Youtube
$0.00 0

Cart

No products in the cart.

$0.00 0

Cart

No products in the cart.

$0.00 0

Cart

No products in the cart.

Podcasts
Available on your favorite platform
Rebuilding The Renaissance podcast will explore the development of the art, architecture, culture and history in Italy, from ancient Roman times through the Renaissance. Listeners will develop an understanding of Italy’s role in the development of Western civilization and an ability to appreciate and understand works of art in their historical context.
iTunes
Android
Google
Stitcher
Spotify
RSS
iHeart Radio
Episodes
Cities Artists Theory Answers to Open Questions Interviews
Florence Other Italian Cities Rome Venice
Episode 92 – Florence: Last Supper by Andrea del Castagno (Sant’Apollonia)
  • Posted: October 21st, 2020
Episode Info: This episode analyzes one of the best-preserved and influential Renaissance paintings of the Last Supper. Located in the former refectory of a nunnery in Florence, Italy, the painting exhibits various traditional elements typical of the subject, but it also displays numerous innovat...
Episode 91 – Florence: The Convent of San Marco – Part II
  • Posted: October 14th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode explores the sublime painting decoration of the great Early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico in the convent of San Marco. From his utilitarian paintings in the cloister, to the majestic Crucifixion in the chapterhouse, to his celebrated Annunciation and finally to the ...
Episode 90 – Florence: The Convent of San Marco – Part I
  • Posted: October 7th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode is the first part of a two-part episode that examines the history and architecture of the first-ever Renaissance style convent. San Marco, which has been described as the most beautiful convent in all of Italy, was designed by Michelozzo and entirely funded by Cosimo De'Me...
Episode 84 – Florence: The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti – Part II
  • Posted: August 26th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode is the second part of the two-part episode dedicated to Lorenzo Ghiberti's celebrated doors known as the "Gates of Paradise". In this second part, we look at each individual panel to examine its style, composition and iconography, where we discover Ghiberti was indeed a ma...
Episode 83 – Florence: The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti – Part 1
  • Posted: August 19th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the history and provenance of the world's most famous and beautiful doors - the so-called "Gates of Paradise" that were produced by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425-1452. Today, the Renaissance doors are one of the artistic gems of the Museo Dell'Opera del Duomo (Cat...
Episode 81 – Florence: Holy Trinity by Masaccio Part II
  • Posted: August 5th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode analyzes the mathematics involved in the creation of the first perspectival painting in history. Learn how geometry and algebra were not only part of the construction of the three-dimensional space, but also a surprising way to illustrate important theological doctrines....
Episode 80 – Florence: Holy Trinity by Masaccio
  • Posted: July 29th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode will discuss what might just be the most important painting in Florence - Masaccio's Holy Trinity in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy. Learn how this fresco, which was the first in history to apply linear perspective, was lost in the 16th Century when t...
Episode 79 – Florence: Brunelleschi’s Dome – Part II
  • Posted: July 21st, 2020
Episode Info: This is the second part of my two-part episode about Brunelleschi and the construction of the dome of Florence cathedral. Learn how the great architect out-smarted his competitors, won the contract for and then realized the world's largest dome in only 16 years. Then discover the secre...
Episode 78 – Florence: Brunelleschi’s Dome – Part I
  • Posted: July 15th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the history leading up to the construction of Brunelleschi's great cupola. From the structural design of the tribunes, to the decision to add a drum, to the dilemma of wooden centering, what happened before Brunelleschi began building determined much of what he wo...
Episode 76 – Florence: The Brancacci Chapel – Part II
  • Posted: July 1st, 2020
Episode Info: This episode is the second part of a two-part episode about the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, Italy. It examines the paintings inside of the Brancacci Chapel and discusses the authorship of each, and those attributes that made Masaccio one of the most revolutionary painters in history....
Episode 75 – Florence: The Brancacci Chapel – Part I
  • Posted: June 24th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode explores the history and several key paintings of the revolutionary Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria Del Carmine in Florence, Italy. There is no better place in the world in which to illustrate the evolution of late Gothic to Early Renaissance than this chapel...
