the Maritime republics in the north. The Black Plague ravaged Europe during the 1340s-50s, wiping out almost half the continent's population. Particularly detrimental was the fact that most of the victims were young adults in their prime working years, which left behind an "hourglass" population structure comprised heavily of children and older people with fewer in-between. The widespread belief of medieval Europe having a "pyramid" population where most people were under 45 was not completely true and in fact varied widely from region to region. France traditionally had high birth rates, but Italy's fertility was lower to begin with and especially after the Plague had ravaged the region, many cities such as Florence, Verona, and Arezzo had populations where more than 15% of people were over the age of 60. Since overall life expectancy in Europe did not increase by any significant margin during this period, the aging cohort in some areas can be almost completely blamed on the effects of the Plague. Wealthy households had larger numbers of children than the poor. For example, in the early 15th century, the average age of Florence's population among the lower classes was 25 while the upper classes had an average age of just 17. The countryside became swiftly depopulated after the Plague as well due to surviving young people moving en masse to the cities. The Italian Renaissance originates in 14th-century Tuscany, centered in the cities of Florence and Siena. It later had a great impact in Venice, where the remains of ancient Greek culture were brought together, providing humanist scholars with new texts. The Renaissance later had a significant effect on Rome, which was ornamented with some structures in the new all'antico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist 16th-century popes. Beginning in 1320 an upheaval in the Florentine wool industry began that would see wool textiles become Italy's most important manufacture for export. By the late 14th century Florence rivaled even the Low Countries of Flanders and Brabant and reigned supreme in the marketplaces of the Mediterranean. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the mid-16th century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of the Italian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and even spread into the rest of Europe, setting off the Northern Renaissance, and the English Renaissance. See also Giudicati Medieval Corsica Italian city-states Maritime republics References Further reading Cristina La Rocca