The Renaissance

In Florence architects began measuring the ruins of antiquity. Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Michelangelo and Palladio created an architecture of measure and harmony that spread across the world.

Brunelleschi’s dome over Florence Cathedral and his foundling hospital, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, are the first works of the Renaissance. Alberti gave the Palazzo Rucellai a façade with three storeys of pilasters.

Around 1500 the centre moved to Rome, with Bramante’s Tempietto and the new St Peter’s, where Michelangelo designed the dome. In the Veneto Palladio built villas such as the Villa La Rotonda, and his Four Books of Architecture of 1570 became a model in England, North America and the Nordic countries.

• The Dome of Florence Cathedral
• Ospedale degli Innocenti
• Palazzo Rucellai
• Tempietto
• Laurentian Library
• Villa La Rotonda
• Palazzo Farnese
• St Peter’s Basilica