Venetian Stories podcast

Tag: Republic of Venice

Episode 13 — Nobles and Citizens

Noble, citizen, commoner, forestier, Jew, and what not. All people were absolutely not equal in the Republic of Venice.
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July 16, 2025
Jacopo Tiepolo

Doge Jacopo Tiepolo (1229–1249) left marks on Venice which we can still see today, eight centuries later.
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July 9, 2025
Episode 12 — Some institutions of the Republic of Venice

The story of Bianca Cappello tells us something about the institutions of the Republic of Venice, the agility of its government, and of early modern diplomacy.
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July 2, 2025
Daughter of the Republic

Bianca Cappello was created “daughter of the Republic” because Venice didn’t have princesses.
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June 25, 2025
Episode 11 — Bianca Cappello, part 2

Bianca Cappello had eloped to Florence with her lover, whom she soon after married. She then became the mistress of the prince regent of the Duchy of Florence. Her husband took a mistress of his own, but her family murdered him on Blanca’s doorstep. Does all that sound bad? Well, it’s getting worse.
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June 18, 2025
Episode 10 — Bianca Cappello, part 1

In 1563, a young Venetian noblewoman eloped with her lover, never to come back to Venice again. She went on to have an eventful, and highly unusual life, in Florence.
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June 4, 2025
Episode 7 — Changing geography

The 1400s and 1500s were centuries of enormous change for Venice, and for the rest of the world. The changing geography moved Venice from a central position in European trade to the margins.
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April 9, 2025
Episode 6 — Wealth, power and empire

Conquest, empire, naval battles, conspiracies, insurrections. The 1200s and 1300s were interesting times for Venice.
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March 26, 2025
Episode 4 — Becoming a state

Venice appeared as a kind of, but not quite, sovereign polity in the late 700s and 800s. Venetian society, no longer governed directly by Constantinople, nor really independent, had to survive between the two super-powers of their time, Byzantium and the Carolingian Empire.
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February 27, 2025