Buondì.
This time two years ago I remember feeling a little disorientated, lost in the mists of pre-history and discussions on the origins of Rome.
This time last year, similarly, I was reluctantly coming to term with the fall of the western Roman empire and the seemingly endless succession of confusingly-named Italian kings that succeeded it.
But while the Middle Ages started out looking very odd, and not terribly welcoming, over the full thirty episodes of 2021’s Summer Series, they rather grew on me, until I got accustomed to thinking of things in terms of endless power struggles between kings, emperors and popes, and to hell with the little people!
But now, ding ding, all change, here we are at the start of another historical period, The Renaissance, our third Summer Series. And hey, it seems everything’s different, so once more I’m confused!
Things I’d sort of associated with the ‘dark’ centuries between the fall of Rome and the dawn of science and culture a thousand years later – you know, burning witches, superstition, and so on – actually came later, as a sort of flip side to the Renaissance.
It seems there may have been a point to popes, after all, for according to our writer, once humanism began to replace unshakeable religious belief, we get all these artists and egg heads bubbling to the top of the cultural mix, with the priests, monks and nuns sinking to the bottom.
The result? Not what I’d expected. Instead of a more rational view of life, God leaving the premises brought a resurgent fear of death, and a consequent rise in superstition. Logical, I suppose, but now see why I’m confused?
Never mind – there are another twenty-eight episodes to go, so I’m sure things will gradually make sense.
But come along, don’t dither.
We’ll miss the orgy!
Il Rinascimento, Episodio 2. Il lato oscuro del Rinascimento: danza con la morte e superstizioni
Find Episode 1, and the Summer Series from 2020 and 2021 on our History page.
A venerdì.
P.S.
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Johan Jansen van Rosendaal says
Is the offending word “orgy” then? In that case they won’t like Brave New World. It’’s orgy porgy all over the pace.
By the way, I love your history and literature episodes. Succinct but still historically justified. So good!
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Daniel says
One assumes so, Johan. I’m currently reading J.G.Ballard’s High-Rise, which begins with professor of medicine chewing on a meal of dog (the writer hasn’t yet specified how it was cooked). This character would have been more at home in the Renaissance than Steve Jobs’ successors, I’m sure.
Thanks for the feedback on the series! Personally I find the episodes vary in quality (my fault, for being a lazy editor) but make good reading/listening practice anyway. And that taken over a whole series, or multiple series, I end up with a much firmer perspective on things.
By September 2024, we’ll have gone from the origins of Rome to Berlusconi and the euro, which was more or less the point at which I came in (moved to live in Italy, I mean.) It’ll be hundred and fifty articles in total, so a great resource for language learners interested in history.