Saturday, March 21st Live on Zoom 10am Los Angeles / 1pm New York / 6pm London / 7pm Florence Professor Elizabeth Lev will discuss the astonishing life of Caterina Riario Sforza (1463 –1509), one of the most prominent women of Renaissance Italy, who was a wife, mother, leader, and warrior, fierce enough to make Machiavelli himself wince.  In her biography, Elizabeth Lev examines Caterina's extraordinary life and accomplishments. Raised in the court of Milan and wed at the age of ten to Pope...

Saturday, March 14th Live on Zoom 10am Los Angeles / 1pm New York / 6pm London / 7pm Florence Pope Leo XIV proclaimed 2026 a “Special Year of Saint Francis,” and to reflect on this honor, we have the pleasure to hear from Professor Bill Cook, the ultimate expert on the life of this beloved saint.  He said, “If history is to be useful and not just entertaining for our time, we must first get the facts and contexts right for the subject, and then we need to think creatively about how to apply...

Saturday, March 7th Live on Zoom 10am Los Angeles / 1pm New York / 6pm London / 7pm Florence During the Renaissance, a Florentine orphanage opened and began admitting children in 1445, ultimately rescuing thousands of children and revolutionizing childhood foster care and education amid the splendor of exceptional Renaissance art and architecture.  Florence’s Ospedale degli Innocenti/Hospital of the Innocents  was Europe’s first orphanage for abandoned children.  In an era when children were...