3. Court Splendors - The Renaissance Lordships

In the third episode of Ulysses, the Pleasure of Discovery (Saturday, October 18 on Rai3), Alberto Angela will recount the history and life of the richest courts of the Renaissance. A historical period considered the dawn of modernity, which reached its peak in the 16th century, representing a cultural revolution in daily life, art, ideas, and customs in our country. We will enter the places where the powerful men of the era lived: the courts of Mantua and Ferrara: elegant, sumptuous, sometimes immoral, but above all, wealthy, enough to finance a flourishing of the arts with painters, sculptors, and poets such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, Giulio Romano, Ariosto, and Tasso. These courts, while not particularly large, compare favorably to those of Milan, Florence, or Venice, which allow us to understand the dynamics of a court of the time: the alliances, marriage contracts, rivalries, and cruelties both within and outside the family.