Explain why the Renaissance began in Italy.

The Renaissance in Europe (ca. 1350-1550) witnessed a renewed interest in Classical antiquity and an increased emphasis on individualism and human potential. Urban elites sought to demonstrate their unique talents, assert their own personalities, and gain recognition for their accomplishments. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) could claim that he could work miracles and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94) could propose that man could be whatever he wills. During the preceding Middle Ages, the western worldview tended to perceive human nature as restricted and constrained. During the Renaissance, human potential seemed almost limitless.
The rediscovery of Classical literature, art, and philosophy in Italy had much to do with regular contact, both through commerce and warfare, between Italians with the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople, where Classical antiquity was preserved over the centuries much more than in the West. As a consequence of the Fourth Crusade (1201-04), when the Franks and Venetians sacked Constantinople, many works of art in the Classical style were brought back to Western Europe as booty. During the Byzantine decline of the subsequent decades and centuries, prominent Byzantine scholars looked for greener pastures further west and many ended up in Italy, where they contributed directly to the revival of Greek and Roman studies.
Owing in large part to their location on the Mediterranean, Italian city-states like Venice and Genoa also boasted extensive trade connections and budding industries. Wealth freed elites from dependence on institutions, including the Catholic Church. In Florence, sometimes called the cradle of the Renaissance, riches derived from the wool and silk industries allowed ruling families to serve as patrons of public art, which both elevated their political status and created new artistic sensibilities based on old Classical models. Trade connections also made available new pigments, which contributed to the vibrancy of Renaissance art, reflecting and propagating the newfound optimism about human potential.

Primarily, the Renaissance began in Italy because this was the home of ancient Rome. The Renaissance was inspired by humanism, the rediscovery of ancient Western learning. During this period, many great works of antiquity, long thought to have been lost, gradually came to light, uncovered among the dusty shelves of countless churches and monasteries. All of a sudden, the modern Italian man was reconnected with his intellectual heritage, inspiring him to build upon the example of his ancestors to advance human endeavors in fields as diverse as fine art, science, and government.
Though the Renaissance spread rapidly across the length and breadth of Europe, its natural home was Italy. At that time, Italy wasn't a country as it is today; it was a patchwork of petty kingdoms, republics, and Papal States involved in almost constant war with each other. In this atmosphere of persistent conflict, the picture of ancient life uncovered by the new learning, with its vibrancy and relative cultural unity, was an appealing one to a generation of Italians weary of decades of strife, bitter division, and cultural paralysis.