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Ding, dong, it's officially the end of season 2 of Medici: The Magnificent. If you've stayed with us on this unwieldy journey, shout out to you. We do finish with probably the best episode of this show that visualizes the Pazzi conspiracy which is a very real event and was shown pretty true-to-form on this show. Other topics discussed include Heated Rivalry, the Midwest vs. Northeast USA attitude, Monika's dating life, trying to get to an Eagles tailgate, what Mass is, and how much we love this show! See everyone in October for Season 3!

Today we have a special guest on the podcast, Dr. Karen J. Burch who is a PhD and historian who works as a translator and editor who specializes in Renaissance Italian history, contemporary Japanese popular culture, and archiving. She has written extensively on the Medici with a particular focus on Lorenzo the Magnificent’s emotion and sexuality which we’ll be discussing today. Enjoy!

It’s officially time for episode 2 even if it’s a little late and we discuss the inner workings of administration in the entertainment business, the out-of-touch messaging of the Democratic Party and Frank Spotnitz constantly breadcrumbing us for an interview for Medici. We dive in deeper into what the Medici really want, the Fleabag-esque priest plot line, papal banking, the power of women in Florence, the great chemistry between Lorenzo and Clarice, Donatello, the epic jousting, a callback to our days recapping Merlin and what we would do if we ran the Catholic Church. Hello to leaning in to the BDSM. See you on Friday!

Today we are sweltering in the 250th anniversary summer heat of America to bid adieu to Richard Madden and say hello to our old friend, Bradley James :) The Cosimo reign of Florence is over and his ever useless son Piero is on the imaginary throne with his son Lorenzo calling all the real shots. We discuss the beautiful design, slow motion shots, the still weird sex scenes, the forbidden love affair that annoys us to no end, Piero’s follies with the BANK, Richard Madden vs. Bradley James and our love of Sarah Parish. Make sure to keep listening and watching since the series really does pick up and get amazing. And yes, this podcast will be uploaded on a weekly schedule from now on! Sorry y’all, I just started a new job.

The ULTIMATE episode of Medici: Masters of Florence is upon us and we sadly say goodbye to Richard Madden and our main man Marco Bello. While Monika is having a semi-breakdown, I try to maintain some professionalism for our dedicated listeners. We question the overall plot arc with Ugo and his motivations of murdering Giovanni while complimenting the design and the beauty of Richard obviously. Other topics discussed are wearing socks while having sex, many It's Always Sunny references, intimacy coordinators, Ryan Murphy, parentage of Medici children, Lorenzo's death and our prospective plans for another series in the show. We will be back with a snackable episode next week where we watch some BTS content of Series 1 and then we are off to the races with Series 2, which honestly is where this show gets better in terms of character and plot. Ciao, ciao!

Today we have two very special guests on the pod. One is our Costume Correspondent, Tika von Mehren reporting for duty and the other is Alessandro Lai, an award-winning costume designer whose work spans film, television, opera, and theater. He has designed costumes for major international productions, earning a reputation for craftsmanship, authenticity, and dramatic flair — including his lavish designs for the Renaissance world of Medici. And unlike IMDb, we know that he designed all three seasons of the show. To see Alessandro's designs and images of the cast, visit our Instagram!

Today we are watching Part 1 of Roberto Rossellini’s TV series, The Age of the Medici. Which has been described as a Renaissance painting come to life: a portrait of fifteenth-century Florence, ruled by the Medici political dynasty. With a lovely score from composer Manuel de Sica (son of Vittorio), this grand yet intimate work is a mirror of Series 1 of the Rai and Netflix series. Let’s see which one we like more :)

Vroom, vroom, we are getting into our cars and driving to New Jersey in the rain over a holiday weekend while we listen to our own podcast, watch some Medici and stay in a Holiday Inn Express again for almost $800. In this episode of Medici, we witness the imminent collapse of the Florence economy, recap some of episode 5, celebrate Arsenal’s win of the Premier League, discuss our ships and prepare for our interview with Medici Costume Designer, Alessandro Lai. Also I shame Monika for not drawing Alessio on my timeline. Enjoy!

