Italy's Cultural Contributions Europe's Renaissance period began in Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries. Literary achievements--such as the poetry of Petrarch, Tasso?, and Ariosto? and the prose of Boccaccio, Machiavelli?, and Castiglione--exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on the subsequent development of Western civilization, as did the painting, sculpture, and architecture contributed by giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael?, Botticelli?, Fra Angelico, and Michelangelo. The musical influence of Italian composers Monteverdi?, Palestrina, and Vivaldi? proved epochal; in the 19th century, Italian romantic opera flourished under composers Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini. Contemporary Italian artists, writers, filmmakers, architects, composers, and designers contribute significantly to Western culture. |