Great Courses: The Italians before Italy by Kenneth Bartlett

 In this Great Courses series, Dr. Bartlett focuses on the history of Italy from the 11th century until the unification of Italy in the 1800's, with extra focus on the Italian renaissance.  There are 24, 1/2 hour lectures.  In the first few he does an overview of what happened to Italy after the fall of Rome, and the major political and economic forces that held sway in the different city states. Then he dedicates one or two lectures to each of the major city states, highlighting their history, economy and cultural contribution and introducing influential figures. He spends a couple of chapters talking about the papacy, and more than two chapters of Florence. 

I checked out this series because I hope to travel to Italy this year.  I had studied a lot about Rome and Italy in college because I was a Humanities major with a classics emphasis. In my humanities classes I got a pretty thorough introduction to the Italian Renaissance, focusing on the great masters and their patrons. I gained some new insights into this period by listening to this series.  I hadn't ever connected the reign of the Medici Popes with Martin Luther and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation before, but they were contemporary. I also hadn't realized that all the city states were allied with either the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor and the two factions were the main cause of strife in the regions.  I also hadn't realized how long the Medici dynasty ruled in Florence. I was interested to see that the lecturer had a distinct measurement of the success or greatness of a particular ruler:  If they patronized the arts, Dr Bartlett thought they were great.  If they didn't, he was much less complimentary.  He only mentioned tangentially whether any leader helped their subjects in humanitarian ways.  It reminded me of an observation I had as a student...it is usually decadent and corrupt rulers that create great monuments of art or architecture. Even though I enjoyed the series, I must admit it was pretty dry and I don't think that it would have a wide popular appeal. (12 hrs, 2007)