Editing Renaissance architecture (section)

==== Commercial ====

In the early Renaissance, [[Venice]] controlled sea trade over goods from the East. The large towns of [[Northern Italy]] were prosperous through trade with the rest of Europe, [[Genoa]] providing a seaport for the goods of France and Spain; [[Milan]] and [[Turin]] being centres of overland trade, and maintaining substantial metalworking industries. Trade brought wool from [[Kingdom of England|England]] to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, the industry on which its wealth was founded. By dominating [[Pisa]], Florence gained a seaport, and became the most powerful state in Tuscany. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the lucrative business of money-lending. The [[House of Medici|Medici]] became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, by reason of both wealth and influence. Along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers.<ref name=A.M /> 
[[File:Melozzo da Forlì 001.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Sixtus IV]], 1477, builder of the [[Sistine Chapel]]. Fresco by [[Melozzo da Forlì]] in the [[Vatican Palace]].]]