<P> The thirteenth - century Italian literary revolution helped set the stage for the Renaissance . Prior to the Renaissance, the Italian language was not the literary language in Italy . It was only in the 13th century that Italian authors began writing in their native language rather than Latin, French, or Provençal . The 1250s saw a major change in Italian poetry as the Dolce Stil Novo (Sweet New Style, which emphasized Platonic rather than courtly love) came into its own, pioneered by poets like Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Guinizelli . Especially in poetry, major changes in Italian literature had been taking place decades before the Renaissance truly began . </P> <P> With the printing of books initiated in Venice by Aldus Manutius, an increasing number of works began to be published in the Italian language in addition to the flood of Latin and Greek texts that constituted the mainstream of the Italian Renaissance . The source for these works expanded beyond works of theology and towards the pre-Christian eras of Imperial Rome and Ancient Greece . This is not to say that no religious works were published in this period: Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy reflects a distinctly medieval world view . Christianity remained a major influence for artists and authors, with the classics coming into their own as a second primary influence . </P> <P> In the early Italian Renaissance, much of the focus was on translating and studying classic works from Latin and Greek . Renaissance authors were not content to rest on the laurels of ancient authors, however . Many authors attempted to integrate the methods and styles of the ancient Greeks into their own works . Among the most emulated Romans are Cicero, Horace, Sallust, and Virgil . Among the Greeks, Aristotle, Homer, and Plato were now being read in the original for the first time since the 4th century, though Greek compositions were few . </P> <P> The literature and poetry of the Renaissance was largely influenced by the developing science and philosophy . The humanist Francesco Petrarch, a key figure in the renewed sense of scholarship, was also an accomplished poet, publishing several important works of poetry . He wrote poetry in Latin, notably the Punic War epic Africa, but is today remembered for his works in the Italian vernacular, especially the Canzoniere, a collection of love sonnets dedicated to his unrequited love Laura . He was the foremost writer of sonnets in Italian, and translations of his work into English by Thomas Wyatt established the sonnet form in that country, where it was employed by William Shakespeare and countless other poets . </P>

What set the stage for the renaissance in italy