Description: Italian literature and culture from the early masters through the late Renaissance. Primary sources to be studied in historical context include Dante's Commedia, Petrarch's Canzoniere, and Boccaccio's Decameron, major writings by 15th-century humanists (Bruni, Bracciolini, Poliziano, Pico), and 16th-century works by Bembo, Ariosto, Michelangelo, Castiglione, and Tasso.