Episode 72 – Florence: Brunelleschi and the Basilica of San Lorenzo
  • Posted: June 3rd, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the construction history and architecture of the first Renaissance-style church ever built - the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy - which was designed by the great Filippo Brunelleschi. From modular systems, to the use of classical architectural vocabula...
Episode 71 – Theory – Florence: Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy
  • Posted: May 27th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the first Renaissance-style interior space ever built, which is known as the "Old Sacristy" in San Lorenzo in Florence. Designed by the great Filippo Brunelleschi, the revolutionary space also served as the funerary chapel of the patriarch of the Medici family - G...
Episode 67 – Florence: Brunelleschi and the Hospital of the Innocents
  • Posted: April 29th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the early part of Brunelleschi's career and his first major architectural project. His revival of a Classical architectural vocabulary and logic revolutionized architecture in the late medieval European world, and would establish this new style as the foundation f...
Episode 65 – Venice: The Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge
  • Posted: April 15th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode explores the history and architecture of Venice's most important thoroughfare and its surrounding churches and palaces, as well as one of the world's most celebrated bridges - the Rialto - that has spanned the Grand Canal for nearly the last 1,000 years....
Episode 64 – Venice: Basilica of St. Mark and Doge’s Palace
  • Posted: April 8th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the history, architecture and importance of Italy's most unique church. An example of Italo-Byzantine architecture, St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, was built primarily to house the relics of the evangelist and to serve as the private chapel of the Doge. The...
Episode 62 – Florence: Donatello’s St. George (Bargello)
  • Posted: March 25th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines Donatello's sculptural representation of the St. George subject for the Sword and Armor Guild at the church of Orsanmichele, although both sculpture and niche are in the Bargello Museum today. Not only was this first sculpture of the Renaissance to depict a subjec...
Episode 61: Florence – Donatello’s Marble “David” (Bargello)
  • Posted: March 18th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines Donatello's seminal heroic interpretation of the "David" subject in sculpture. Removed from its original context at the Duomo and inserted into a civic setting at the Palazzo Vecchio, the statue became the symbol of divine protection for the Florentine Republic....
Episode 60: Florence – Cathedral Facade Sculptures
  • Posted: March 11th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the statues that were produced by the likes of Arnolfo Di Cambio, Nanni Di Banco and Donatello and adorned the original facade of Florence cathedral. These extraordinary statues reflect the transition from the International Gothic to the Early Renaissance style....
Episode 59 – Venice: La Serenissma – The History of the Republic
  • Posted: March 4th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode explores the history of the world's most unique city and the organization of the longest lasting republic of all time. From the original refugees who settled on the islands in the ancient world, to the theft of the body of St. Mark, to the formation of a "perfect governmen...
Episode 58 – Florence: Uffizi Gallery: International Gothic Style Paintings
  • Posted: February 26th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode explores the paintings in the Uffizi Gallery collection that best embody the principles of that style that marks the transition between the Gothic and Renaissance worlds, known as the "International Gothic Style." This style combines the elegance and elaborateness of Goth...
Episode 57: Florence – North Doors of Florence Baptistry
  • Posted: February 19th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the "North Doors" of Florence Baptistry that were produced by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1403-1423 as a result of the famous competition of 1401 won by the same artist. The same International Gothic Style attributes that characterize Ghiberti's earlier competition p...
Episode 56: Florence – Competition Panels (Bargello)
  • Posted: February 12th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the event that sparked the Renaissance - the famous competition between Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi in 1401 for the contract for a set of bronze doors of Florence Baptistry. These two Renaissance giants produced bronze relief panels depicting the Old...
