In the history of Italy, the 16th century (in Italian: Cinquecento) is the time of the brightest flowering of Renaissance culture in the first third of the century and its slow decline in the subsequent period, until the beginning of the 17th century. The first of these stages was called the High Renaissance, the second - the Late Renaissance. This book presents the image of a Renaissance man with his moral principles and desire to live according to the laws of harmony and beauty. The image of an ideal courtier in the work of Castiglione, the description of the dramatic pangs of love in the dialogue-poem of Bembo, the rules of respectable behavior in the work of Della Casa, heated debates about religion and morality in the dialogues of Gelli, reflections on the wisdom of rulers in the works of Machiavelli and Guicciardini - these amazing masterpieces have long been known in all European languages and had a powerful impact on Western culture.