Storti 10 Jews, Conversos and Cristiani Novelli in the Kingdom of Naples David Abulafia 11 Territorial and Urban Infrastructures: Ports, Roads, and Water Supply Fulvio Lenzo 12 Architectural Patronage and Networks Bianca de Divitiis Part 3 Histories and Narratives 13 Historiography from the Aragonese Kingdom to the Spanish Viceroyalty Fulvio Delle Donne 14 Political Treatises Guido Cappelli 15 Writing about Cities: Local History, Antiquarianism, and Classical Sources Lorenzo Miletti 16 Written and Oral Culture: Oral Narratives, Administrative Texts, Vernacular Historiography in Southern Italy Chiara De Caprio 17 Literacy and Administration in the Towns of Southern Italy Francesco Senatore Part 4 Cultural Patterns 18 Literature and Theater Carlo Vecce 19 Philosophy in the Kingdom of Naples: The Long Renaissance from Giovanni Pontano to Giambattista Vico Guido Giglioni 20 The Academies from the Death of Giovanni Gioviano Pontano to the End of the Sixteenth Century Antonietta Iacono 21 Libraries of Humanists and of the Elites in Southern Italy Giancarlo Abbamonte 22 Manuscript Illustration in the South of the Italian Peninsula Teresa D’Urso 23 Paintings, Frescoes, and Cycles Andrea Zezza 24 Music and Music Patronage at the Courts of the Kingdom Dinko Fabris Kings and Viceroys Maps Figures Glossary Index
