History of Venice Podcast

Mar 07 2025 27 ep. 31 mins 6

History of Venice Podcast artwork

Follow the story of this magical floating city, which rose from wooden huts on muddy islands to become the richest merchant city in Europe.

History Education Society & Culture

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018. City of Millennials

Mar 07 2025 38 mins

We've reached the year 1000 in our story, so it's time to take a breath and think about what sort of society Venice is right now. The traces of the city's future stone-and-marble elegance are there, but it's a very different place from the Venice that we know and love today. What were their houses like? Where did their food and drinking water come from? And why did they keep bringi

017. Top Doge (10th Century)

Feb 28 2025 34 mins

We reached the first millennium in the last episode, and that means that it's time to look back at the Doges of the past 100 years and think about how we rate them. We've got three guys with the same name; four guys who leave office to become monks (including one actual Saint), and an extremely valuable Golden Bull. Who will come out as our favourite? Will it be Inferno Doge? Pirat

016. Marriage to the Sea

Feb 20 2025 34 mins

As the new millennium dawns, the Venetians take a decisive step that will be commemorated for the next 800 years in the increasingly elaborate and spectacular Marriage to the Sea ceremony. The episode also paves the way for the city to become the recognised Queen of the Adriatic -- a waterway that she would dominate so completely that foreign mapmakers referred to it as the “Gulf

Casanova Part 2. First Love

Feb 13 2025 36 mins

Young Giacomo Casanova has been sent away to Padova at the age of 9 to cure his nosebleeds and get an education. He soon starts enjoying his schooling, and finds himself particularly fascinated by his teacher’s teenage sister, Bettina. What are these strange new emotions that he feels for her? And how will he feel when an older boy takes an interest in her? Stand by for an ogress

015. Walking the Tightrope

Feb 06 2025 23 mins

When you're walking a political tightrope you need strong nerves, good judgement, and sometimes a bit of luck. But with the resurgent Holy Roman Empire on her doorstep, Venice is politically divided between those who want to cosy up to their large and acquisitive neighbour, and those who want to keep a safe distance. The city's independence is on the line as the millennium approach

014. Candiano Crush

Jan 29 2025 35 mins

On a hot August afternoon in 976, the city of Venice burst into flames, both politically and literally. After spending most of the century trying to steer a delicate but serene course between the competing interests of her much larger friends, neighbours, and rivals, the young republic could no longer contain its political tensions. If cleansing by fire was the only way to cure the

Casanova Part 1. Mommy Issues

Jan 21 2025 42 mins

We begin our investigation into the life of the original Casanova -- a famous name whose popular reputation tends to obscure the much more interesting man who lies underneath. We start by looking at his earliest memories, and his relationship with his parents. We've got a mysterious witch, an alleged indiscretion by the Prince of Wales, copious nosebleeds, and much more. https://hi

013. Twelve Weddings and a Funeral

Jan 12 2025 25 mins

We're back in Venice this week with a couple of local legends set in the 8th and 9th centuries. First, we look at the story of the 12 Marias, featuring pirates, wedding calamities, sea battles, and the etymology of the marionette. Then we explain the supposed origin of the Venetian practice of giving a "bocolo", or rosebud, to your beloved on St Mark's Day, to commemorate the sad l

Rabbit Hole 1(d). The First Duchess

Jan 05 2025 34 mins

We conclude our four-part investigation into the life of our own local heroine, Margaret Marshal, first Duchess of Norfolk, and we find a couple of unlikely connections to our main subject of the city of Venice in the process. Margaret and Walter are now a serious power couple, but the Golden Age of Edward's Arthurian court is slowly starting to fade. Find out what happens to them

Rabbit Hole 1(c) Cherchez l'Homme -- The Walter Manny Story

Dec 29 2024 40 mins

In the third part of our mini-series on our own local heroine, Margaret Marshal, we catch up with the glittering career of Walter Manny, the purveyor of relentless amounts of derring-do whom she married in 1353, after a long struggle to have her first marriage annulled. Get ready for Walter to buckle monumental quantities of swash as he cuts a dash through early stages of the Hundr