First-time visitors to Italy are often struck by the nature of Renaissance-era domestic architecture, which tends to be of a different size and degree of ornamentation than they have been led to believe. Readers of these seven essays will no doubt get the same impression, because here the contributors debunk several of our notions about how people lived and what significance objects and ornaments had for those living there. For one thing, from these examples it is clear that insulating the family from the outside world was not necessarily a goal of domestic space. Topics include new methodologies of analysis that led to new conclusions, the real workings of a Venetian "lying in" chamber, the interplay of sacred and secular in display, domestic chapels in Florentine palaces, bathing rooms in Genoese villas and palaces, recycling of furniture in Florence, and creating a sacred space of the domestic in Venice. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)