ary. The largest example of urban renewal
was the city of Rome itself, where the dark
and chaotic medieval neighborhoods were
cleared away and the city knit together
with wide avenues, with a practical pur-
pose of accommodating the many religious
pilgrims making their way to Saint Peter’s
Basilica.
Italian architecture and its classicism
spread throughout the rest of Europe,
where builders blended the new style with
techniques and traditions of their own
countries. Toward the end of the sixteenth
century, classicism became an international
idiom, used in the monumental buildings
such as the Louvre palace in Paris, and the
Escorial near Madrid.
The architecture of the sixteenth cen-
tury used classical buildings as a mere
starting point for new innovations. The
leading figure of the new Mannerist style
was Michelangelo Buonarroti, who de-
signed the Campidoglio in Rome, a beau-
tifully proportioned public square atop the
Capitoline Hill, the heart of the ancient
city. Churches and aristocratic palaces were
built, structures that were unknown to the
ancient Romans. In France, the Renais-
sance style was expressed in graceful cha-
teaus, such as Chambord and Azay-le-
Rideau, that replaced the fortresslike
castles of the medieval age. In England,
Inigo Jones applied classical design to royal
palaces and private homes in the early sev-
enteenth century.
SEEALSO: Alberti, Leon Battista; Bramante,
Donato; Brunelleschi, Filippo; Michelan-
gelo Buonarroti; Palladio, Andrea; Vitru-
vius
Ariosto, Ludovico ..............................
(1474–1533)
Italian poet whoseOrlando Furioso,be-
came one of the most famous literary
works of the Renaissance. Born in the
town of Reggio Emilio, the son of a mili-
tary commander, Ludovico Ariosto moved
to Ferrara while still a boy. He later stud-
ied law despite his preference for poetry.
He was instructed in Latin and Greek by
the scholar Gregorio da Spoleto, but on
the death of his father in 1500 he became
responsible for his nine siblings. Two years
later, he became the commander of the
town of Canossa.
As a young man, Ariosto found a
needed patron in Cardinal Ippolito d’Este,
who showed ignorance and contempt for
his works and used him as a common ser-
vant. In 1516 Ariosto completedOrlando
Furioso, an epic poem in forty-six cantos.
He based the poem onOrlando Innam-
orato, an unfinished work of Matteo Maria
Boiardo. It was a tale of romance and chiv-
alry that borrowed themes and characters
from the popular chansons de geste, epic
romances of the medieval age. The poet
takes on the role of a singing troubadour,
describing the adventures of Orlando, a
knight who fights the Saracens for the em-
peror Charlemagne and goes mad with
love for the beautiful Angelica. InOrlando
FuriosoAriosto showed great respect for
chivalric poetry but also chided the chan-
sons de geste for their old-fashioned atten-
tion to courtly manners. His work inspired
several major poets to create imitations
and leading painters to illustrate scenes
from the poem.
Ariosto left the cardinal’s household in
1518 and joined that of Alfonso I, the duke
of Ferrara, whom he served as ambassador
to Pope Julius II. The duke later appointed
him governor of Garfagnana, a remote dis-
trict in the Apennine Mountains. Ariosto
was responsible for managing a lawless re-
gion infested with bandits, but had won
such a reputation for his poetry that heAriosto, Ludovico