1259 New pulpit for Pisa
Nicola Pisano completes a pulpit for Pisa, borrowing details from Roman sarcophagi - an early example of a new interest in the classical past

1300 New powers for Italian signori
The Italian communes employ powerful leaders, or signori, in a trend which leads away from oligarchy and towards princely rule

1300 Double-entry book-keeping in Italy
The bankers of northern Italy develop a method of accountancy - double-entry book-keeping - which will have lasting significance

1302 Dante sentenced to death
Dante, a member of the White faction in Florence, is sentenced to death by the Blacks - and never returns to his native city

1305 Scrovegni employs Giotto
Enrico degli Scrovegni employs Giotto to paint the cycle of frescoes in his chapel in Padua

1307 Dante begins Divine Comedy
Dante, in exile from Florence, begins work on The Divine Comedy - completing it just before his death, 14 years later

1308 Siena employs Duccio
The cathedral authorities in Siena commission from Duccio the great altarpiece which becomes known as the Maestà

1309 Pope moves to Avignon
Clement V moves the papacy to Avignon, in a move which is expected to be temporary but which lasts for nearly seventy years

1320 Florence and banking
Florence becomes a centre of international finance, with the Bardi and Peruzzi families acting as bankers to Europe's rulers

1327 Petrarch sees Laura in church
Petrarch glimpses Laura in a church in Avignon and falls helplessly in love with her - or so he tells us

1341 Petrarch as poet laureate in Rome
A laurel wreath is placed on the brow of Petrarch in Rome, in a renewal of interest in the classical world

1345 New old bridge in Florence
The bridge now known as Ponte Vecchio is constructed in Florence (replacing an older old bridge)

1345 Florence's banks crash
Edward III of England, defaulting on his massive debts, drives the Florentine banking families of Bardi and Peruzzi into bankruptcy

1347 Cola di Rienzo tribune in Rome
Cola di Rienzo, appointed tribune of the people, enjoys a few months of dictatorial powers in Rome before the citizens tire of him

1349 Boccaccio's characters flee from Black Death
Boccaccio begins his Decameron, supposedly the stories told by young Florentine men and women sheltering from the Black Death

1350 Condottieri corner war market
Armies of mercenaries, led by condottieri, conduct Italian warfare at an often extortionate rate

1350 Humanism a central theme of Renaissance
Humanism, or the study of classical literature as a living tradition, develops into one of the main strands of the Renaissance

1350 Boccaccio inspired by Petrarch
Boccaccio, visiting Petrarch in Florence, is inspired to devote himself to the pursuit of classical studies

1364 Mechanical clock in Padua
A great clock is completed in Padua, regulated mechanically by foliot and escapement

1377 Pope returns to Rome
The papal curia returns to Rome in what would seem a conclusive move if there were not, two years later, two popes - one of them elected back in Avignon

1378 Hawkwood captain general of Florence
John Hawkwood, a condottiere in command of the White Company, is appointed captain general of Florence

1379 Great Schism in papacy
The French cardinals, objecting to the new Italian pope, elect their own man as Clement VII - and thus inaugurate the Great Schism of the papacy

1380 Venice triumphs over Genoa
The Venetian blockade of Chioggia costs Genoa her fleet and ends Genoese rivalry with Venice in the eastern Mediterranean

1384 Visconti enlarges Milan
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the signore of Milan, sets about enlarging his territory - seizing Vicenza, Verona and Padua between 1384 and 1388

1395 Burgundy employs Sluter
Philip II of Burgundy commissions from Netherlands sculptor Claus Sluter a work, the Well of Moses, which launches the northern Renaissance

1400 Majolica in Italy
Majolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, reaches Italy from Majorca and thus gets its name

1406 Pisa taken by Florence
Pisa is captured by Florence, to be followed a few years later by the purchase of the seaport of Livorno

1409 Two popes too many
The Council at Pisa elects a new pope, Alexander V, without persuading the other two to resign - bringing the total to an unprecedented three

1411 Donatello employed on Orsanmichele
The linen drapers of Florence commission a statue of St Mark from Donatello, who carves for Orsanmichele the first free-standing Renaissance sculpture

1415 Brunelleschi studies Roman ruins
Filippo Brunelleschi begins studying the ruins of classical Rome, with a view to rediscovering classical architecture

1418 Brunelleschi wins competition
A competition is launched for an architect to construct a dome above Florence's cathedral, and is won by Brunelleschi

1423 Brancacci employs Masaccio
Masaccio paints some of the frescoes in the chapel of a Florentine silk merchant, Felice Brancacci, in Santa Maria del Carmine

1430 Work begins on Pazzi chapel
Work begins in Florence on Brunelleschi's Pazzi chapel, which encapsulates in miniature the new ideals of Renaissance architecture

1430 Campin paints the way it is
Robert Campin, also known as the Master of Flémalle, brings to Flemish painting a natural and everyday quality which is entirely new

1432 Ghent altarpiece by van Eyck
A new altarpiece is installed in the cathedral in Ghent, introducing the powerful realism of Jan van Eyck

1433 Cosimo arrested
Cosimo de' Medici, arrested by a rival faction, escapes with his life thanks to bribes and well-placed friends

