A History of Italy
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© 2024 Mike Corradi
Description
Join history buff, Mike Corradi on a journey through time as he unfolds the rich tapestry of the Italian peninsula's history. This chronological story starts with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and leads you through the most iconic events, influential figures, and cultural milestones that have shaped Italy into what we see today. It’s all serious stuff, but we do take time to stop and laugh at battles over a bucket, rude names, naughty priests and popes, rabbits winning sieges, doves winning battles, bits of dead bodies as tokens of love, and whole series of real historical silly situations that no comedian could think of.
Come along every other week for a compelling and insightful glimpse into A History of Italy.
Come along every other week for a compelling and insightful glimpse into A History of Italy.
247 Episodes
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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 Gonzaga, comes out of the affair looking pretty good.After he finally leaves and Luis of Orleans leaves Novara to the besieging Sforza, an uneasy peace fans over Italy.
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 Spanish and in the north the Milanese and Venetians lay siege to the French in Novara.Visit our partner's website at Exlore Worldwide
A chance visit to the beautiful Ligurian town of Porto Venere, staying in a 900 year-old tower, Torre Capitolare (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 to our partner, Explore Worldwide (Exlore Worldwide) we have the opportunity to share with you the unforgettable trip and follow in the footsteps of the literary greats, from their memorable story-telling stormy night on the shores of Lake Geneva, to Tuscany, Liguria, Ravenna, Venice and Rome.Love, death passion, lots of animals and lots of sex... you'll find it all in this special episode.
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, Giovanni, Lucrezia and Goffredo. When the pope decides to pin all hopes for a future Borgia dynasty on Giovanni, Cesare is not at all pleased and makes some plans of his own, which may have included his brother's body washing up the banks of the Tiber.Our partner for this episode is Explore Worldwide, check out their website:Exlore Worldwide
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 and her brother Cesare Borgia, the most famous case study for Machiavelli's "The Prince".Although this may have been true for Lucrezia the young girl, the strong and intelligent young woman who became the beloved duchess of Ferrara was no push over.
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, patron saint of Italy along with St Francis of Assisi.
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 pace with popes and emperors and doing her duty to the very end.
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 would all go on to their own adventures.YO5cxf5jHXIp7DLaYa1M
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 lane.
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 were claimed by the far left Red Brigades, but strong suspicions remain to this day about the involvement of members of the infamous P2 Masonic lodge, members of the Italian political establishment and even the CIA.In his novel on the affair, Simon brings together highly in-depth research with an intelligent fictional reconstruction of aspects we do not know to this day... and may never know.
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.
1Charles 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 Galeazzo Sforza, who then dies a week after the meeting, saying goodbye to his dogs and horses at his deathbed.Then it is to Florence, where the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Piero, after sitting on the fence for a while, rolls over and gives Charles more than necessary and hets kicked out of Florence for it.Charles, however, fares no better with the new Florentine government and after a confusing argument about horns and bells, he makes his way to Rome with reduced results from the negotiation.
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, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples have to decide which side to line up on, with the novelty of the most powerful army in Europe heading into the peninsula.This is the start of the Italian Wars, the conflict that really took Europe into the Modern Age.
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 remenered,
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.
Just a quick annoucement to update on goings on in the AHoI family life as well as plans for the near future
We take a look at what life was like in the middle ages for the average Giuseppe and Lucrezia, from birth to death, sickness, medicine, work, free time, travel and sex and all the naughtiness connected to it.
We take a look at a brief summary of one of the oldest dynasties in Europe, the House of Este who are the ancestors also of the House of Windsor rulers of the United Kingdom. In particular we look at the Italian branch, from their Carolingian roots to the year 1505 when Ercole D'Este was succeeded by his son Alfonso and daughter in law, Lucrezia Borgia.In between we'll see: a marquis acting like a brigand; nasty rebellions that end in cannibalism a non stop array of naughtiness in the bedroom, with one member of the house of Este cooking in at 800 lifetime lovers; a romantic love triangle than ends in a tragic beheading and much more
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What was Theodoric's wife's name ?
Totally necessary after all the mafia glamourization shown in the cinema and TV. Mafia è una montagna di merda!!!
Extraordinary episode Mike.
Brilliant podcast, definitely recommend for fans of History of Rome and History of Byzantium fans!
good work! a fascinating era of history that is understandably very hard to unravel. - Liam from Boston
Marvelous podcast, historical accurate, greatly narrated and with some funny moments!
Excellent history podcast. It manages to pack in lots of information while still being engaging and funny.
There are really happy listeners out here and I am one. Glyn Hatfield of formerly cold Canada now warn Costa Rica.