Renaissance architecture in the history of architecture began in the Republican city of Florence with the revolutionary work of Filippo Brunelleschi at the beginning of the 15th century. His buildings were conceived not so much as a revival of the ancient Roman heritage but rather as a reassertion of Italian values to counter the preference that prevailed during the previous century for North-European Gothic. Brunelleschi’s designs took as their immediate models the buildings of the pre-Gothic period, such as the Florentine Baptistry (1 1 th century) or Pisa Cathedral (begun 1063), even though Brunelleschi’s selection and repetition of architectural motifs was now rather closer to the example of Classical antiquity.

Other architects working in early Renaissance Florence profited at least as much from an exploitation of medieval traditions as they did from a study of ancient monuments. In Michelozzo’s three-storey Palazzo Riccardi-Medici (begun 1444), which established the basic format of the palace facade for the rest of the century, the rusticated stonework and round-arched windows divided by columns derived from recent Florentine traditions and only the projecting top-cornice depended on ancient prototypes. It was not long, however, before the patrons of Leon Battista Alberti in Rimini and Mantua, as well as aristocratic patrons elsewhere in Italy, recognized the political effectiveness of building in a more wholeheartedly Roman manner. Basic models, such as temple fronts, triumphal arches, audience halls and the vaulted halls of bath complexes, were then increasingly adapted for the design of whole buildings.

There are two major typological innovations of the period. The first is the small free-standing centrally planned church, usually destined to house a venerated object, usually a miraculous image, which became increasingly common from the 1480s. The second is the villa; the deliberate revival of the villa or country retreat of the ancient Romans, which became firmly established with Giuliano da Sangallo’s Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano (c. 1485). Large-scale urban development was rare but notable exceptions include Bernardo Rossellino’s remodelling of the area around the central piazza at Pienza with its new cathedral, Papal palace and public buildings (begun 1459), and Biagio Rossetti’s new suburb of Ferrara, which included several major churches and palaces (1492).

Local traditions played a major part in the regional development of early Renaissance architecture, and these were to a great extent conditioned by the availability of materials. Stone was plentiful in much of central Italy, but scarce in the north where brick and terracotta continued to predominate. In Milan and Venice, however, stone was obtainable at a price, and it was here that the large workshops of a new generation of talented sculptor-architects, notably Giovanni Antonio Amedeo, Pietro Lombardo and Mauro Codussi, produced some of the most inventive works of the period, such as the splendid Certosa di Pavia (Amedeo, begun 1491).