• http://italianacademies.org
• Study by researchers at Royal Holloway University of London, University of Reading, and the British Library
• Database of Italian Academies hosted by the British Library

Italian History in General

• CSI: Italian Renaissance - Smithsonian Magazine
• Forensic investigation of injuries and diseases of Renaissance Italians
• Foundation of the Renaissance: The Civic Culture of Early Italian Humanism (.pdf) by Joseph Byrne
• Summary of the beginning of "humanism," which is mentioned a lot when discussing late medieval/early Renaissance Italy
• The History of Italy by Francesco Guicciardini
• Primary source, Guicciardini lived in Florence 1483-1540
• Available online from Internet Archive in 20 separate volumes of a 1763 translation
• Volume 1

Italian Literature

• Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature by John Addison Symonds
• Secondary source, 1881
• Available online from Internet Archive - Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature

Curiosities in Italian History

• The Discovery of a Roman Girl in the Fifteenth Century
• article via Medivalists.net
  
• What an odd story! I'm sure I'll want to look it up again, so I'm stashing it here. Basically, 15th century Italians uncovered a perfectly preserved Roman corpse.

Women in Italy

• The Publisher Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, Female Readers, and the Debate about Women in Sixteenth-Century Italy

• Women in Italy 1350-1650: Ideals and Realities by Mary Rogers and Paola Tinagli (ISBN 0719072093)
• This is a delightful book! I definitely want my own copy. 
• Primary source - the excerpts from period sources are well edited and contextualized - and fascinating! 
• Women in Italian Renaissance Art: Gender, Representation, and Identity by Paola Tinagli (ISBN 071904054X)
• I want to get my hands on this book next ...

Italian Timeline

This chart is intended to help my husband and I keep track of what was going on in Italy and other areas we may want to consider as we plan our personae - that's why it may appear to reference some random things and leave out others that may be important in a different context.