jhfa14-+General+Architecture+of+Italy+and+its+Cities

=Italian Architecture of the Renaissance- The General Picture= The Three Sections of the Renaissance:
 * The Architecture of this age is the true meaning and prime example of "Rebirth" of the age.
 * The Architects of Italy in the Renaissance primarily based their ideas off of Classical Rome and Greek, thus reviving these once dead styles.
 * Classical orders and architectural elements such as columns, pilasters, pediments, entablatures, arches, and domes form the general appearance of Renaissance buildings.
 * Mathematical proportion was a key element in the planning of these grand buildings as well as symmetry.
 * The style places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts.
 * This was a time in which old ideas of both Greek and Roman were combined, to make a new, sleek, refined building.
 * Gothic Architecture had never been truly adopted in Italy, for they preferred the symmetry of their ancestors.
 * In the early Renaissance, space was incorporated in a geometric flow and proportions


 * During the High Renaissance, the ideas of classical structure were much more absorbed into the construction of these large chapels and buildings.

=**The Architecture of Venice during the Renaissance Age**= The Canals: =Florence- The Architectural Seed= > || The Santa Maria del Fiore || This is just merely scratching the surface of what this magnificent country's art of building holds.
 * In the final stage of the Renaissance, the idea of harmony was dropped and styles were created with much more freedom and imagination.
 * Venice is a true architectural wonder in terms of what it took to build it.
 * The city is built upon a gathering of a 100 low-lying islands in the middle of a large lagoon.
 * The early Venice was built with a waterproof stone called Istria.
 * These were constructed upon rafts made of wooden logs driven deep into the muddy clay in order to make a sturdy, waterproof, foundation.
 * The Majority of the canals in Venice are actually completely natural
 * The bottoms of these usually consisted of sand and mud.
 * Florence was the starting seed of Renaissance Architecture in Italy.
 * This was where the ideas all originated that still define Italy to this day.
 * The architectural idea of the dome first originated from Florence with the creation of the Santa Maria del Fiore
 * [[image:http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch374/winter2001/sfarfa/philopanoramica.jpg width="415" height="300" caption="The Santa Maria del Fiore"]] ||
 * The dome helped incorporate the once modern and more medieval Gothic styles together to create new cathedrals and wonders.
 * The dome may be seen in almost every single well known Renaissance Architects works, and it originated here in Florence.

=**Sources**=

"DOME STRUCTURES: SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE (FLORENCE)." //School of Architecture//. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. <[]>.

//Italian Architecture//. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. <[]>.

"Renaissance -- Focus on Florence." //Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Resources by Annenberg Media//. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. <[]>.

Wikipedia contributors. "Renaissance architecture." //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 Jan. 2010.