From the Roman fast food joints in the marvel that is Pompei, to the buzzing historical streets of Naples and the witches of Benevento, we're going off, thanks to Explore Worldwide, to explore the southern Italian Region of Campania. What happened to the tree of the witches? What is the…
After following the adventures of Julius II we go and visit with Venice, who is having ups and downs, losing influence as the attentipn of the world turns to the Atlantic, losing colonies to the Turks and starting to make enemies in Europe, powerful enemies that will come together in…
We start from Siena, with the story of how I almost got beaten up and why there is an extra bit of Siena cathedral added on and incomplete. The it's up to Florence to visit with the Medici, Da Vinci, Botticelli and Simonetta Vespucci, his Venus. From the capital of…
Giuliano della Rovere, after trying for more than a decade, finally manages to become pope Julius II in 1503. He gets to work breaking the last resistance of Cesare Borgia, then has to sort out his Papal States, gobbled up by Venice in the north with a whole series of…
We stop and take a look back at the episodes that cover the late 1400's as Italy completed her transition from the middle ages to the Renaissance and the lead up to the Italian Wars after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. We retrace the campaign of king Charles VIII…
Which is the Italian region that can drink you under the table? Tradition would say it's Veneto and with wines such as Amarone della Valpolicella and Prosecco, it's not gard to believe. We start our journey trying not to talk too much about Venice and then doing just that, seeing…
Just when the Borgias seem at the top of their game and that nothing could possibly stop them, in August of 1503 pope Alexander VI, after a dinner party at a cardinal's house, becomes seriously ill and died after two weeks. His son Cesare also becomes very ill and cannot…
In our first episode of the Regional Italy miniseries we explore the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, travelling initially along the ancient Roman road created by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. We start from the beautiful castles of the province of Piacenza, then cross the river to Parma, the culinary capital of…
While wishing you a "Buon Anno" (Happy New Year" we are also excited to announce the launch of our new miniseries on the Italian regions: Regional Italy! Thanks to the support of our friends at Explore Worldwide, we'll be looking at the culture, landscape, legends and history of some of…
Just a quick one to wish you a happy whatever you are celebrating, or not celebrating and give you the gift of my rendition of the famous poem "a visit from Alaric" also known as "T'was the night before Saturnalia".
People in Italy are getting very nervous about Cesare Borgia's successes, at times reached with treachery, and some of the unhappy party are actually Il Valentino's captains. When rebellion breaks out they see their chance and jump on the bandwagon. However, when things don't turn out as planned, the captains…
After doing his part for the French in the second Italian War Cesare Borgia heads back to Rome to concur with his father pope Alexander VI. They take care of some internal business with the Colonna, Orsini and Savelli and Cesare takes some time to kill some bulls and impregnate…
We first follow the life of the military captain Ettore Fieramosca (Hector Proudfly) and his troubled love story with Ginvenra da Monreale which ended tragically after the intervention of Cesare Borgia. We then move to the lead up and action to one of the most famous duels in Italian history,…
Naples once again falls to the French of king Luis XII, but once again they can't hold on to it for long as the delicate agreement with the Spanish of Queen Isabella and king Ferdinand quickly melts away and the legendary general Gonzalo De Cordoba manages to win the kingdom…
We follow Cesare Borgia as he continues his conquest ousting Giovanni Sforza from Pesaro, Pandolfo Malatesta from Rimini and Astorre Manfredi from Faenza. We are also introduced to one of his most important generals, Vitelozzo Vitelli and his vengeful hatred for the Republic of Florence who executed his brother. Finally,…
With the French hold on Milan looking weak, Ludovico il Moro sees his chance to take his duchy back, but only manages for a while before he is defeated at the Battle of Novara, made prisoner and taken to France where he will spend the rest of his days in…
As we set the scene for the start of Cesare Borgia's military campaign, we start to observe the ominous signs of what is to come in Rome with the arbitrary accusation and confiscations of the Roman nobility. Then we go exploring to see what we intend with the term "Romagna"…
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 also preparing and doing a really bad job of…
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 as she prepares for her last great battle.
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 tricky balancing act during the descent of Charles VIII of France. During all of this…
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 she's made of by taking and holding Castel Sant Angelo, her…
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 start to her marriage to Girolamo…
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, through the period of our heroine, Matilda of Tuscany,…
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 to the referendum od 1946 which abolished the Italian monarchy, sending the…