This module introduces life, literature and visual culture in three of the leading cities of Renaissance Italy: Urbino, Ferrara and Florence. After a general introduction to these renowned centres of cultural achievement, we focus on texts and works of art by leading protagonists like Botticelli, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Raphael and Ariosto. Through close reading and formal analysis, we examine them in their own right, looking at the intellectual, ideological and aesthetic contexts that informed them and paying particualr attention to their treatment of the themes of love, friendship, beauty, and power. We also view them in relation to each other in an attempt to engage with the interdisciplinary dialogue that characterised the period as one of powerful friendships and rivalry.