Genoa: The Cog in the New Medieval Economy
Journalist and author Nicholas Walton writes about medieval Genoa’s economy, trade and role in the Black Death. Walton recently published a book on Genoese history entitled, “Genoa: La Superba”
BOOK REVIEW: Genoa ‘La Superba’: The Rise and Fall of a Merchant Pirate Superpower by Nicholas Walton
While most books about Italy have been dedicated to tourist hubs like Milan, Florence, Rome, Sicily and Venice, Genoa with its rich history, rugged landscape, and tenacious residents, has been given only a passing mention.
International trade and institutional change: Medieval Venice’s response to globalization
Venice has always presented two faces. As a great medieval trading centre its wealth was used to build not only beautiful architecture, but also remarkably modern institutions.
Writing about the Middle Ages – what works, what doesn’t
I’ve had ones that have done really well, while others have failed to get even a small audience. Here are examples of what has worked, and what did not work.
Caterina Sforza’s Experiments with Alchemy
She collected over four hundred alchemical, medicinal, and cosmetic recipes, and corresponded with other alchemical adepts about materials and laboratory techniques.
Foundation Myths in Medieval and Renaissance Italy
The 3 papers featured here looked at the development of the civic identities of Florence, Genoa and Rome through art, architecture and foundation legends.
Dyes, Diets and Deodorants: Venetian Beauty Secrets Revealed
If you think it’s hard to keep up a beauty regime now, wait until you see what lengths the Venetians went to in order to be beautiful!
Beyond the Medical Text: Health and Illness in Early Medieval Italian Sources
The vast majority of surviving evidence for health care, medicine and attitudes to illness in early medieval northern Italy comes not from traditional medical texts, but legal, hagiographical and archaeological sources.
Quiz: The Italian Renaissance
Test your knowledge of the Italian Renaissance!
Bishops and Their Towns
Another #KZOO2015 post – this one examines Bishops and Their Towns.
Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to tour British Isles in 2016
Throughout 2016, ten of the finest drawings by Leonardo da Vinci in the Royal Collection will travel to four museums and galleries across the United Kingdom and Ireland in a new exhibition.
Quiz: Politics and the State in the Renaissance, 1450-1521
This quiz tests your knowledge of the Italian city-states during the Renaissance.
Why did Attila leave Italy?
Reporting on the paper ‘Attila’s Appetite: The Logistics of Attila the Hun’s Invasion of Italy in 452’, by Jason Linn, given at the International Congress on Medieval Studies
Renaissance Splendors in L.A.
Danielle Trynoski takes in the new Renaissance Splendors of the Northern Italian Courts exhibit at the Getty Center in Lost Angeles
Teenage Rebellion in the Middle Ages: How Salimbene de Adam became a Franciscan
It is a popular story – the teenage son defying his parents and doing something very rebellious. It could be using drugs, getting a tattoo, or falling into with the wrong type of people. Back in the thirteenth-century, the rebellious son might become a Franciscan!
Sacerdos et Predicator: Franciscan ‘Experience’ and the Cronica of Salimbene de Adam
The Chronicle of the thirteenth-century Franciscan friar Salimbene de Adam is filled with an abundance of self-referential passages.
Getty Museum opens Renaissance Splendors of the Northern Italian Courts exhibition
The J. Paul Getty Museum has opened its newest exhibition – Renaissance Splendors of the Northern Italian Courts – which brings together 25 works including illuminated manuscripts, paintings and drawings that showcases the beautiful artistic production taking place in cities such as Milan and Ferrara during the 15th century.
Lightning Strikes in Medieval Florence
Luca Landucci writes about lightning strikes in 15th century Florence.
Top Ten Insults against Savonarola
‘He is a fruit quite worthy of his diabolical seed.’
Breaking the Mold: The First Woman in Italian Literature
Active between 1260-1270, the woman known only as La Compiuta Donzella (the fulfilled damsel) attracted the attention of several male writers. Two of them were astonished that such wisdom could be found in a female.
Topography of Prostitution in Renaissance Ferrara
On any given morning in 1471, the prostitute Giovanna of Venice, then resident of a Ferrarese brothel on Via Malborghetto, might have contemplated with resignation the options open to her for a day on the town.
Some Wise Advice from Francesco Guicciardini
Ten of our favourite maxims from the Italian Renaissance scholar Francesco Guicciardini
An Italian cemetery may provide clues on cholera’s evolution
Burial grounds ‘a thousand-year history’ into human health
How to restore virginity – advice from Caterina Sforza
If you follow the advice of Caterina Sforza, ‘you will see that thing become so narrow that you yourself will be in admiration.’
10 Creepy Things to See at the Louvre That Are Better Than the Mona Lisa
If you’re an ancient historian, a medievalist, or early modernist, there are so many other amazing pieces and works of art a the Louvre other than these two tourist staples. Here is my list of cool, creepy, unusual and better than the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris.