Episodes
Aug. 27, 2024
175 - The Italian Wars 7 - Milan under threat (1499)
King Louis XII prepares to descend upon Milan to stake his claim to the duchy. Before he sees out he needs to make deals with England, The Swiss and the Italian powers, Savoy and Ve3nice. Meanwhile, duke Ludovico il Moro is ...
Aug. 13, 2024
174 - The last stand of the tigress - Caterina Sforza part IV
We follow the last stand of Caterina Sforza as the French once again descend upon Italy with king Louis XII and Cesare Borgia, made representative of Romagna by his father Pope Alexander VI, closes in on the lands of Caterina...
July 30, 2024
173 - The roar of tigress - Caterina Sforza part III
After the assassination of her husband Girolamo Riario , Caterina is in full control as regent for her son, Ottaviano Riario. She has to navigate regional issues in Romagna , another assassination in Faenza and then the trick...
July 16, 2024
The Tigress in her Den - Caterina Sforza part II
After settling in to their new signoria, Caterina Sforza and her husband Girolamo Riario have to deal with continuous plots, the War of Ferrara and the death of uncle pope Sixtus IV . After that Caterina will really show what...
July 2, 2024
171 - The Tigress rising: Caterina Sforza part 1
We look at the early years of the woman who would come to be known as "The Tigress of Forlì", Caterina Sforza starting with her youth at the court of her father, duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria. We then move on to the traumatic ...
June 18, 2024
170 - The Gonzaga of Mantua Mantua
Having met Francesco II Gonzaga, at the battle of Fornovo, we take some time to go back and have a look at the beautiful city of Mantua from its legendary origins, surrounded by lakes created by the tears of a prophetess, thr...
June 4, 2024
Special: Republic Day 2024
To celebrate 2nd June, Republic Day as well as the release of the related film " C'è ancora domani" (There's still tomorrow ) by director Paola Cortellesi, we are brushing up our episode on the Historical events that lead up ...
May 21, 2024
169 - The Italian Wars 6 - round 1 aftermath, the north
After leaving the Papal States with Cesare Borgia waiting for us, we head into the Republic of Florence to look at the struggle with the other Italian powers over Pisa and also stop to talk a little about the man who named Am...
May 7, 2024
168 - The Italian war 5 - round 1 aftermath - the south and centre
After seeing French King Charles VIII out of the Italian peninsula, we take a quick tour around to see what the situation is at the end of the 15th century and make sure everyone is on the same page. We look at Sardinia, Sici...
April 23, 2024
167 - The Italian Wars 4 - Charles has left the building
Charles VIII of France is on his way out as king Ferrandino of Naples, along with Gonzalo de Cordoba, are gradually taking back the kingdom. Meanwhile Charles is headed off by the Holy League of Venice at the town of Fornovo ...
April 9, 2024
166 - The Italian Wars 3 - finally Naples… for a bit (1495)
Charles VIII of France finally managed to get to Naples , but doesn't hang around long, the players on the Italian scene feel he has worn out his welcome and Venice, Milan, the pope, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinan...
March 26, 2024
Special - The Gulf of poets: Byron, Keats and Shelly in Italy
A chance visit to the beautiful Ligurian town of Porto Venere , staying in a 900 year-old tower, Torre Capitolar e ( https://www.capitolare.com/ ) gave us the opportunity to meet not only with medieval history, the Republic o...
March 19, 2024
165 - The Borgias are the bosses (1492 - 1497)
After his election as pope Alecander VI Rodrigo Borgia gets straight down to business, sorting out the lawlessness in Rome, tinkering with the delicate national balance with the Duchy of Milan, the Republics of Florence and V...
March 5, 2024
Special - Lucrezia Borgia
To celebrate the "A History of Italy" podcast joining the "Sentire" media network (sentire.media), we take a look at one of the most maligned women in history, Lucrezia Borgia . By the 20th century, her reputation was turned ...
March 5, 2024
Special - Caterina of Siena
To celebrate A History of Italy of joining the Sentire podcast network ( sentire.media ) we go back to visit with a peculiar young girl who went from early, rather graphic and violent religious visions to become one of the mo...
March 5, 2024
Special - Matilde di Canossa
To celebrate the A History of Italy podcast becoming a member of the Sentire Media podcast network we go back and visit with one of our personal favourites, Matilda of Canossa Margarine of Tuscany, a woman of power in a time,...
Jan. 23, 2024
164 - The rise of the Borgias
After seeing Charles VIII though Rome with an uncertain deal with pope Alexander VI , Rodrigo Borgia , we go back to see how the Borgias came to Italy from Spain with Alphonse of Aragon, rose to the papacy with Callixtus III ...
Jan. 3, 2024
6th Anniversary episode - Best of the sketches
To celebrate our 6th anniversary on 3rd January, we look back on some of the most memorable sketches that have accompanied the regular episodes. From the first appearance of the Great Turnip, through the fish, frog, falcon fl...
Dec. 19, 2023
Interview on the Aldo Moro Affair with Simon Gaul, Author of "White Suicide"
We spoke to Travel book author, adventurer and novelist Simon Gaul about his new book "White Suicide" which covers a dark period of Italian history in which Christian Democrat Party leader Aldo Moro was kidnapped and assassin...
Dec. 12, 2023
163 - The rise and Fall of Gerolamo Savonarola
We follow the life of mystic, prophet and monk, Gerolamo Savonarola , who came to have a great moral influence over Florence , particularly after the expulsion of the Medici . His increasing fiery denunciation of the immorali...
Nov. 28, 2023
162 - The Italian wars 2- opening hostilities and the Medici get kicked out
Charles VIII of France starts to head into Italy, beginning with the lands of Savoy where a 2-year-old duke leaves things to his mum to deal with the expensive guest who also asks her for a loan. Meanwhile, the Neapolitans tr...
Nov. 14, 2023
161 - The Italian wars 1: setting up and setting off
We look at the background to the expedition by King Charles VIII of France into Italy to claim the throne of Naples. This takes us to explore the situation i Milan, with Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his uncle Ludovico il Mor...
Oct. 26, 2023
Recap 07 - Episodes 139 to 160
Before charging into the modern age, we take our usual look back on past episodes for a recap. In this case we look at the middle to late 15th century as the "big five" Naples, Milan, Venice, Florence and the Papal States str...
Oct. 10, 2023
Special: 9th October 1963 - Vajont, a man-made natural disaster
We go back to a quiet mountain valley of north-eastern Italy where the peace was forever broken by one of the country's most ambitious architerctural and engineering projects that ended in one of the worst disasters in the hi...