Podcasts-2 - Rocky Ruggiero

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.

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Treskovich

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Valoreev

"No one brings the Renaissance to life better than Rocky"

- Historywrocky

iTunes

Android

Google

Stitcher

Spotify

RSS

iHeart Radio

Episodes

Cities Artists Theory Answers to Open Questions Interviews

PRIVATE WEBINAR

Posted: May 28th, 2020

Organize your own private virtual lecture with Dr. Rocky in either a small interactive group or a larger webinar-style format. Choose from a wide variety of lecture themes and schedule an event at your convenience. To view all our PRIVATE WEBINAR options, please CLICK HERE...

ONLINE COURSES

Posted: May 28th, 2020

Join Dr. Rocky’s for his new online art history courses. It will be just like being in Italy with him, except he can’t bring you to a great restaurant afterwards… To view all our ONLINE COURSES, please CLICK HERE...

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...

FREE WEBINARS

Posted: May 26th, 2020

In keeping with the spirit of Mens Sana in Corpore Sanum ("A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body") during these trying times I am happy to offer some free webinar. To view our upcoming FREE WEBINARS, please CLICK HERE...

Episode 70 – Theory – Classical Architectural Vocabulary

Posted: May 20th, 2020

Episode Info: This episode examines the names and meanings of various Classical architectural structures and elements that were employed by Renaissance architects from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo....

Episode 69 – 360° With Dr. Peter Weller – Part II

Posted: May 13th, 2020

Episode Info: This episode is the second part of my interview with celebrated Hollywood actor Dr. Peter Weller, where we discuss the subject of his doctorate, Italian food, and his acting career. Find out how the Renaissance man still finds time for acting and directing!...

Episode 68 – 360° With Dr. Peter Weller – Part I

Posted: May 6th, 2020

Episode Info: This episode is the first of a two-part interview with the famous actor Peter Weller, who has starred in over 70 films and television programs, but who also holds a doctorate in Renaissance art history. Find out how Robocop became a veritable Renaissance man....

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 66 – Florence: Donatello’s Crucifix and Prophet Statues (S. Croce/Museo Del Opera)

Posted: April 22nd, 2020

Episode Info: This episode explores how Donatello revolutionized sculpture in the early 15th century by using three of his most famous works to illustrate his new visual language of naturalism....

Plague Wars: Humanity Strikes Back (Aka COVID-19 vs. the Black Death Part II)

Posted: April 21st, 2020

When the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “That which does not kill me makes me stronger” in 1888, I am fairly certain that he did not necessarily have microbiology or virology in mind. Yet, his Darwinian idiom was very much proven true by the Black Death of 1348 and hopefully will ...

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...

Covid-19 vs. the Black Death: Part I

Posted: April 6th, 2020

For years now, I have been using the frequent historical epidemics that originated in China as a way to illustrate to my students how things have changed very little over the last 700 years. That is, since the “Mother of All Plagues” – better known as the Black Death – tore thr...

Episode 63: Answers to Open Questions – Part III

Posted: April 1st, 2020

Episode Info: This episode answers our third round of general questions. From dinner with historical personages, to my favorite restaurants and dishes in Italy, to saving Venice and its art, all the way down to how much "Leonardo" there is in the "Salvator Mundi" painting, hear me voice your questio...

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...

Doin’ the David

Posted: March 3rd, 2020

All too often, I hear people describing their travel experiences using the verb “to do” – e.g. “After the Colosseum, we did the Vatican Museums….”; “Last summer we visited Italy and we did Rome, Florence and Venice”; “After we visit the Uffizi, we are going to lunch and then we are...

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 55: Answers to Open Questions – Part II

Posted: February 5th, 2020

Episode Info: This episode will answer many of the questions proposed by my listeners. From how the frescoes on the dome of Florence cathedral were executed, to how the artist Caravaggio died, to the Kenneth Clark vs. John Berger controversy - and much more - I respond directly to your very own ques...

You Know When You are in the South of Italy When…

Posted: January 30th, 2020

The Italian comic Alessandro Siani once said that when you visit the South of Italy, you cry once when you arrive and then again when you leave. It is nearly impossible to understand this expression unless you start to understand that beautifully crazy area of Italy that starts with Rome and extends...

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 53: Saints and Symbols

Posted: January 22nd, 2020

Episode Info: This episode examines the sometimes violent, often bizarre, and always fascinating representations of saints and martyrs in Italian medieval and Renaissance art. From St. Sebastian's arrows to St. Lucy's eyeballs to St. Lawrence's barbecue grill, we shall discuss saint imagery and its ...

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 50 – 50th Episode Celebration!

Posted: January 1st, 2020

Episode Info: This milestone episode celebrates the production of my 50th episode by telling you more about who I am, what I do, why I do it and I how I got there from both a personal and professional perspective....

Episode 49 – A Renaissance Christmas

Posted: December 25th, 2019

Episode Info: This holiday episode explores the history and traditions of the world's most popular holiday - Christmas! From St. Nick to Jesus' infancy to candy canes, we discuss how both pagan and Christian traditions magically coalesced into the holiday that we celebrate today....

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 43: Answers To Open Questions – Part I

Posted: November 13th, 2019

Episode Info: This episode will answer the questions posed by various listeners on our social media platforms. From what sparked my own interest in the Renaissance, to whether Giotto or Michelangelo was more influential in shaping Renaissance art, all the way to Michelangelo's sexuality, no question...

« Previous

"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.

"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