History of Venice Podcast

• Casanova Part 5. Roman Holiday

  A woman meets a charming but mercurial young stranger on a coach trip from Naples to Rome. With the apparent connivance of her husband, their relationship blossoms into a delightful, but fleeting, Roman Holiday before she returns to her daily life back in Naples. As the years go by, their recurring meetings will mark out the passing decades of Casanova’s life. But is any of it true? Or is he just fantasising and setting out to shock us? This week we investigate the story of Lucrezia. Email us at [email protected], or find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Intro and outro music is “Estate” (Summer) from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

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• 025. Norman Wisdom

  The maelstrom of Mediterranean chaos that we described last week comes crashing into Venice, with the Investiture Controversy raging on her doorstep and the terrifying Robert Guiscard threatening to destroy the city’s oldest and most stable ally, the Eastern Roman Empire. The city will need wisdom, skill, and some well timed good fortune, but in the end Venice will emerge from this moment of peril stronger than ever, laying the foundations for a future golden age of commerce and prosperity. Email us at [email protected], or find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

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• 024. Noisy Neighbours

  Venice’s neighbours on all sides were in various stages of turmoil by the early 1070s. To understand the impact of all this on our little independent maritime Republic, we need to pull the camera back a little and examine this sea of troubles that all of her neighbours seemed resolutely determined to stir up or swim in. The century is boiling up towards a dramatic climax and Venice needs to be ready for anything. This week, we map out the nexus of forces that are shifting the tectonic plates of Mediterranean power. Email us at [email protected], or find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org For a deeper dive into the various strands of international politics that we examine this week, we recommend listening to some other independent history podcasts which have covered this era from different perspectives: History of Byzantium: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ A History of Italy: https://ahistoryofitaly.com/ History of the Germans: https://historyofthegermans.com/ British History Podcast: https://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/

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• 023. Long Live The Doxe

  In the spring of 1071, Venice celebrated the appointment of a new Doxe*. And for the first time we have a surviving eye witness account of the event. Today we look at how that election of 1071 went down, and what Domenico Tino’s account tells us about the society that his namesake, new Doxe Domenico Selvo, was now in charge of. *For the time being we’ve adopted an old Venetian spelling, since the more standard “Doge” currently has other unfortunate connotations. Email us at [email protected], or find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Intro and outro music is Primavera from Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni, used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

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• 022. The Calm Before The Storm

  After a quick recap of Venice’s ups and downs in the 1020s and early 1030s, we watch the city continue to navigate a delicate diplomatic route between her powerful neighbours. With peace and stability returning to the city, renewed trading wealth brings an outburst of church building, including the jewel in the crown, the Basilica of San Marco, which begins to take its final shape under Doxe Domenico Contarini starting in 1061. There may be ominous signs of trouble ahead in the wider world, but for now the city is making money while the sun shines. Find us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. All music is used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org

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