 Italy was the birthplace and heart of the Renaissance during the 1400s and 1500s.The Italian Renaissance marked the transition from the medieval period to the modern age as Europe recovered, economically and culturally, from the crises of the Late Middle Ages and entered the Early Modern Period.The Italian polities were now regional states effectively ruled by Princes, "de facto" monarchs in control of trade and administration, and their courts became major centres of Arts and Sciences.