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

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.

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

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.

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.

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