The Italian Renaissance Podcast

The foundational myths and stories of Venice revolve around the importance of Saint Mark the Evangelist and Venetian relations to Alexandria. In this discussion, we sort through the stories about the theft of his body, the construction of his basilica, and how this influences art and society in Renaissance Venice - namely in painting. Through Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and Tintoretto, paintings...

Season 2 is all about Renaissance Venice! For this season premier, we are laying the foundations of the cultural forces that existed in Venice and how they interact with the revival of classical antiquity. This episode explores the geography of Venice and how it shaped a city that is wholly unique in landscape, artistic production and style. This discussion contains everything you need to know bef...

This third and final installment on Filippo Brunelleschi  focuses on his architectural works beyond the Dome of Florence. Brunelleschi's style, in part, defines how we read Renaissance architecture, creating the baseline standard and influencing generations of architects to come. This episode principally explores the Ospedale degli Innocenti and the Medici church of San Lorenzo, contextualizi...

How was the Dome of Florence built? What were the circumstances that helped Brunelleschi solve the greatest architectural mystery of the Renaissance? This episode talks about the predominant Gothic style, and how Brunelleschi adapted it through his sojourn in Rome. What was the role of the Roman Pantheon, and did an unnamed female architect influence the final design of the lantern of the Duomo? M...

Kicking off this Interseason Trilogy, this episode discusses the early life of Filippo Brunelleschi, the early phases of the construction of the Duomo, and the famous competition against Lorenzo Ghiberti for the commission of the bronze doors of the Baptistry of Florence. All of this is meant as a prelude of how Brunelleschi came to be the architect who solved the mystery of how to construct the l...

The Magi, or the Three Wise Men who followed the star of Bethlehem to find the infant Christ, are essential components of understanding religious life in Florence. In the 1400's under Cosimo de' Medici, the culture around the Magi was appropriated to establish a parallel between local devotion and Medici power and patronage. This episode highlights how the Magi became a symbol for the Me...

The Season 1 finale brings you five tales from Italy of ghosts, witches, murder, and plague.  Story-telling and folklore are essential aspects of Renaissance history and society. Many of the stories told on this episode are grounded in truth. Whether or not the supernatural lays its cold, chill hands upon these moments or not, is up to you. Why is a disembodied head on the walls of Santa Maria Mag...

All across the United States debates are flaring up around the legacy of Christopher Columbus and social traditions that spawned from his journey across the Atlantic. In light of a developing history around Columbus, one that highlights his cruelty and questionable navigational ability, the call has been made: eliminate Columbus Day and replace it with a holiday that elevates those who fell victim...

The name Sandro Botticelli is inseparable from a rich visual vocabulary of mythological subjects, abstract bodies, and an achieved pictorial aesthetic that diverts the mind from the vast complexities of his work. Yet, when we dive deep and look close, his works demonstrate a series of compound interpretations that render them often puzzling and difficult. Looking at his Primavera, this discussion...

Equally as important as humanism, naturalism, innovation, and invention, the Cult of the Saints is a long standing tradition that continues to thrive during the Renaissance period. Only through understanding this current and ongoing cultural trend can art and society in Italy  be properly comprehended. This discussion details the position of saints, how they are worshiped, and how their pictorial...

She was the ultimate Muse of the Renaissance, inspiring princes, painters and poets. This discussion looks to unpack the shockwave that followed the arrival of Simonetta Vespucci in Florence. Who was she, and how does history inform her impact on the Italian Renaissance? We dive deeper, interpreting how to digest the questions around attributions of her image, and how virtue, courtship, and Neopla...

Let's take a deep and thorough look at one of Michelangelo's most exceptional works, the drunken, stammering Bacchus. Jumping off from where the Young Michelangelo episode ended, this discussion covers the commission, provenance, and a detailed visual analysis and interpretation of the artist's first major life-sized marble, Bacchus, the god of wine and fertility. Merch: https://www...

We are shifting gears as I share my experiences on how the Renaissance fits into our modern world. Listen to these stories, some funny some not,  that help paint a picture of how the Renaissance is engaged by scholars, students, and tourists. I do not intend to show it in its glory, but rather the difficulties and tensions. Galleries in Italy are overcrowded. The process of art education is harmed...

In our final discussion of Dante's masterwork, The Divine Comedy, this analysis seeks not only to outline these last two books, but to show them as precursors to Renaissance thought, grounding Dante as both a writer of the Middle Ages and an object of proto-humanism. What must Dante do to ascend Mount Purgatory and reach the heavenly realm, and how does his poetics amplify this? How does his...

Abandon all hope, you who enter here, into this gruesome telling of Dante's Inferno! This discussion aims to breakdown the first canticle of The Divine Comedy into one digestible episode, through all nine circles of Hell. Get insight into Dante's poetic meter and style on the work as a whole, all while listening to excerpts from the work to outline how Dante punishes his sinners, deeper...

Covering key elements of his life and essential works, this episode tracks the life of The Great Poet Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy. Using key literary movements, we discuss the greater influences on Dante's poetry, the dolce stil novo, and how it fits into the greater context of Mediterranean literature. Additionally, the podcast covers in part his Vita nova, demonstrating the...

In this episode, I chat with Ian Billig about Galileo Galilei and the development of Renaissance science.  Ian, skilled in physical sciences and mathematics, as well as a self-taught classicist, walks us through the development of classical natural philosophy through Galileo, and how this translates into our concept of modern science.  Who was Galileo and what did his work entail? What was the sta...

Let's talk Michelangelo! This episode covers the essential beginning of Michelangelo's life and career, from his training to his first major commission. His life is a complicated one, though it is a story to tell full of drama and scandal. This discussion focuses primarily on Michelangelo as a student , from the workshop of Ghirlandaio to the Medici Garden under Lorenzo the Magnificent....

Undoubtedly one of the most well-known Renaissance figures, Leonardo da Vinci has ascended beyond the realm of artist, appearing more as mythic or legendary. This episode explores not only how that came to be, but also why it is important that we look at his life with a touch of scrutiny in order to better understand Leonardo as he was, rather than how he was mythologized. This episode likewise co...

We are very pleased to welcome our first guest for this episode, Gee Cooper. Gee works for the National Trust, specializing in the history and conservation of English country houses, primarily Claydon House and Uppark. With a thorough grasp on all of the major architectural intricacies of these houses, Gee and I discuss the lasting impact of the Renaissance architectural style of Andrea Palladio,...

This episode takes a glance at the general history around the infamous Pazzi Conspiracy that culminated over the Florentine Easter festivities in April of 1478, leading to the gruesome murder of Giuliano de' Medici, and the blood bath that followed. Happy Easter! Merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ItalianRenShop Support the show

Using Donatello's David, this episode seeks to analyze and interpret the highly debated complications of this famous bronze. This work is an emblem of sculpture as political, subversive, and multi-layered. Through it, we can learn the general modes of analysis of Italian Renaissance sculpture in the Quattrocento. Merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ItalianRenShop The Florentine Renaissance Cours...

This episode details the basics of the Italian Renaissance painting, covering medium and contracts, color and composition, and the culture and structure around them. Using Renaissance rock stars like Leonardo da Vinci, Ghirlandaio, and Raffaele, this talk demonstrates the complex structures around the development and changes of the general Renaissance painting in the 14/1500's.   Merch:  http...

What is the Renaissance? It was a movement shaped by the intersection of civic life, humanist learning, and artistic experimentation in Italy. In this introductory podcast, we trace how humanists revived classical texts and reshaped ideas about education, ethics, and public culture. The discussion highlights how Florence’s political competition, banking wealth, and strong civic identity created fe...