Petrarch’s understanding of the landscape: from medieval relations to the new picture of world

Abstract

The article discusses Petrarch’s ideas about the landscape, which he imagined in wide and diverse aspects, approaching directly to humanist concepts. On the one hand, the landscape was perceived by the poet as a cultural habitat, on the other hand, it was associated with intimate experience, awareness of natural space as necessary for creativity and disclosure of the lyrical features of an individual. Petrarch’s understanding of the landscape came into close contact with the garden, or the landscape cultivated, ideal; in addition he made available contribution to the forming of the Renaissance garden conception.