A History of Italy

1154 - 1155 Hadrian IV tries to come to terms with the Roman commune and its moral leader, Arnaldo da Brescia, but the results are not quite as they expected

The communes start to feel they need some admin changes. We go from pope Eugene III through an Anastasius for a bit to the major hitter Hadrian IV. All the while Frederick Barbarossa starts to come into play

While still doing a little dillying and a touch of dallying, we take a moment to look at the recent Women's Fifa soccer world cup and relive some soccer memories from the great state of Virginia.

While waiting to get back on track, we take a virtual trip to Puglia and answer some listener questions and comments

1143 - 1147 n the first half of the 12th century, with communes popping up like mushrooms, Rome wasn't just gonna sit back and let them have all the fun. However, if there's something about Rome, it's that there is always a pope around.

1130 - 1143 We accompany Duke Roger of Sicily, Puglia and Calabria in his attempt to set up a kingdom before we take a look around our spanking new communes.

1122 - 1130 We finally get back to the chronological narration of Italian history, popping in to see a new Holy Roman Emperor, a new pope, or couple of popes and catch up with the ambitious Normans

Having set up the start of the communes, we take a look at what it would be like to wander around an Italian city in the early 12th century

We take a look at how a new form of local government, the Communes rose and gained their independence from the feudal powers that be, 

Using th concordat of Worms as a stopping point, we look back over th episodes that cover from the year 1000 to the end of the investiture crisis in 1122.

We see the golden age of Muslim Sicily under the Fatimids and Kalbids before everything comes crashing down to to interval division and outside forces.

We take a look back at the Arab invasione of Sicily starting with the early raids in the seventh century, through the invasion of 827 up to the fall of the Aghlabids in the early tenth century.

In the second part of this miniseries we go from the time of king Rotari of the Lombards at the end of the seventh century to the fall of Bai and the end of the Byzantine presence in Italy.

We take a look back at the Byzantine presence in Italy, from the Gothic War in 535 up to the start of the seventh century.

We continue the story of Matilda of Canossa as  war breaks out with Emperor Henry IV. We then see yet another failed attempt at marriage, the end of the fight against Henry IV and how things went with his son and successor, Henry V while alone she tan one of the largest areas in Italy.

1046 - 1080 We look at the life of Matilda of Canossa, starting from the history of her family through her childhood, the humiliation of Canossa and to the start of the war against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV.

We see how Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV ended up, as well as his long-term nemesis Matilda of Tuscany, countess of Canossa. Meanwhile we change  couple of popes and get a new Emperor, yet another Henry as he also struggles with a couple of popes on their way to the concordat of Worms.

On the "giornata del ricordo", a commemoration to remember the victims of the Massacre of the Foibe in Istria and Venezia Giulia in 1943 and 1945, we talk to Roberta Alessandra Belulovich, an Istria Italian about her family history and the Istrian question.

1095 - 1099 We see how Urban II took the investiture controversy to a whole different level and scored major PR points for the papacy with the first crusade.

To commemorate Holocaust remembrance day, we look at Italy's role in the tragedy, from the initial indifference to the Jews in Italy, to the racial laws of 1938 and the deportations and killings of the war period.

1087 - 1095 We follow the start of one of the most famous papacies in history, that of Urban II and his fight against Henry IV alongside the countess Matilda of Canossa as things get personal, while the Normans try to sort themselves out after the death of Robert Guiscard.

1085 - 1087 After the turmoil of the papacy of Gregory VII, we see a pope that just didn't want the job and follow the final years of the great Norman Robert Guiscard.

To celebrate the birthday of "A History of Italy" we are releasing a free versions of NewsCappuccino in which we talk about national stereotypes.

1077 - 1085 The investiture controversy heats up with an anti-king elected in Germany and an anti-pope elected by Henry IV who then take the fight against Gregory and Matilde down into Italy with the Normans of Robert Guiscard waiting in the wings.

We have a look at important events in Italy on and around Christmas as well as explore the traditions, including that of the Christmas witch.