109 – Popeless Rome and the rise of Cola (not the drink)
We take a look at what was happening in Rome while the popes were off in Avignon. We quickly see how Clement V dealt with the movement of Fra Dolcino (spoiler: violently) and then how John XXII and hi...
10 Feb 202125min
Fill-in episode – 2021 Italian government crisis
While waiting to get back on track with the regular podcast (back soon), we take the opportunity to update you on history in the making: the current mid-pandemic government crisisMentioned in this epi...
7 Feb 202113min
108 – Italians against stairs
Mastino II Della Scala gets too big for his own good and Venice, Florence and Milan move in to bring him down a rung or twoMentioned in this episode:Listen Vivacefollow @VivaceMediaNetwork A life well...
19 Jan 202121min
107 – An unexpected king
While everyone (the Pope, the king of France, Milan, Verona, Venice, Florence etc.) is manoeuvring in northern Italy along comes an unexpected king, John of Luxembourg, king of Bohemia. Will he be abl...
12 Jan 202118min
106 – An imperial tour of Italy (1327-1329)
We follow the descent into Italy of Holy Roman Emperor Luis IV to visit with the Visconti in Milan, the Dalla Scala in Verona, the Este of Ferrara, the Castracani in Lucca and the Gonzaga in Mantua. A...
5 Jan 202121min
105 – The battle of the Bucket (1325)
We take a look at the 1325 battle of Zappolino between Modena and her Ghibelline allies and Bologna and her Guelph ones and how, after one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Iyaian middle age...
23 Dec 202024min
104 – The last Sardinian Judicate (1323-1326)
After a quick recap of what was going on around Italy in 1323, we get to the Aragonese invasion of Sardinia that put a definitive end to the presence of the Republic of Pisa on the island leaving the ...
15 Dec 202020min
103 – Catching up with Genoa (up to 1310's)
It's about time we stop ignoring poor old Genoa up in the top left-hand corner of the country and bring her up-to-date. We take a really quick race from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to Genoa i...
8 Dec 202019min
