We start from Siena, with the story of how I almost got beaten up and why there is an extra bit of Siena cathedral added on and incomplete. The it's up to Florence to visit with the Medici, Da Vinci, Botticelli and Simonetta Vespucci, his Venus. From the capital of the Renaissance we head to their arch enemy Pisa and their wonky tower and then Lucca, with its Holy Face and medieval walls. After a bit of wine tasting in Val D'Orcia with some Brunello di Montalcino and Montepulciano we head to the seaside in Orbetello, province of Grosseto to visit the archeological site of Cosa and the unusual tarot garden park.

Giuliano della Rovere, after trying for more than a decade, finally manages to become pope Julius II in 1503. He gets to work breaking the last resistance of Cesare Borgia, then has to sort out his Papal States, gobbled up by Venice in the north with a whole series of local lords taking back power.

In all of this, the pope calls in a special decorator to do some touch up work in the Sistine chapel, a certain Michelangelo Buonarroti.

In the sketch we imagine the conversation between the two.

We take a little trip around the region of Lombardy, going beyond the financial and fashion capital Milan, to explore the beautiful nature of lake Como and hear all about the lake, monster that resides there. On the way, we will hear about a bridge, built by the devil in Pavia and the ghost that horns, the castle above the city of Como.

We will also also make a stop off in the picturesque Bergamo and find out why there is a family emblem with three sets of testicles in front of the chapel in Piazza Duomo, before ending our tour in the unique peninsula, that is the city of Mantua created when the profit Manto cried the lakes into existence.

As always, we are lucky to have as our guide, our good friends at Explore Worldwide.

Click here for Adventure Travel inspiration from our friends at Explore Worldwide. Don’t Just Travel, Explore!

We stop and take a look back at the episodes that cover the late 1400's as Italy completed her transition from the middle ages to the Renaissance and the lead up to the Italian Wars after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

We retrace the campaign of king Charles VIII of France, the adventures of Ludovico Sforza, Il Moro, the end of the independence of the kingdom of Naples and, in the background the rise and fall of the Borgias, as well as the last stand of the Tigress of Forlì, Caterina Sforza.

Which is the Italian region that can drink you under the table?

Tradition would say it's Veneto and with wines such as Amarone della Valpolicella and Prosecco, it's not gard to believe.

We start our journey trying not to talk too much about Venice and then doing just that, seeing the legend of the heart of brick and why the Gondola got its shape.

The theme of love then, of course, takes us to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet, but before we get there we will hear the true story of how the Venetians took a fleet overland and up and down mountains to get it into Lake Garda.

Our stay in Verona will allow us to talk about factional fighting and Guelphs and Ghibellines and then it's East to the Vicenza of Andrea .Palladio, before heading north into the mountains of Belluno.

We then get some more Venice like experience in Treviso, home of Prosecco and tiramisu where we hear where the habit of counting sheep came from with the powerful Ezzelino da Romano.

We of course can't avoid a trip to Padova, to hear about their local boy, St Anthony.

Our guide in the tour will be Explore Worldwide:

Click here for Adventure Travel inspiration from our friends at Explore Worldwide. Don’t Just Travel, Explore!

Just when the Borgias seem at the top of their game and that nothing could possibly stop them, in August of 1503 pope Alexander VI, after a dinner party at a cardinal's house, becomes seriously ill and died after two weeks.

His son Cesare also becomes very ill and cannot sum up the energy to control the fallout of the situation and outmanoeuvre the Borgia's arch enemy, cardinal Giuliano della Rovere.

In the end the inevitable happens and he becomes pope Julius II, sealing the impeding doom of Cesare Borgias who, after some time in captivity, seems to take the option of going out in a blaze of glory.

In our first episode of the Regional Italy miniseries we explore the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, travelling initially along the ancient Roman road created by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

We start from the beautiful castles of the province of Piacenza, then cross the river to Parma, the culinary capital of Euope. Then it's a visit with Matilda countess of Canossa in Reggio Emilia before visiting with Ferraris and Pavarotti in Modena. After that, remembering the battle of the bucket takes us from Modena to Bologna.

We leave the Via Emilia for a moment to explore the lands of the ancient house of Este in Ferrara and then the ancient imperial capital of Ravenna. Heading south brings us to the lands of Caterina Afroza, the "Tigress of Forlì" before we cross the Rubicon and end our tour in Rimini, visiting the bridge of Tiberius, the arch of Augustus and the Malatesta castle where we find the Federico Fellini museum.

Our guide in the tour will be Explore Worldwide:

Click here for Adventure Travel inspiration from our friends at Explore Worldwide. Don’t Just Travel, Explore!

While wishing you a "Buon Anno" (Happy New Year" we are also excited to announce the launch of our new miniseries on the Italian regions:

Regional Italy!

Thanks to the support of our friends at Explore Worldwide, we'll be looking at the culture, landscape, legends and history of some of Italy's 20 beautiful regions.

Join us!

https://www.exploreworldwide.com/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Spotify&utm_campaign=History+of+Italy+Podcast

Just a quick one to wish you a happy whatever you are celebrating, or not celebrating and give you the gift of my rendition of the famous poem "a visit from Alaric" also known as "T'was the night before Saturnalia".

People in Italy are getting very nervous about Cesare Borgia's successes, at times reached with treachery, and some of the unhappy party are actually Il Valentino's captains. When rebellion breaks out they see their chance and jump on the bandwagon. However, when things don't turn out as planned, the captains have to hope Cesare's forgiveness is sincere...

Just a quick update to apologise for a publishing delay and tell you a little about our sketches, the Italian school system and the current political situation in Italy