Podcast - Rocky Ruggiero

REBUILDING THE RENAISSANCE PODCAST

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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"

- Historywrocky

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

- Valoreev

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Episodes

Episode 187 – Michelangelo’s New Sacristy in Florence Part III

Posted: August 10th, 2022

This episode examines the extraordinary tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici in the New Sacristy. The allegorical figures of "Dawn" and "Dusk" are two of Michelangelo's most elegant statues, while the "Effigy of Lorenzo de' Medici" is a clear allusion to the Classical "thinker" pose. We also analyze how the s...

Episode 185 – Michelangelo’s New Sacristy in Florence Part I

Posted: August 3rd, 2022

While working on the facade project of San Lorenzo, Michelangelo undertook another architectural project for Medici Pope Leo X. Known as the New Sacristy, and located in the Medici Chapels in Florence, Italy, the space was intended to serve as a royal funerary space for the Pope's brother and nephew...

Episode 184 – Michelangelo’s Facade Model for San Lorenzo (Casa Buonarroti Museum)

Posted: July 27th, 2022

In 1515, Michelangelo undertook his first architectural commission for the facade of the Medici church of San Lorenzo in Florence. For the project, he produced a large wooden model of the facade, today located in the Casa Buonarroti Museum in Florence, Italy. This episode examines the history around...

Episode 183 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Late and Controversial Works

Posted: July 20th, 2022

Although Leonardo’s Virgin, Child and St. Anne may have been commissioned as early as 1503, it was still in the artist’s studio in 1517 - two years before the artist died. The painting of St. John the Baptist is instead considered the master’s last known painting. This episode not only exa...

Episode 182 – Answers to Open Questions XIII

Posted: July 13th, 2022

From the evolution of Romanesque to Renaissance architecture, to urban tabernacles in Florence, to the identity of the apostles in Leonardo's "Last Supper," to Michelangelo's boxer nose, to Lorenzo Ghiberti potentially being insane - and much, much more - this episode answers the very questions that...

Episode 181 – Raphael’s “Transfiguration” (Vatican Museums)

Posted: July 6th, 2022

Commissioned in 1516, four years before Raphael's premature death at the age of 37, by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the "Transfiguration" was Raphael's last great altarpiece. The painting is a sort of summation of Raphael's artistic evolution, and not only synthesizes the artistic styles of Leonardo ...

Episode 180 – Rome: The Villa Farnesina – Renaissance Pleasure Palace Part II

Posted: June 29th, 2022

This episode continues to explore the extraordinary painting decorations of Rome's seminal Renaissance suburban villa. From the zodiacal images that represent the patron's horoscope, to Sebastiano del Piombo's "Polyphemus," to one of Raphael's most beautiful paintings known as "The Galatea', and, fi...

Episode 179 – Rome: The Villa Farnesina – Renaissance Pleasure Palace Part I

Posted: June 22nd, 2022

The Villa Farnesina was the first Renaissance pleasure palace and belonged to the fabulously wealthy banker Agostino Chigi. The decorations of the palace delighted many a pope and international ruler. On one occasion, dinner was served on golden tableware that guests were invited to throw into the T...

Episode 178 – Rome – Raphael’s Room of the Fire in the Borgo

Posted: June 15th, 2022

The last of the apartments decorated by Raphael for Popes Julius II and Leo X was the Room of the Fire in the Borgo, painted between 1514-1517. Although largely executed by Raphael's student and friend Giulio Romano, the frescoes represent Raphael's mature period and were completed only 3 years befo...