Sansovino was still producing masterpieces of picturesque beauty in architecture.
In order to understand the transition of Italy from the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation manner, it will be well to concentrate attention on the history of the Papacy during the eight reigns of Paul III., Julius III., Paul IV., Pius IV., Pius V., Gregory XIII., Sixtus V., and Clement VIII.[9] In the first of these reigns we hardly notice that the Renaissance has passed away.

In the last we are aware of a completely altered Italy.

And we perceive that this alteration has been chiefly due to the ecclesiastical policy which brought the Council of Trent to a successful issue in the reign of Pius IV.
[Footnote 9: These eight reigns cover a space of time from 1534 to 1605.] Before engaging in this review of Papal history, I must give some brief account of the more serious religious spirit which had been developed within the Italian Church; since the determination of this spirit toward rigid Catholicism in the second half of the sixteenth century decided the character of Italian manners and culture.

Protestantism in the strict sense of the term took but little hold upon Italian society.

It is true that the minds of some philosophical students were deeply stirred by the audacious discussion of theological principles in Germany.