A History of Italy

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 she managed to start a new passionate relationship with Giacomo Feo, which will also end in mu...

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 sword at her side, while seven months pregnant. In the end after her husband's assassination, she will stand alone...

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 Riario , nephew of pope Sixtus IV , as he starts his ambitious rise to power, that will eventually lead him to his doom.

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, countess of Canossa, to see the arrival and rise of the Corradi of Gonzaga. They would take over control of the city of Man...

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 Savoy family into exile. All of this against the background of post war Italy which was on the brin...

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 America, the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. After that it's over to the Duchy of Milan where duchess Beatrice d'Este dies in 1497 and the threat of French invasion becomes very re...

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, Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal States under the Borgias , but also take time to talk about syphilis and some naughty nighttime activities . Visit our partner for grea...

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 in the Apennines of Parma. In the ensuing battle, he manages to get through, but not without losing all the supplies and spoils of his campaign. The league commander Francisco...

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 Ferdinand II of Spain band together in the Holy league to threaten France. Things kick off in the south with the new king of Naples Ferrandino ready to fight back supported by the Spa...

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 of Genoa and Pisa, the Castle of the Doria, but also with the Romantic ports: Byron, Keats, Percy Shelly and the great Mary Shelly , author of the novel "Frankenstein". Thanks...

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 Venice as well as the kingdom of Naples. He then has to also deal with the descent of French King Charles VIII, but most of all, he wants to sort out his children, Cesare, Giov...

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 around a bit and from the poisoning murder and sexual predator, she became the innocent victim of the machiavellian scheming of her father, Rodrigo Borgia, pope Alexander VI a...

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 most influential people of her time, able to grasp the attention of rulers and popes, treating them, if necessary, like children. We visit with Caterina da Siena , St Catherine,...

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, the late 11th century when women were not supposed to wield power. She ruled over lands that stretched from the confines of Rome to the confines of Italy herself, keeping pac...

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 who in turn raised his nephew Rodrigo. He would eventually, thanks to one of his many lovers, have three children before becoming pope, Cesare, Giovanni and Lucrezia , who wou...

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 fly king, strange trade corporations in Florence, agreeing on baguette battles to a conversation with the supreme being himself. Follow us on a rather silly journey down memory...

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 assassinated just as he was about to sign a historical deal which would have allowed the Italian communist party a seat at the table of Italian government. The kidnapping and murder w...

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 immorality of the Florentines and then the church and pope Alexander VI made him more and more enemies, ready to pounce on him the moment his popularity waned.

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 try to go on the offensive by attacking locations along the Tuscan and Ligurian coast to no avail. Charles then meets with Ludovico il Moro, then the real duke of Milan Gian Gal...

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 Moro, then to Naples, where king Alphonse II has just succeeded his father Ferrante. We see the diplomatic and military preparation that once again sees the Italian powers, Milan...

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 struggle for dominance in a complicated balance, without forgetting interesting minor players, such as Savoy, Urbino and Trentino.

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 history of Italy in the 20th century. This is the story of how progress and profit was put before thousands of human lives, this is the story of Vajont, a story that must be rem...

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 death of his predessssor and some macbre pasrts with intimate bit being detatched.