Episode 54: Florence: Santa Maria Novella – Strozzi Chapel
  • Posted: January 29th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the beautiful pictorial decorations in the 14th-century Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy by the brothers Andrea (better known as "Orcagna") and Nardo di Cione. Almost perfectly preserved after eight centuries, the chapel also offers the ext...
Episode 52 – Siena: Cathedral Pulpit by Nicola Pisano
  • Posted: January 15th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines Nicola Pisano's great sculptural pulpit in the cathedral in Siena, Italy. Carved five years after his pulpit in Pisa Baptistry, this work is much more Gothic in style, reflecting its highly decorative architectural surroundings. Yet, Pisano's work is still full of...
Episode 51: Florence – Uffizi Gallery – Medieval Paintings
  • Posted: January 8th, 2020
Episode Info: This episode examines the medieval paintings in the extraordinary collection of paintings in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Works by Giotto, Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti exemplify the move towards naturalism in this proto-Renaissance moment....
Episode 48: Florence – San Miniato al Monte
  • Posted: December 18th, 2019
Episode Info: This episode explores the history and examines the architecture of one of the most unique churches of medieval Europe. Consecrated in 1018 CE, the thousand-year-old Romanesque church of San Miniato in Florence, Italy houses an eclectic mix of artistic styles inside of a distinctly myst...
Episode 47: Pisa – Baptistry Pulpit by Nicola Pisano
  • Posted: December 11th, 2019
Episode Info: This episode examines one of the most extraordinary sculptures of the Middle Ages. Nicola Pisano revolutionized sculpture in the 13th century by introducing drama, psychology, classical motifs, anatomy and movement. Although few works exist by the great sculptor, he would inspire later...
Episode 46: Pisa – The Leaning Tower of Pisa
  • Posted: December 4th, 2019
Episode Info: This episode explores the great Romanesque architectural monuments of the Tuscan city of Pisa. From its majestic marble cathedral, to its elegant circular baptistry, to what I like to call the greatest architectural disaster since Babylon – the leaning tower, Pisa is home to some of ...
Episode 45: Florence – The Baptistry Part II – Mosaics
  • Posted: December 3rd, 2019
Episode Info: This episode will examine the breathtaking mosaics that decorate the ceiling of Florence Baptistry. Epic in scale and subject matter, and excruciatingly meticulous in execution, the mosaics represent one of the greatest works of art of medieval Europe and may have inspired both Dante a...
Episode 44: Florence – The Baptistry – Part I
  • Posted: November 20th, 2019
Episode Info: This episode explores the history and architecture of what is, in local tradition, the most important monument in Florence, Italy. Nearly a millennium old, the Romanesque building has always been the heart of Florentine society and tradition....
Episode 40 – Florence: Statues at Orsanmichele
  • Posted: October 23rd, 2019
Episode Info: This episode examines the extraordinary collection of statues on the outside of the church of Orsanmichele in Florence, Italy. Produced by some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, such as Donatello, Ghiberti and Verrocchio, each statue reflects the changing artistic styles of t...
« Previous
Next »
"I can say that Rocky Ruggiero is the best among the very best. I have yet to encounter a more precise, informative and commanding teacher or conductor through the beauty and magnificence of Florence and Italy"
Peter Weller
Actor, Director, Writer, Musician, Scholar
"Rocky is a favorite and one of the best art historians we’ve ever used. He has led our family on occasion where are high school and college kids praised how Rocky made art "interesting" and "relevant", while his interactive style held everyone’s attention"
Michael Chesser
President and Founder Chesser Group Inc., Los Angeles CA
"We recently traveled to Florence with our twin daughters and we wanted them to experience the rich art history of Florence in a more personalized basis. We were grateful that Rocky agreed to this assignment. His Knowledge, love and enthusiasm for the arts was contagious. It was the highlight of our trip!"
Alan L. Rivera
CFO and General Counsel, Millbrook Capital Management, Inc.
Affiliations
NBC News
The Smithsonian Associates
The History Channel
Travel + Leisure
Nova
National Geographic
Young Presidents' Organization
CEO
Friends of the Uffizi Gallery
Eataly
Syracuse University
Palazzo Tornabuoni
Ohio Kent State University
Boston College

Download Now

Our Latest Video Lectures
Learn More
Contact Us
1-800-943-2336
Weekdays 9am - 5pm ET
P.O. Box 241
East Greenwich, RI 02818
Email Rocky Ruggiero
More From Rocky
Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Latest News & Offers
Subscribe now to receive information on Rocky's latest study programs, lectures, interesting posts and much more!
Subscribe
© 2026 Rocky Ruggiero. All Rights Reserved.