Italy History and Culture Podcast

The DNA of the Romans has changed over time following the evolution of the historical phases that have marked the life and growth of the city. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2022/01/13/the-genetic-profile-of-the-ancient-romans/

A trial for heresy of two peasants reveals a pagan-shamanic  peasant cult based on the fertility of the land widespread in Friuli,  northern Italy, around the 16th-17th centuries. The Benandanti was an agrarian cult with shamanic characteristics that  gradually transformed under the pressure of the inquisitors to assume  the features of traditional witchcraft. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2022/01/10/the-benandanti-witchcraft-and-agrarian-cults-between-16th-and-17th-centuries-in-italy/

On September 28, 1583, Menocchio, an Italian miller, was denounced to the Holy Office on the charge of having uttered and attempted to spread “heretical and impious” words about Christ. The trial brings to light the complex cosmogony and worldview of a miller who stunned the inquisitors. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/12/29/the-cosmogony-of-a-sixteenth-century-italian-miller/

He became an executioner at the age of 17, in 1796. Bugatti noted 516 names of the executed, but two convicts are subtracted from the account, one because he was shot and the other because he was hanged and quartered by his aide. This episode is also available as a blog post: Giovanni Bugatti, the official Papal executioner who executed 514 people (weirditaly.com)

The Sator Square has been the subject of frequent archaeological discoveries, both in stone epigraphs and in graffiti, but the sense and the symbolic meaning still remain obscure, despite the numerous hypotheses formulated. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/11/02/the-enigma-of-the-sator-square/

The Nemi ships had been built by Emperor Caligula, in honor of the Egyptian goddess Isis and Diana, goddess of wild animals and the hunt. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/10/31/the-bizarre-story-of-the-nemi-ships-built-by-caligula/

The chronovisor (or chronoscope) is allegedly a functional time viewer, an hypothetical device capable of capturing and reproducing images and sounds from the past This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/10/10/the-chronovisor-a-time-machine-allegedly-invented-by-the-italian-monk-and-exorcist-pellegrino-ernetti/

The Republic of Rose Island was the name given to an artificial platform of 400 m² that stood in the Adriatic Sea outside Italian territorial waters, designed by engineer Giorgio Rosa in 1958 and completed in 1967. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/08/06/the-curious-history-of-the-republic-of-rose-island-a-micronation-on-a-man-made-platform-off-the-coast-of-italy/

The story of Romeo and Juliet is told in Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti, written between 1512 and 1524. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/04/18/the-origins-of-the-story-of-romeo-and-juliet/

The festival of the snake-catchers involves a procession carrying the statue of St. Dominic, draped with living snakes, through the streets of Cocullo, Italy. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/04/13/the-festival-of-the-snake-catchers-in-italy/

The book is composed by 360 pages and it’s written in a cipher alphabet in an imaginary language. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2016/04/30/codex-seraphinianus-surreal-encyclopedia-luigi-serafini/

The sword in the stone: San Galgano Abbey in Tuscany This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2014/06/03/the-sword-in-the-stone-san-galgano-abbey-in-tuscany/

The Royal Palace of Caserta was the largest palace in Europe and a perfect example of Baroque art style. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2014/05/31/royal-palace-of-caserta/

Castel del Monte was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as “a unique masterpiece of medieval military architecture”. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2014/02/25/castel-del-monte-the-fortress-of-the-mysteries/

The pleasant village of Graun, in Italian Curon Venosta, is  located in the heart of the tourist region Val Venosta, not far from the  border with Switzerland and Austria. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2013/04/13/surreal-places-the-old-bell-tower-of-submerged-curon/

The statue was born from an idea by Duilio Marcante following the death of Dario Gonzatti, one of the pioneers of scuba diving, during a dive in 1950. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2013/04/08/christ-of-the-abyss/

Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soapmaker of Correggio This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2013/04/25/leonarda-cianciulli-the-soapmaker-of-correggio/

Giovanni Aldini was an Italian physicist born at Bologna, nephew of Luigi Galvani, and he became a professor of physics at Bologna in 1798. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2013/03/18/giovanni-aldini-reanimator/

In Dante’s Inferno (Canto XXXIII, the level of hell where the traitors  were punished) he has been described eating the skull of Ruggeri  Archbishop, the man who condemned him to die for starving in Muda Tower. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2013/03/26/ugolino-the-cannibal-count/

Throughout history were conducted experiments involving language deprivation trying to discover the origin of language. The article was originally published on https://weirditaly.com/2013/03/04/which-is-the-natural-language-the-cruel-experiment-in-language-deprivation-of-frederick-ii/

The Museum of mummies is a museum located in Ferentillo that exhibits the ancient mummies of the inhabitants of the  town.  The article originally appeared on https://weirditaly.com/2013/02/13/creepy-ferentillo-mummies/