A stimulating and authoritative survey which examines the main aspects of the history of the Italian peninsula from the 1380s to the 1530s. The analysis takes place within a broad account of the social, religious, political and administrative development of the peninsula at a time when any notion of 'Italianness' was far from evident to the majority of Italians. Culturally this was a period of incomparable richness, and the authors give this most familiar aspect of the period its due. However, they argue that 'Renaissance Italy' was more influenced by its medieval past and Northern Europe than is often recognised.