The Renaissance occurred right after the devastating plague that killed half of Venice and Florence. The Renaissance sparked many revelations to the world’s smartest minds like Plato and Petrarch, or even the gifted business man. Cosimo de Medici. The plague also caused the influential rise of the middle class, containing the serfs who now took over the jobs that were once held by previous middle class before the plague. Pope Innocent III seemed to be against the rise of the middle class. He believed that seeking ambition, or trying to rise to a higher class is useless. Pope Innocent III believed that humans already had a miserable life and the rise of any class would make everyone’s lives even more miserable. He did not want change. Petrarch who was born before the Renaissance and the plague, was a very smart, young man. He was also the first humanist. In his excerpt taken from “The Ascent of Mont Ventoux”, he talks about reaching the top of the highest mountain. This document reflects to the idea of the act of accomplishment; doing the impossible. When he came across the Vellum scrolls, he was compelled to share the beauty and knowledge of the ancient times including human accomplishment. This movement called humanism, influenced the art in the Renaissance, and the buildings. Petrarch’s movement was influential in the class system because Petrarch was part of the middle class. He attracted many people who saw the beauty in the ancient text. Boccaccio, who was a humanist and witnessed the plague, described the events that occurred between the classes during the plague. The classes had begun to almost even out. People did not care anymore. People thought that they would die tomorrow so it would not matter what they did. Before the serfs came to the city, there was no Renaissance, no one cared, and there were no class systems. Italy was falling apart.