When the Renaissance began?

Over five hundred years ago, a man named Petrarch climbed a mountain just to see the view. It was a new kind of thinking, it became the beginning of the Renaissance. The name of that mountain was Ventoux. 

--- Frank Black, Millennium (Episode #34 - Luminary)

Altissimum regionis huius montem, quem non immerito Ventosum vocant, hodierno die, sola videndi insignem loci altitudinem cupiditate ductus, ascendi.

--- Francesco Petrarca: Epistola ad Dionysium de Burgo Sancti Sepulcri (De ascensu montis Ventosi)

To-day [April 26, 1336] I made the ascent of the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer.

--- Francesco Petrarca: Letter to Dionisio da Borgo San Sepolcro (The Ascent of Mount Ventoux)

Read more:

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/petrarch-ventoux.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascent_of_Mont_Ventoux