Mike Walker’s gripping BBC Radio drama about money, art, religion, politics and power

Florence, 1415. Banker Cosimo Medici is looked down upon as a jumped up money-changer. Then he marries the noble Contessina de Bardi and becomes the richest man in Europe. But his wealth and power threaten the Florentine elite, who are determined to bring him down...

However, the House of Medici cannot be crushed that easily. Sixty years and many violent deaths later, the family are the unquestioned, ruthless rulers of Florence. They control the government, have transformed the city through their patronage of the arts, and one of them has even been crowned Pope. But trouble is coming in the form of the fanatical poet monk Savonarola, and the bank is in decline. Can Lorenzo the Magnificent save anything for his dim-witted successors – and will they even care?

With a cast of extraordinary characters including Piero the Gouty, master negotiator Lucrezia Tornabuoni and Pope Leo X, as well as Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Artemisia Gentileschi, this fast-paced ‘Renaissance Sopranos’ tells the thrilling story of one of the most infamous dynasties of all time. Among the cast are Patrick Baladi, Sirine Saba, Tom Cullen, Saran Morgan and Catrin Aaron.


Created by Mike Walker
Written by Mike Walker, Sian Ejiwunmi Le-Berre and Catherine Johnson
Sound Design: Nigel Lewis and Catherine Robinson
Organ: Branwen Munn
Produced by John Norton

Cast
Cosimo de' Medici – Patrick Baladi
Contessina de' Bardi – Sirine Saba
Rinaldo degli Albizzi – Richard Elfyn
Niccolo Tinucci – Christopher Elson
Old Giovanni – Hugh Thomas
Silvio – Marc Danbury
Gio Verdi – Marco Fiera
The Manager – David Hounslow
Lorenzo de' Medici – Tom Cullen
Lucrezia Tornabuoni – Saran Morgan
Clarice Orsini – Abra Thompson
Gio de' Medici – Gareth Pierce
Marietta – Saran Morgan
Cardinal Orsini – Simon Armstrong
Soderini – Daniel Cerqueira
Pope Sixtus – John Cording
Tinucci – Tommy Sim'aan
Pazzi – Matthew Durkan
Savonarola – Matthew Gravelle
King Ferrante – Jonathon Forbes
Pope Innocent – Roger Ringrose
Leonardo da Vinci – Tom Kiteley
Botticelli – Hughie O' Donnell
Alessandro de Medici - Elliott Barnes-Worrell
Lorenzino de Medici - Sion Daniel Young
Ippolito de Medici - Jacob Ifan
Taddea Malaspina - Kiran Sonia Sawar
Simonetta da Collevecchio - Marsha Millar
Giorgio Vasari - Nico Pimparé
Pope Clement - Arwel Gruffydd
Emperor Charles V - Michael Bertenshaw
Margaret - Kitty O'Sullivan
Scoronconcolo - Tyler Cameron
Strozzi - John Lightbody
Young Alessandro - Hardy Yusuf
Young Ippolito - Huw Huckstep
Catherine de Medici - Catrin Aaron
Silvestri - Julian Lewis Jones
Diane de Poitiers - Juliette Aubrey
Prince Henri - Arthur Hughes
King Francis - Aneirin Hughes
Guise - Joel MacCormack
Nurse - Heather Craney
Young Catherine - Grace Nettle
Isabelle - Nia Gandhi
Coligny - Ian Dunnett Jnr
Le Conde - Matthew Bulgo
Cardinal Guise - Tom Mumford
Margot - Poppy Almond