PBS Film, Art Gallery and Lesson Plans on Medici

[nestof3]

Gallery and lesson plans here:
http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/index.html

Here's the film:
http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Godfat...1900704&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Godfathers-Renaissance-Ross-King/dp/B0007KIFW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1251900704&sr=8-1)

You can watch it instantly on Netflix
http://www.pbs.org/empires/medici/index.html

[Valerie(TX)]

Fun story:

This summer dd had a choir trip to Spain; the group worked their patooskies off all week doing concerts most nights and a daily Kids' Club (4+ hours, >100 kids). I went with the group as a chaperone b/c I speak Spanish fluently. (Yaay--very lucky me!)

One of the nights we had a concert in Xativa (SHAH-tee-va), near Benidorm, on the ESE coast. A man came up after the concert and told me about the town, after I had exclaimed about its beauty. It was the ancestral home of the Borgia family! He went on to explain that most of the townspeople do not like to talk about it, as the Borgia's have such a bad rep, but since he knew that I was a history buff--we had been talking awhile--he mentioned it. He also said that the area was so very Catholic, due to the history with the RC church and several popes from there, etc., that protestant Christians, including nobility, had suffered extreme persecution, leading to a very vibrant Christian community. Hidden, but deep.

How cool is that?

I never, ever dreamed I'd actually go to where the Borgia's were from. There was a vague mention in the books that they were from Spain, and that they returned there when there were troubles involving one or another of the family being hounded out of Italy.

Not exactly on the same page as your Medici rec., but ds and I studied Ren, Ref, and Age of Reason last year, so the Medici thread rang a big bell.