The Renaissance was a cultural revitalization that spread across Europe, and had repercussions across the globe, but one smallish city-state in Italy was in many ways the epicenter of the thing. Florence, or as Italians might say,...

The Renaissance was a cultural revitalization that spread across Europe, and had repercussions across the globe, but one smallish city-state in Italy was in many ways the epicenter of the thing. Florence, or as Italians might say,...

From Shakespeare's plays to modern TV dramas, the unscrupulous schemer for whom the ends always justify the means has become a familiar character type we love to hate. For centuries, we've had a single word to describe such characters:...

The House of Medici was a powerful family in Italy during the Renaissance—a time of amazing art and new ideas. They weren’t kings or queens, but they were very rich and helped artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci create their...

Who were the Medici—and how did they become one of the most powerful families in history? In this episode, we dive into the story of the House of Medici, a super-rich family from Italy who helped shape art, science, and politics during...

Political Power of the Merchant Class Renaissance (Part 2)

Humanism Renaissance (Part 4)

Medici Family Tree | Rulers of Florence

A Church in Crisis - Renaissance (Part 3)

The structure was begun 1421 and largely complete in 1440. When finished, it was, however, quite isolated, the reason being that construction for the new building for San Lorenzo, the design for which Brunelleschi was also responsible,...

In this video, Jabzy brings us historical tidbits and unknown facts about German Banking Families

Turns out the method to Machiavelli's madness was mollifying mad Medici after a mountain of madness above the Mediterranean. Special thanks to Blue for lending me his expertise on the subject and coming in to talk about Machiavelli's...

In this video, Jabzy brings us historical tidbits and unknown facts about The First Recession

The clip looks at the beauty, culture and art locations of the city, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has...

Sandro Botticelli’s poetic sense of beauty captivated the Florentine court. But it was his subject matter which distinguished him from other artists. He was one of the first western artist since classical times to depict non-religious...

Women were excluded from almost all cultural and social resources in the centuries from 1400 to 1900 when so much of the world's great art was created. And visual art was almost entirely a male industry before modern times. Having an...

The present much larger Baptistry was built in Romanesque style around 1059, evidence of the growing economic and political importance of Florence. It was reconsecrated on 6 November 1059 by Pope Nicholas II, a Florentine. According to...

San Lorenzo basilica was the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace the 11th-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance...

No period of history can boast of greater beauty than The Renaissance. This was the period, from approximately early 14th century to late 16th century, that gave us Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Shakespeare. The humanist movement...

The Boboli Gardens were laid out for Eleonora di Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. The name is a curruption of "Bogoli", a family from whom land had been bought to construct the garden. The first stage was scarcely begun by...