Many factors contributed to making Italy the source of the new way of thinking that spread over Europe in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries-the growth of individualism and awareness of man that we now call the Renaissance. Unlike the other countries of Europe, Italy was not a highly structured feudal state but was made up of many city-states and federations in which personal power was the means of establishing governments. Although this led to political strife, it gave a new emphasis to the value of the individual. Talent and skill, rather than family background,were considered most important. Also, Italy had never completely lost touch with her classical past. Living in the midst of the ruins of ancient glory, the Italians were naturally the first to re-evaluate the ideals of Greece and Rome.
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