Today we have a special interview with our guest - Dr. Alessio Assonitis, Director of the Medici Archive Project in Florence, where he leads efforts to digitize and study one of the largest collections of Renaissance documents in the world — bringing the story of the Medici dynasty into the 21st century. He’ll be teaching us about REAL Medici history and fact checking this show while we watch Season 1, Episode 5.

We are posting a little late this week and we’re finding out together who writes this episode, it is in fact Alex von Tunzelmann who is a historian and owner of two Maine Coon cats who you can follow on Instagram at @alexvontunzelmann. While she is life goals, the players on celebrity Jeopardy are not since they didn’t know what OTP means. We discuss our ships in this episode where Monika is of course fantasizing about Rinaldo and Cosimo and I’m team Marco Bello and Lorenzo. Let us know who you’d want to see in a ship. At some point we might bring on someone to tell us how to actually pronounce Medici and we discuss the right way to pronounce Calcio aka football aka soccer to Americans. Other topics discussed are historical accuracies, Contessina being a badass and Cosimo being an emo boy per usual. See you next week for our interview with Alessio who has been mentioned so much already :)

Ride on horseback to the third episode of Medici: Masters of Florence where everything from Dustin Hoffman’s cancellation to the confusing casting of Rinaldo Albizzi and his son are discussed. Sorry for mixing up Venice for Florence a couple of times - we recorded this after some vino. In this episode there’s a very actual historical breakout of the plague in Florence, causing chaos and minor destruction to the duomo aka Cosimo’s love of his life. Even if he does have a super hot wife. Misogyny knows no bounds. Cosimo’s mother contracts the plague and we see just how intense his TRAUMA is. We also talk Tide pods, the cinnamon challenge, the most intense heat rash I’ve ever gotten and Marco Bello’s murderous thirst. Will it ever be quenched? We’ll never know. Join us next week for Episode 4!

Today we’re discussing Medici, Season 1, Episode 2 titled “Domes and Domiciles” with our new RODE microphones. And yes, we’re open to a sponsorship, call us. We discuss the realities of war, the sublime, background actors, our increasingly bad Italian accents, taxes, skiing in May, figure skating and how hot Richard Madden is and honestly, not much else. His beauty knows no bounds. See you next week for Episode 3!

Welcome to Ladies of the Lake. Actually scratch that - we’re taking a trek to continental Europe, specifically to Florence, Italy and now we are undergoing an Italian rebrand ala Allesandro Michele and Gucci to The Ladies of the Palazzo. In 2026, we will be recapping Netflix and Italy’s RAI’s Medici: Masters of Florence starring Dustin Hoffman, Richard Madden and even a Merlin alum, Bradley James in Season 2. We discuss the first episode of our new obsession and talk about historical accuracy, what led us to watch this television show (spoiler alert it’s Richard Madden), our janky pronunciations of Italian words and much more! See you next week for episode 2!

It's sadly time to say goodbye to one of our favorite shows of all time and most importantly, the Merlin fandom who we love. Thanks for the memories and all of the support over our two and a half years of posting. From talking to the co-creators of the show to basically getting a minor in medieval studies from all of our academic friends, this has been such an incredible ride with all of you. We're taking a short break to focus on book writing (and skiing) and then will be back to review and recap Netflix's Medici the Magnificent starring Richard Madden and Bradley James in Season 2 complete with a fun Italian rebrand to Ladies of the Palazzo. See you in the Spring for Italian intrigue and some truly fabulous art.

It's time to (almost) say goodbye. Today we are talking about the finale of Merlin entitled, "The Diamond of the Day - Part 2" written by Julian Jones. Topics discussed include Le Morte, Arthuriana, Bradley James' incredible acting and chain mail. We'll see you next week for one final episode that recaps our entire journey. Love you all and happy 2026!