1434 Arnolfini employs van Eyck
Giovanni Arnolfini, a merchant from Lucca trading in Bruges, commissions from van Eyck a portrait of himself and his wife

1435 Chancellor Rolin painted with Virgin
Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, of Burgundy, commissions an altarpiece from Jan van Eyck

1435 Van der Weyden is painter to city of Brussels
Rogier van der Weyden, the third in the extraordinary trio of Flemish artists of the 1430s, is appointed painter to the city of Brussels

1436 Alberti explains perspective
Perspective fascinates Italian Renaissance painters after the publication of Alberti's treatise on the subject, De Pictura

1438 Emperor and Patriarch attend council in Ferrara
The Byzantine emperor John Palaeologus and the Patriarch of Constantinope, Joasaph, arrive in Ferrara to attend a council of the Roman Catholic church

1439 Greek Orthodox attend church council in Florence
Florence acquires first-hand experience of Greek culture when Greek Orthodox priests join in a debate on theology, in particular the question of Filioque

1439 Council moves from Ferrara to Florence
The Seventeenth Ecumenical Council moves from Ferrara, because of the danger of plague, and sets up in Florence

1443 Fra Angelico in San Marco
The Dominican convent of San Marco, in Florence, is provided with a serenely beautiful series of frescoes by Fra Angelico and his assistants

1450 Piero in San Sepolcro
Piero della Francesca paints masterpieces in his small home town of San Sepolcro

1450 Sforza rules Milan
Francesco Sforza, a soldier of fortune, wins power in Milan

1450 Uccello fascinated by perspective
Paolo Uccello is interested in the laws of perspective, in works such as The Battle of San Romano

1455 First printed engravings
Master ES becomes the first artist to produce engravings

1460 Oil paint moves south
Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera

1460 Mantegna's art both classical and modern
Andrea Mantegna combines an interest in classical detail and recently discovered perspective

1462 Platonic Academy in Florence
In keeping with his personal interest in Plato, Cosimo de' Medici founds a Platonic Academy in Florence

1464 Cosimo is father of fatherland
After his death in 1464, Cosimo de' Medici acquires the posthumous title pater patriae – father of the fatherland

1465 Antonello da Messina uses oil paint
The Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina adopts the Flemish technique of painting in oils

1470 Venetian printing rivals German
The first Italian printing press is set up in Venice, which soon rivals Germany for the quality of its printing

1470 Botticelli impresses in Florence
Sandro Botticelli is established as one of the leading painters of Florence, working in particular for the Medici

1471 Sixtus founds chapel and choir
The new pope, Sixtus IV, secures his name in history, establishing the Sistine chapel and the Sistine choir

1472 Leonardo joins painters' guild
Leonardo da Vinci joins the painters' guild in Florence, probably after training with Verrocchio

1475 Giovanni Bellini in Venice
Giovanni Bellini becomes the key figure in the development of the Renaissance style in Venice

1477 Ptolemy's world map is printed
Ptolemy's concept of the world, with the Atlantic stretching to China and India, is printed in Bologna – fifteen years before Columbus sails west

1478 Murder in the cathedral in Florence
A plot by the Pazzi family, with papal connivance, results in the murder of Guiliano de' Medici during high mass in Florence's cathedral

1480 Leonardo designs forts
Leonardo da Vinci takes a professional interest in the new science of fortification

1480 Birth of Venus and Spring
Botticelli paints the Birth of Venus and Spring for the villa of a Medici cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent

1487 Roland in love
Boiardo publishes a romantic epic, Orlando Innamorato, about Roland's love for a bewitching princess

1489 Leonardo dissects corpses
Leonardo da Vinci begins an unprecedented series of detailed anatomical drawings, based on corpses dissected in Rome

1491 Savonarola attacks morals of the mighty
Savonarola, the new prior of San Marco, is a stern critic of both the pope in Rome and the Medici in Florence

1492 Pope has four illegitimate children
Rodrigo Borgia, elected pope as Alexander VI, already has four illegitimate children and possibly sires three more while pope

1493 Pope allots New World
Pope Alexander VI draws a line through the Atlantic, dividing new discoveries between Spain (west) and Portugal (east)

1494 King of France claims Naples
Charles VIII, king of France, marches through the Alps with an army of 30,000, to claim the throne of Naples

1494 Piero de' Medici flees from Florence
Piero de' Medici and his brothers flee from Florence, after a mob ransacks the Medici palace

1495 King of France crowned in Naples
Charles VIII captures Naples in February and is crowned there in May, but is forced back across the Alps before the end of the year

1495 Dürer master printmaker
Dürer, the first great artist to tackle the complexities of printing, becomes a master of woodcut and engraving

1495 Roman and italic in Venice
The type faces known as roman and italic are created in Venice by the printers Nicolas Jenson and Aldus Manutius

1497 Savonarola's bonfire of vanities
Savonarola, in the carnival before Lent, urges the people of Florence to throw playing cards and lewd images on a great bonfire of vanities

1498 Savonarola hanged and burnt
The Florentine mob, weary of puritanism, attacks the convent of San Marco and drags Savonarola away to be hanged and burnt

