Venetian Stories podcast

Painting from the 1490s of a religious procession in Piazza San Marco, with the words Venetian Stories across

The Venetian Stories Podcast

The Venetian Stories Podcast is a podcast of stories about Venice, and in particular the History of Venice.

It is not a chronological narrative, but a series of freestanding episodes from the two millennia of Venetian history.

Chronology is, however, the mother of all History, and she cannot be ignored. Therefore, the first few episodes are a quick-paced chronological narrative of the most important events. Listen to those episodes first, for the background.

Subscribe

Social media

Latest episode

Episode 10 — Bianca Cappello, part 1

Venetian Stories
Venetian Stories
Episode 10 — Bianca Cappello, part 1
Loading
/

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.

All episodes

  • 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.

    → Listen …

  • 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.

    → Listen …

  • Podcast update 2025-05-21

    What’s next for the Venetian Stories podcast, and spanners, plenty of spanners.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 9 — Subject city

    The decline of Venice didn’t end with the loss of statehood. Attempts at modernising Venice have failed, and the result is an economic monoculture of mass tourism, and a constant demographic decline.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 8 — Decline and fall

    The 1600s and 1700s were a period of slow decline for Venice, until the Republic of Venice fell to Napoleon in 1797.

    → Listen …

  • 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.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 6 — Wealth, power and empire

    Conquest, empire, naval battles, conspiracies, insurrections. The 1200s and 1300s were interesting times for Venice.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 5 — Ascendancy

    Venice became a more important state in the 1000s and 1100s, and started to build not only their trading empire, but also more equal relations to the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope in Rome.

    → Listen …

  • 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.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 3 — The Roman and Byzantine period

    The origins of Venice go back to Roman times, long before there was a Venetian state, and a city called Venice.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 2 — The Long Arc

    The History of Venice spans some two millennia, and in this first episode of the podcast I’ll try to draw some long lines from the very earliest times until the current.

    → Listen …

  • Episode 1 — Introduction

    A brief introduction of the Venetian Stories podcast, and your guide, René Seindal.

    → Listen …