Where did the Renaissance begin, and what were its main characteristics and changes associated with it?

The Renaissance began in the city-states of Italy, with the northern city of Florence usually associated with its origins. It flourished there for a number of reasons. These included the influx of wealth from trade, contact with the East through the Crusades and sustained trade, and patronage from the Church in Rome. The characteristics of the Renaissance included a renewed interest in classical Greek, Roman, and Hellenistic thought. This emphasis became known over time as humanism. Humanists regarded the medieval period that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire as an era of ignorance and darkness, and they believed that a renewed emphasis on human achievement and the intellect would light the way to a new era. This belief is most commonly associated with the art and architecture of the period. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and others became celebrities, receiving the patronage of such wealthy benefactors as the Medici family in Florence and the Pope himself. But humanism and a newer, more secular spirit was also reflected in literature, history, and what might be called political science, most notably in the work of Niccolo Machiavelli. All of this marked a significant change from the dominant ethos of the Middle Ages, which we usually associate with the conviction that men and everything else in the world were essentially passive instruments of God's will.