Everyday Renaissances: The Quest for Cultural Legitimacy in Venice (Harvard University Press) by History Professor Sarah Gwyneth Ross has been awarded the Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History by the Society for Italian Historical Studies, an affiliate of the American Historical Association. The award recognizes the best book, published in the previous calendar year, on Italian history in any epoch, Italian cultural history, or Italian-American relations. In Everyday Renaissances, Ross looks beyond Michelangelo and the Medici to the lives of more than 100 artisans, merchants, and others on the middle rung of Venetian society who embraced literature, learning, and humanistic education. For more about the book see the 3/3/16 BC Bookmarks post.