We were lucky enough for Lori from the Her Half of History podcast to come and talk about the 17th century female Roman artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

She overcame great trauma and injustice at a young age to become one of the most important and successful painters of her time and the centuries that followed.

On the 78th anniversary of Italy's liberation from Nazism and Fascism, we publish a repeat from 2020 on family memories and the importance of this day.

After the peace of Lodi, the relative stability on the peninsula allows Venice to concentrate on the Ottomans again and the inevitable first war breaks out in 1463.

Before that, we see one of the few doge's to actually be deposed, Francesco Foscari a record breaking doge for various reasons and sexy actor in "The Medici" Tv series.

Then, when Venice reaches a rather humiliating peace with the Turks, it seems like a perfect time to them to start the war of Ferrara from 1480 to the peace of Bagnolo in 1484.

Then it's time to make their way out of the Middle Ages with dark clouds looming on the horizon.

Venice, after trying to avoid it, goes to war with the Turks and at the Battle of Gallipoli a spectacular victory is won... but by who?

Then, we see how Venice used an ex ,mercenary captain of Milan against his old employers, Carmagnola, but then, when the Serenissima started to suspect him, he met an unfortunate end.

Finally we relive one of the most impressive feats of naval engineering of the age, before we get to the start of a relatively peaceful period with the peace of Lodi.

We come round to Venice to see how they were doing at the start of the 15th century, dealing with neighbours such as the duchy of Milan under Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Padua under the Da Carrara and the formidable Sigismund king of Hungary and his general Pippo Spano.

Before that we take some time to have a look at the political structure of the ruling oligarchy, from the doge whose wive has an amusing name down, and take a look at the city... and its pigs

Since we have never been there in the podcast, we take some time to go back and give a very general overview of the northern Italian region of Trentino Alto Adige, perched up north between the duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice with reference to the time we are in. We go through Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks to get to the bishop-counts that characterise this area, such as George of Lichtenstein or Federico Vanga. We then see how Venice started to encroach and hear about a rather spectacular feat of overland fleet travel engineering.

Duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria Sforza continues with his expensive naughty ways until he is assassinated in 1476. His son Gian Galeazzo becomes duke under the regency of his mother, Bona of Savoy, until his uncle Ludovico, known as "il Moro" the Moore takes over as Italy heads towards the aptly named, "Italian Wars".

Meanwhile a certain Leonardo da Vinci worked on a portrait of Ludovico Sforza's ladyfriend Cecilia Gallerani who is turned into "The lady with the ermine".

Shortly after becoming duke, Francesco Sforza has to deal with a war against Venice, but then the peace of Lodi and the Italic league allow him some time to consolidate his power and start building projects in Milan, as well as chase after women, ending his life with a total of 35 children, only 8 of which were legitimate. His son Galeazzo Maria takes over and the only things he seems good at are spending money and satisfying his desires.

After the death of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan, a succession crisis has everyone in on the game and Venice gobbling up cities. In the end, will Bianca Maria Visconti and her husband, Francesco Sforza, manage to stake her claim?

Also some naughtiness in the bedroom going on here.

On 3rd January we celebrated the 5th anniversary of the "A History of Italy" podcast.

In this special episode we will talk about:

• How the podcast is doing and where it's going
• The Italian 2022 elections and Meloni government
• Correspondence from listeners
• A short version of my life story

And we end with the acclaimed sketch of San Marino