<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Italian Renaissance (Italian: Rinascimento (rinaʃʃiˈmento)) was the earliest manifestation of the general European Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy during the 14th century (Trecento) and lasted until the 17th century (Seicento), marking the transition between Medieval and Modern Europe . The French word renaissance (Rinascimento in Italian) means "Rebirth" and defines the period as one of cultural revival and renewed interest in classical antiquity after the centuries labeled the Dark Ages by Renaissance humanists . The Renaissance author Giorgio Vasari used the term "Rebirth" in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects but the concept became widespread only in the 19th century, after the works of scholars such as Jules Michelet and Jacob Burckhardt . </P> <P> The European Renaissance began in Tuscany (Central Italy), and centred in the city of Florence . Florence, one of the several city - states of the peninsula, rose to economic prominence by providing credit for European monarchs and laying down the groundwork for capitalism and banking . The Renaissance later spread to Venice, heart of a mediterranean empire and in control of the trade routes with the east since the end of the crusades and the voyages of Marco Polo, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together and provided humanist scholars with new texts . Finally the Renaissance had a significant effect on the Papal States and Rome, largely rebuilt by Humanist and Renaissance popes (such as Alexander VI and Julius II), who were frequently involved in Italian politics, in arbitrating disputes between competing colonial powers and in opposing the Reformation . </P>

What was the significance of the italian renaissance