In part three of Jacob Burckhardt"s book, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, he writes that the Italian Renaissance was shaped by ".not the revival of antiquity alone, but its union with the spirit of the people." The spirit of the Italian people refers to the way Italians as a group, shared the enthusiasm for antiquity. Burckhardt formulates that this enthusiasm was because the Italians viewed antiquity as a symbol of past greatness. The Middle Ages had brought about much war and corruption in both the Church and secular society. Therefore, the 'Revival of antiquity," developed in part to find a way to improve society. .

             Italy lay where an ancient society had prospered and triumphed, and thus, Italians looked to Ancient Rome for answers of how to improve their own society. Italy was full of ancient monuments and documents and thus Italians had easy access to the past. The Latin language of Ancient Rome was also easily learned by Italians, which gave them a unified tool to open the past. So, it was the special circumstances of Italy that provided the Italian people with their great enthusiasm to learn and understand the ancients and their way of life. .

             With their new knowledge of the past, a new dilemma arose. Much of the documents and other writings found did not correspond with the Church"s beliefs and practices. As most of Europe adhered to the Church, this was a problem. So, many people set to work, trying to combine the great new knowledge recently found, with the ideas of the Church. .

             Also as a result of the 'revival of antiquity," came a new interest in rhetoric, grammar, philology and literary criticism. As more people studied the classics, they came to a better understanding the Latin and Greek language, which produced an array of people writing their own works in Latin and/or Greek. These letters were written following new grammatical and rhetorical rules that were introduced by the newly found classic style of the ancients.