110 – Cola fizzes and goes flat (1347 – 1354)
After his great rise to power in Rome, we see Cola di Rienzo crash and burn... literally
17 Feb 202124min
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 his successor, Gregory XII did. We then introduce Clement VI just in time for him to receive a delegation from Rome headed by a charistmatic, handsome young notary called Cola di Rienzo who, with the support of papal authority, got back to Rome and managed to put himself in the driver's seat quite quickly, even overcoming the resistance of the Roman noble families... for now.
10 Feb 202126min
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 crisis
7 Feb 202114min
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 two
19 Jan 202122min
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 able to unite the northern cities?
12 Jan 202119min
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. At the same time we see the struggle between emperor and pope and get a reminder fo the situation in Naples and Sicily.
5 Jan 202122min
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 ages, the Modenese cam home with a bucket (and heaps of cash).
23 Dec 202026min
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 Judicate of Arborea as the last of the old four Judicates surrounded by the new "Kingdom of Sardinia"
15 Dec 202022min
