Renaissance of Letters Workshop

The Renaissance of Letters: Knowledge and Community in Italy, 1300-1650.

In this workshop, our goal is to examine (or re-examine) a broad range of letters and letter-writers, male and female, as well as the communities they inhabited. Studies will include iconic late medieval and Renaissance figures as well as lesser known individuals and their correspondence, published and unpublished. By assembling a diversity of interesting case studies done by scholars in different areas of specialization, we hope to come to a better understanding of the meaning of letter-writing as a valuable window into social, economic, and cultural practices, political attitudes, intellectual activities, and religious beliefs. We also wish to highlight the role of late medieval and Renaissance Italy in the development of this form of communication.