During the middle age the majority of advancements made by the Greeks and the Romans had been forgotten because of the gradual deterioration of the living conditions in Western Europe. War, poverty and hunger characterized this period know as the dark ages which lasted hundreds of years.

Things started to change and improve around the middle of the fourteenth century, when people began to re-discover arts and technologies of the Romans and Greeks, improving their style of life and understanding a new concept of human being. They started to believe that life could be comfortable and that everybody can contribute to increase the standard of living in the society: every person should seek talents and skills. Humanists were the one who originally introduced this philosophy, and that is why the term “Humanism” refers to the early stages of “Renaissance."

This period of re-birth was first initiated in Italy (in Italian the word renaissance - rinascimento - means literally a new birth) and typically spanned from the 14th to the 17th century. From Italy it subsequently expanded to the rest of Europe. It is quite difficult to give this period an exact duration in time, because it started at different points for different aspects. The artistic renaissance is probably the first one which took place as early as the end of the thirteenth century, with Giotto’s paintings and Dante’s writing. However this period of recognition and growth touched several other areas, such as culture, power, business, and technology.