SPECIAL FEATURES

Winter 2025

LOMBARDIA: THE OTHER RENAISSANCE

"In sharp contrast to Genoa and Florence was Milan, the wealthiest capital in Europe, whose wealthy lord, the Visconti, had assumed the dignity and state of royalty. Lord Bernabò was, as Chaucer called him, ‘God of delit’ and ‘scourge of Lumbardye’. The Visconti employed mercenary soldiers and kept their subjects at peace. Milan had prospered and was a center of culture and civilization. Here Petrarch had resided from 1353 to 1361, encouraging the Visconti’s already flourishing interest in letters. When Chaucer was there in 1378 the rule was shared by the brothers Bernabò and Galeazzo II. Circumstances led Galeazzo to buld a separate capital at Pavia, twenty-two miles south of Milan...But rather than their political affairs, their palaces, parks or paved streets, it is the libraries of these men that are of interest...[For] these patrons of learning and culture, a spirit of liberality reigned...”
--Robert A Pratt, “Chaucer and the Visconti Libraries”, English Literary History,
Sepetember 1939. Excerpted in Old Masters International. Winter 2025 : "Arms and the Men: The Art of Milanese Armaioli". Please click here:

FEATURE ARTICLES
Winter 2025
LOMBARDIA: THE OTHER RENAISSANCE