The period from the early 15th to the early 17th centuries in Europe saw the emergence of Renaissance architecture, which consciously sought to revive and develop certain elements of Classical Greek and Roman material culture, placing emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they had been demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity.

The cultural impact of the Renaissance in much of the territory of modern Slovenia was somewhat lessened by religious unrest, peasant uprisings, Ottoman incursions and periodic epidemics. Consequently architectural developments were confined to the vaulting of churches, lighting and the construction of large arcaded courts.

Renaissance influences in Slovene church architecture emanated mainly from Carinthia (eg Barthaelma Firthaler in Kranjska Gora) and Vienna (eg the Church of the Three Magi in Slovenske Gorice). In the church at Dvor, near Polhov Gradec (1525) and Leskovec (1530), archaic shapes and Romanesque forms were revived.

Coastal Slovenia had closer links with the Italian Renaissance, and these influences were quickly absorbed into castle architecture. During the late 16th and early 17th centuries the Austrian government in Graz called in Italian fortification engineers to construct Renaissance-style fortresses at Turjak, Brežice, Krumperk and Hrastovec.

From the 17th century Italian builders introduced Roman and Venetian Baroque forms into Slovenia. Churches were enriched with side chapels, and in 1613-15 the Jesuits rebuilt the medieval church of St James in Ljubljana. The octagonal pilgrimage church (1640-70) at Nova Štifta near Ribnica is a replica of the plan of the Michele Sanmicheli Church in Verona, enriched with the Venetian Baroque of Baldassare Longhena. In 1693 the Accademia Operosorum was founded in Carniola and this helped to spread the Roman Baroque style.

The strong Italian influence continued into the 18th century with the creation of key monuments such as Ljubljana Cathedral, designed by Andrea Pozzo in 1701, the Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity in Ljubljana (1718-26) and the reconstruction of Koper Cathedral and the Minorite Church at Ptuj. A local master named Gregor Maček and his son linked the northern Italian architectural tradition with Venetian ideals and created Ljubljana City Hall (1717-1719), as well as churches at Šmarna Gora and Dobrova. The church at Velesovo, built by Candido Zulliani, combined Mediterranean structures with Central European Rococo. The mansions at Zemono and Dobrovo in the Primorska Region were modelled on mainland Venetian villas.