Episodes
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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 a few women.
Then Cesare heads back to expand his duchy of Romagna aiming for Camerino and Urbino of the Montefeltro, while his captains, particularly Vitelozzo Vitelli and Giampsolo Baglioni.
As Cesare rises higher, those around him, even the allies, start to worry.
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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, the Challenge of Barletta (La Disfida di Barletta) in which 13 Italian knights faced off against 13 French knights lead by Guy De La Motte to defend the honour of Italian arms.
The duel would resound throughout Italian history reaching through the Italian Risorgimento to the Fascist era.
The Italians:
Francesco Salamone
Marco Corollario
Riccio Da Parma
Gugliemo albamonte
Mariano marcio Abignente
Giovanni Capoccio da
Giovanni Brancaleone
Ludocivo Abenavolo
Ettore Giovenale
Giovanni Bartolomeo Fanfulla
Romanello da Forlì
Ettore Gioveneale de pazzis
The French:
Charles de torgues
Marc De Frigne
Girout de Forses
Claude Grajan D'aste
Martellin de lambris
Pierre de liaye
Jacques de la fontaine
Eliot de baraut
Jean De Landes
Sacet de saceet
Francois de pise
Jacques de Guignes
Naute de la Faise
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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 of Naples for his sovereigns with great victories at Cerignola and on the Garigliano river among others.
We also see a little involvement of our old pal Cesare Borgia and hear about a tragic love triangle he was involved in with a woman called Ginevra da Monreale and a man who will resound through Italian history and literature called Hector Proudfly, Ettore Fieramosca.
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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, France and Spain reach a secret pact for the division of the kingdom of Naples.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Province_1454.jpg
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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 captivity.
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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" and trace it back to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the Byzantines and Julius Cesar's famous "The die is cast" speech, pronounced in Rimini after crossing the Rubicon river which we will also do to visit with the Malatesta of Rimini before Cesare comes to face of with Caterina Sforza to start his conquest.
See link to Romagna explanation:
https://emilia-o-romagna.netlify.app
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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 it. The results will show.
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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.
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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 murder and in her thirst for vengeance, Caterina will lose sight of her role as a head of state.
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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 to face the conspirators in one of Italian Renaissance history's most famous legendary scenes.
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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.
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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 Mantua and set up a county, and then a Marquisate that would put them in third place as the longest lasting dynasty in Italy
On the way, they will have to battle with the greedy Visconti of Milan, and have arguments with famous painter Andrea Mantegna who refused to make the ugly Gonzaga good looking and had issues with apples.
We will also answer the question of what happened to King Charles the eighth of Franc's porn collection.
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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 brink of civil war.
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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 real when Luis XII takes the throne.
The last stop takes us to Venice and yet another clash with Ottoman Turks at the battle of Zonchio, a.k.a. the first battle of Lepanto.
Thanks once again to our partner for the episode: Exlore Worldwide
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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