Foundations of Rome

What happens when a city shaped by centuries of papal power suddenly finds itself caught in the currents of revolution? In this episode, we follow Rome through the upheavals of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—from Napoleon’s invasion and the short-lived Roman Republic of 1798 to restoration, Romanticism, and the revolutionary struggles of 1849.

We meet figures such as Mazzini and Garibaldi, and explore how the ruins of ancient Rome became symbols of liberty, resistance, and national identity. As the papal city finally becomes the capital of a united Italy in 1870, Rome stands at the crossroads of two worlds: the weight of its sacred past and the promise of a modern nation.

Why did Europe’s elite travel to Rome—not to witness power, but to contemplate its remains? In this episode, we enter the eighteenth century, where ruins replaced relics and reflection replaced reverence. From the Grand Tour’s young aristocrats to Piranesi’s haunting visions of decay, and from the rediscovery of Pompeii to the philosophical weight of fallen empires, we explore how Rome became a stage for Enlightenment thought and Romantic imagination. These were not just stones—they were warnings, mirrors, and meditations on the rise and fall of civilisation.

In this episode, I will guide you into the heart of Baroque Rome—a city transformed into a theatre of faith. From Bernini’s sweeping embrace at St Peter’s Square to the ecstatic vision of Saint Teresa and the illusionistic wonders of Jesuit churches, this episode unpacks how art, architecture, and spectacle became tools of the Counter‑Reformation. Discover how seventeenth‑century Rome proclaimed Catholic triumph not through armies, but through light, movement, and emotion carved in stone.

 

How does a city rise again—not from fire or conquest, but from memory? In this episode of Foundations of Rome, we trace the Renaissance transformation of Rome from a city of ruins and relics into a capital of art, architecture, and humanist ambition. From Pope Nicholas V’s grand vision to Bramante’s bold designs for Saint Peter’s, and from the revival of Vitruvius to Raphael’s luminous School of Athens, we explore how marble, manuscript, and imagination reshaped the Eternal City. This was not nostalgia—it was reinvention. Rome did not abandon its past. It assembled it, reinterpreted it, and crowned it with frescoes, domes, and classical dreams.

 

In this episode, we trace the rise of the Vatican from a modest medieval suburb to the spiritual and political heart of Catholicism. Journey through the Borgo—home to Saint Peter’s tomb, fortified by popes, and transformed by pilgrims, relics, and Jubilee years. Discover how centuries of devotion, architecture, and ambition reshaped Rome itself, turning sacred space into papal power and laying the foundations of the Renaissance city to come.

 

How does a pagan capital become the spiritual centre of Christendom—without tearing itself apart? In this episode, we explore the Christianisation of Rome through its buildings, images, and sacred spaces. From Constantine’s conversion and the Edict of Milan to the transformation of temples into churches, Rome remade itself by layering new faith onto ancient stone. We trace the rise of pilgrimage, relics, mosaics, and martyrs—and discover how Rome did not erase its past, but absorbed it, turning imperial space into sacred geography and giving the Eternal City a second life.

Rome burned—and an emperor’s legend was forged in the flames. In this episode, we step into the reign of Nero: artist, autocrat, and Rome’s most infamous ruler. From the Great Fire of 64 CE to the golden excess of the Domus Aurea, we explore how spectacle became a tool of power, cruelty became performance, and the city itself became a stage. Was Nero a mad tyrant, a misunderstood artist, or the embodiment of imperial excess? As his world collapses into revolt and ruin, we trace the fall of a dynasty—and the echoes of a legend that still smoulders.

Ancient Rome wasn’t just a city of gleaming marble—it was also a city of mud, noise, and crowded tenements. In this episode, we explore the stark contrasts of urban life: grand monuments alongside slums, ingenious aqueducts and sewers battling poor sanitation, and the chaos of traffic and night-time noise. From insulae apartments to the Cloaca Maxima, discover how Rome’s brilliance and grime coexisted to create the most complex city of the ancient world.