ABSTRACT
The Renaissance, and in particular the Italian Renaissance, was characterized by a sense of certainty, by a sense of one's being right, of not needing to change, of being the bearer of true culture, true religion, true knowledge. This open-mindedness, initially undesired, but ultimately perceived, is, generally speaking, perhaps the main point of distinction between the person of the Middle Ages and that of the Renaissance. Open-mindedness, the construction of the Other, of that which is different, the appearance of that which is perceived as different from the self, constituted topics of particularly vivid importance during the Renaissance. The Mediterranean is a particularly significant space in this regard because it is the space where the Italian traveller is most used to moving about the concept of the mare nostrum does not abandon those who move around the Italian peninsula, even during the centuries after Roman domination.
