The roots of the idea of the Renaissance as a time of innovation and revival of learning, wisdom and art after a long period of decline can be traced back to the thought of contemporary groups of intellectuals. This cross-disciplinary international conference proposes to explore the early modern perceived reality of the continuities and the disruptions between the Renaissance and the previous period. By examining the numerous aspects and fields in which this conception of a time that had interposed itself between Antiquity and its renewal manifests, the conference hopes to better clarify the different Renaissance attitudes towards it.

Argument 

The roots of the idea of the Renaissance as a time of innovation and revival of learning, wisdom and art after a long period of decline can be traced back to the thought of contemporary groups of intellectuals, artists, and cultural elites. These groups started to think of their age as a new era, distinct from the younger past, grounding this distinction on their renewed relationship with the more remote era of the ancient cultures of Rome and Greece. This image of an abrupt break with a past of gloom can be considered a myth, but its origins are nonetheless intriguing: what were these thinkers opposing themselves, at what level, with what discrepancies and inconsistencies? This cross-disciplinary international conference proposes to explore the early modern perceived reality of the continuities and the disruptions between the Renaissance and the previous period. By examining the numerous aspects and fields in which this conception of a time that had interposed itself between Antiquity and its renewal manifests, the conference hopes to better clarify the different Renaissance attitudes towards it.

From a cultural standpoint, our attitude towards our predecessors reflects on how we define ourselves. This has probably never been more true than for the groups of intellectuals, artists, and cultural elites that at the cross-over of what we now see as two different historical periods started to think of their age as a new era, distinct from the younger past, grounding this distinction on their renewed relationship with the more remote era of the ancient cultures of Rome and Greece. We have inherited from them this way of thinking about our history, albeit with several modifications. Nowadays this image of an abrupt break with a past of gloom and stagnation is under strong suspicion, like a myth; and just as all myths do, it unfolded and metamorphosed over the centuries that separate us from those ancestors into whose thought can be traced back the roots of this idea of Renaissance as a time of innovation and revival of learning, wisdom and art after a long period of decline.

The aim of this cross-disciplinary international symposium, to be held as the culmination of a year-long LE STUDIUM project at the CESR entitled “Middle Ages in Renaissance”, is to explore the early-modern perceived reality of the continuities and the disruptions between the two ages, in connection with but nevertheless besides their objective actuality. Examining the numerous aspects and fields in which this conception of a time that had interposed between the antiquity and its renewed admirers manifests itself, the symposium will provide an all-round view of the different renaissant perspectives towards it, thus contributing to a better comprehension of our perception of our history.

List of confirmed speakers