What if the Italian Renaissance had gone differently?

Florence and its rivals fund a deliberate revival of classical art, architecture and learning.

If it had gone differently: Europe never rediscovers the classical world on its own terms; the break with the medieval mind comes later and shallower.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on the Italian Renaissance. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1440Gutenberg's printing press. Without it, Books stay hand-copied and rare; literacy spreads at a crawl for another century.
2. 1517The Protestant Reformation. Without it, Western Christianity stays a single church; no confessional map of Europe forms.
3. 1600The Scientific Revolution. Without it, Natural philosophy stays deferential to the ancients; no method, no acceleration.