Italian Renaissance Young Man, 3D Illustration Stock Image

One of the main characteristics of the “Renaissance” is the rebirth of the ancient spirit. Humanism is the essential intellectual movement of the time. Pioneers were Italian poets of the 14th century such as Francesco Petrarca 1304-1374, who through his extensive study of ancient writers and his individualism promoted belief in the value of humanistic education and the study of languages, literature, history and philosophy advocated as an end in itself outside of a religious context. The theocentric worldview of the Middle Ages was replaced by a more anthropocentric view of things.