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The1700s refers to a period in Italian history and culture which occurred during the 18th century (1700–1799): theSettecento.[1] The Settecento saw the transition fromLate Baroque toNeoclassicism: great artists of this period includeVanvitelli,Canaletto andCanova, as well as the composerVivaldi and the writerGoldoni.
The Settecento is a word today commonly used to describe this period Italy.
The first decades of the Settecento saw the ultimate end of theRenaissance movement in Italy, and the last development of theCounter-Reformation andBaroque era, and also the beginning of theItalian Enlightenment.
In the 18th century, the political and socio-cultural condition of Italy began to improve, underJoseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his successors. These princes were influenced by philosophers, who in their turn felt the influence of a general movement of ideas at large in many parts of Europe, sometimes called theEnlightenment. All this led to a cultural revival in the 18th century's second half: the Age of Reason and Reform.
Politically Italy suffered mainly because of the crisis of theRepublic of Venice, but in the last years of SettecentoNapoleon Bonaparte brought theFrench Revolution ideals to Italy and created in 1797 the first unitarian state in the peninsula since the early Middle Ages: theCisalpine Republic, that in 1804 became theNapoleonic Kingdom of Italy.
The 18th century saw the capital of Europe's architectural world transferred fromRome toParis. The ItalianRococo, which flourished in Rome from the 1720s onward, was profoundly influenced by the ideas ofBorromini. Notable architects active in Rome wereFrancesco de Sanctis (Spanish Steps, 1723) andFilippo Raguzzini (Piazza Sant'Ignazio, 1727), while about theSicilian Baroque, notable architects wereGiovanni Battista Vaccarini,Andrea Palma.
Luigi Vanvitelli was among the most prominent architects of Italy during this century, he built thePalace of Caserta at the request ofCharles VII of Naples and worked on many other palaces and buildings like theRoyal Palace of Naples theRoyal Palace of Milan and theBasilica of Santissima Annunziata Maggiore.
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In the 18th century much sculpture continued on Baroque lines: theTrevi Fountain was only completed in 1762 after 30 years.Rococo style was better suited to smaller works, and arguably found its ideal sculptural form inearly European porcelain, and interior decorative schemes in wood or plaster.
Antonio Vivaldi was the most important composer in Italy at the end of the Baroque period. He wrote more than 400 concertos for various instruments, especially for theviolin. The scores of 21 operas, including his first and last, are still intact. His best known work is a series of violin concertos known asThe Four Seasons.
Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in hisSt John Passion,St Matthew Passion, andcantatas). Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, three for organ, and one for four harpsichords, strings, andbasso continuo based upon the concerto for four violins, two violas, cello, and basso continuo.
Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was the most important Italian literate of the Settecento. He produced over 150 comedies. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays, including such classic comedies asThe Servant of Two Masters andThe Mistress of the Inn. The leading italian poet of the first half of the century was perhapsPietro Metastasio, who succeededApostolo Zeno as court poet in Vienna, serving the EmperorCharles VI and later the EmpressMaria Theresa. He gained widespread European recognition both as a lyric poet and as an author ofopera seria libretti.Giambattista Vico andLodovico Muratori were the most notable Italian historians of this century, while the leading figure of the literary revival in poetry wasGiuseppe Parini.
CountVittorio Alfieri (1749-1803) was an Italiandramatist andpoet, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy."[2] Alfieri is often indicated as one of the precursors of theRomanticism in Europe.
Italy was affected during the Settecento by the "enlightenment", a movement which was a consequence of theRenaissance and changed the road of Italian philosophy.[3] Followers of the group often met to discuss in private salons and coffeehouses, notably in the cities ofMilan,Rome andVenice.
Cities with important universities such asPadua,Bologna andNaples, however, also remained great centres of scholarship and the intellect, with several philosophers such asGiambattista Vico (1668–1744) (who is widely regarded as being the founder of modern Italian philosophy)[4] andAntonio Genovesi.[3] Italian society also dramatically changed during theItalian Enlightenment. The church's power was significantly reduced, and it was a period of great thought and invention, with scientists such asAlessandro Volta andLuigi Galvani discovering new things and greatly contributing to Western science.[3]
Cesare Beccaria was also one of the greatest Italian Enlightenment writers, who was famous for his masterpieceOf Crimes and Punishments (1764), which was later translated into 22 languages.[3] In it, Beccaria put forth some of the first modern arguments against thedeath penalty. His treatise was also the first full work ofpenology, advocating reform of the criminal law system. The book was the first full-scale work to tackle criminal reform and to suggest that criminal justice should conform to rational principles.
As a consequence in Italy, the first pre-unitarian state to abolish thedeath penalty was theGrand Duchy of Tuscany as of November 30, 1786, under the reign ofPietro Leopoldo, later Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. So Tuscany was the first civil state in the world to do away with torture and capital punishment. In 2000, Tuscany's regional authorities instituted an annual holiday on 30 November to commemorate the event. The event is commemorated on this day by 300 cities around the world celebratingCities for Life Day.
