Introduction:
The political, religious, literary, and war relations between Italy and Spain since the second half of the 15th century caused a remarkable cultural interchange between these two countries. The papacy of two illustrated Catalonian, Calixto III (Alfonso de Borja) and Alejandro VI (Rodrigo de Borja y Oms) narrowed the cultural relations between Castile, Aragón, Catalonia and Rome. The Spanish literary works of greatest relief were published or translated in Italy. This happened to the Amadís of Gaula, The Celestina, Jail of Love, poetic compositions of Jorge Manrique, Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana and popular productions like romances, carols, etc. The same thing happened in Spain to Italian works. Among them, the Freed Jerusalem, of Torcuato Tasso. These Hispanic-Italian relations were very important, since they brought to the Peninsula the restlessness and tastes that caused our Renaissance.
The Spanish Renaissance begins with the unification of Spain by the Catholic Monarchs and includes the reigns of Carlos I and Felipe II. Because of that, it is possible to distinguish two stages:
Reign of Carlos I: New ideas are received and the Italian Renaissance is imitated.
Reign of Felipe II: The Spanish Renaissance withdraws into itself and the religious aspects are accentuated.
With respect to ideology, the Renaissance mentality is characterized by:
The valuation of the Greco-Latin world, in which a new scale of values for the individual is looked for.
The man is the center of the universe (anthropocentrism), he is able to dominate the world and to create his own destiny.
Reason is put in front of feelings, and balance, moderation and harmony prevail.
The new ideal of man is courtesan, capable as a poet and as a soldier.
A new ideal of beauty that describes the world not as it is, but as it should be: nature, the woman, love.
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