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How do we find a sense of balance in times of grief, fear, and strife? How have humans achieved calm during inner or outer turbulence? This course looks to the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the rediscovery of classical thought bursts onto the scene and philosophers, writers, visual artists, and theologians rethink the tools at their disposal for living through life’s challenges. We will study what premodern Italian thinkers drew from philosophical schools such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism, and how they combined those ideas with a Christian worldview to produce new methods of cultivating tranquility of mind. Among the topics we will cover are theories of ataraxia, the debate between the active and contemplative life, what constitutes a “good” life, and the search for harmony. We will read works by Boethius, Catherina of Siena, Petrarch, Bruni, Alberti, Valla, and Ficino, among others. (Some knowledge of a Romance Language or Latin helpful, but not required.)