Scarica Wars Of Italy in Lingua inglese e più Appunti in PDF di Storia Moderna solo su Docsity! the historical period that I prefer is the sixteenth century to the important historical events. The “Wars of Italy” were a series of eight conflicts, fought mainly on Italian soil in the first half of the sixteenth century (actually lasted from 1494 to 1559), for the supremacy in Europe. At the end of the wars Spain emerged as the leading continental power, placing much of the Italian peninsula under its direct rule (the Duchy of Milan, Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, Kingdom of Sardinia, the Deans State) or indirect; Italians were only ones who were able to maintain a degree of autonomy were the Duchy of Savoy (tied with France) and the Republic of Venice, while the Papacy, although autonomous, resulted mostly tied to Spain by the policy common to prevail in Europe, the Catholic Counter-Reformation. In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation clashing with the Catholic world, giving rise to numerous wars on religion over the years. A very important personality is Charles V that was appointed Duke of Burgundy (1506), King of Aragon, Naples and Sicily (1516), with his brother inherited the domains of the Habsburgs and was elected emperor (1519). In Spanish dominions he had to face rebellion in Castile and Aragon, in the empire collided, with little luck, with the Lutherans principles: the Peace of Augsburg (1555) established the principle of cuius regio eius et religio. He clashed even with the Turks besieged Vienna managing to conquer Tunis (1535). In Italy he continued wars against France. In 1556 he abdicated and he divided his dominions between his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand. A very important historical act for the Catholic identity was the "siege of Malta" where the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the island for four months in order to eliminate the Catholic army.At the end the Catholic army defeated the Turks. The battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571, during the war of Cyprus, between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and Christian fleet of the Holy League which comprised the naval forces of the Republic of Venice, the Spanish Empire (with the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily), the Papal States, the Republic of Genoa, the Knights of Malta , of the Duchy of Savoy, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany of the Duchy of Urbino, the Republic of Lucca, Duchy of Ferrara and of the Duchy of Mantua. The battle ended with an Allied victory, led by John of Austria. The 16th century is the period of maximum diffusion in Europe of Italian art, although politically the situation was certainly very unfortunate, indeed this was a century of cruel contrasts: the Protestant Reformation, the subsequent reaction of the Catholic Counter-reformation, the loss of political balance, Italy has become the battlefield of foreign armies. Despite that Rome was an important centre for the diffusion of Arts and culture. In the fifteenth century the love of classical culture led to the formation of the first collections of antiquities from rich families, especially in Florence, in the sixteenth century in Rome that collecting has wider dissemination. Important families began to collect works of classical art, but more important were the Papal art collections, for example Julius II and especially Paul III Farnese. In Rome they worked many significant artists such as Raphael and Michelangelo and their students who had fled from Rome after the sack occurred in 1527, brought in various Italian courts their knowledge. The position of the artist in this period, it underwent major changes: from the middle ages the artist was considered as a craftsman and then counted the art between the arts manuals, but now it began to consider painting, sculpture and architecture like the literature and poetry placing them therefore among the liberal arts.
