Episodes

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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,...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Just a few seconds to let you knwo that we are almost ready to get back on track, but we need for the surroundings to go back so some minimal for of tranquility

We linger yet another episode in the Middle Ages to take a look at the Duchy of Urbino and in particular the "condottiero" Federico da Montefeltro, he of th eodd shped nose. There is also a murder mystery surrounding the deat...

Just a quick annoucement to update on goings on in the AHoI family life as well as plans for the near future