1499 Michelangelo's a Pietà for St Peter's
24-year-old Michelangelo provides for St Peter's in Rome an exquisite Pietà – the Virgin holding on her lap the dead Christ

1500 Lock gates by Leonardo
The first modern lock gates are installed on a canal in Milan, probably designed by Leonardo da Vinci

1500 Faenza earthenware
Faenza becomes the main centre for the production of the Italian tin-glazed earthenware known as majolica

1500 Leonardo sheds light on fossils
Leonardo argues that fossils in rocks far above the sea imply not the effects of the Flood but a change in the level of an ancient sea bed

1500 Istoriato style in majolica
Ceramic artists in Italy decorate large majolica dishes with scenes of narrative history, giving this style the name istoriato

1501 Michelangelo carves David
Michelangelo begins work in Florence on a tall thin slab of marble, which he transforms into David

1505 Mona Lisa smiles back
Leonardo captures the enigmatic smile of Lisa Gherardini, known now as the Mona Lisa

1505 Julius II commissions tomb from Michelangelo
Pope Julius II summons Michelangelo to Rome to create the pope's own elaborately sculpted tomb

1506 Foundation stone for new St Peter's
Julius II, together with the architect Bramante, lays the foundation stone for the new St Peter's

1508 Michelangelo tackles Sistine ceiling
Michelangelo begins work in Rome on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel

1508 Raphael summoned to Rome
Raphael is summoned to Rome by Julius II and is given a major commission for frescoes

1509 Raphael's Stanze in Vatican.
Raphael begins work on the frescoes in the pope's apartment in the Vatican, known as the Stanze ('Rooms')

1510 Erasmus and Christian humanism
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism

1510 Giorgione and Titian in Venice
Giorgione and Titian introduce the richness of colour which characterizes the high Renaissance style in Venice

1510 Michelangelo and mannerism
The startling colour contrasts in Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling anticipate one of the main characteristics of Italian mannerism

1510 Giorgione dies
The painter Giorgione dies after a short but extremely influential life in Venice

1515 French victory at Marignano
The king of France, Francis I, wins a dramatic victory at Marignano and captures Milan

1516 First ghetto - in Venice
The original ghetto is established as a district to which the Jews of Venice are confined

1516 Orlando mad says Ariosto
Ariosto, in Orlando Furioso, tells of Roland's madness when he is abandoned by the pagan princess Angelica

1517 Leonardo moves to France
Leonardo da Vinci moves to France, on the invitation of Francis I

1520 Holbein sets up in Basel
The German painter Hans Holbein the Younger establishes his own studio in Basel

1520 Luther's writings burnt
Luther's writings are burnt in Rome by order of the pope

1520 Development of mannerism
Mannerism develops in Italy in the work of the painters Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino

1521 Luther excommunicated
Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther after he has refused to recant

1525 French king prisoner at Pavia
The French king, Francis I, is taken prisoner by the Spanish at the battle of Pavia

circa 1525 Sutton Place
Sutton Place is built north-east of Guildford, and is of great historical importance as showing very early signs of the influence of Italian Renaissance design in English architecture

1527 Rome sacked by German mercenaries
Pope Clement VII hides in Castel Sant'Angelo while Rome is sacked by German mercenaries

1533 Titian is court painter
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, makes Titian his court painter (an arrangement continued by Philip II)

1542 Roman Inquisition
Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Inquisition, with the specific task of fighting against the Protestant heresy

1545 Commedia dell'arte
The Italian players of the commedia dell'arte first feature in the records in this year

1545 Council of Trent
A council of the Roman Catholic church is convened in Trent, to establish the tenets of the Counter-Reformation

1560 Copper-plate writing recommended
A book to teach good handwriting is published by Gianfrancesco Cresci, with examples engraved on copper plates

1570 Palladio revives the villa
Palladio publishes I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura ('The Four Books of Architecture'), which include his influential designs for villas

1571 Christian galleys overwhelm Turks
Spanish and Venetian galleys defeat the Turks in the battle of Lepanto

1575 Porcelain of a kind in Florence
Soft-paste porcelain, in imitation of true porcelain from China, is successfully created for the Medici in Florence

1581 Tasso finds romance in first crusade
Tasso, in Gerusalemme Liberata ('Jerusalem Liberated'), turns the first crusade into a romantic epic

1582 Accurate calendar for Catholics only
The new and more accurate Gregorian calendar is introduced by Gregory XIII in the papal states

1587 First modern bank in Venice
Venice opens the first modern bank (the Banco della Piazza di Rialto) for safe deposits and credit transfers

1590 St Peter's is complete
The dome of St Peter's is finished, completing nearly a century of construction on Europe's largest church

1597 First opera performed in Florence
Dafne is performed in Florence, becoming the first example of a new art form - opera

1600 Oratory launches oratorio
A performance in the Oratory in Rome, with music by Emilio de' Cavalieri, is in effect the first oratorio

1601 Hamlet catches spirit of age
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age

1956
Pietro Annigoni paints his best-known portrait, depicting the young British queen Elizabeth II in the Italian Renaissance style