It's amazing how long it sometimes takes to develop a show. In this case I started many months ago, kept revising, studying, and even today a few hrs before broadcasting, I was still making changes. The show started out as a pleasant look at the biggest and most interesting palazzo, and wound up being a focus on the influence of the Medici in Florence during the 300 yrs of their "rule". Of course, as in some Italian city-states at the time, there was no recognized king per se. Florence prided itself on being a republic, and therefore had an elected body with a "mayor" known as the gonfaliere; however, the Medici exerted such strong influence over this body and indeed all of Florence, that they were the de facto leaders of the city. Many cities were controlled by the wealthy families. The Medici stamp can be found on almost every palazzo and therefore also every wealthy family, be it friend or foe. These turned out to be most interesting for me to study and I tried to include as much of that concept as possible during the show. One flaw in the show I noticed later, I always make misstatements, and this show was no exception. I indicated early on that Nero preceded Augustus as Emperor of Rome in the first century BC when in reality he came later than Augustus in the first century AD. Sorry about that. Yet another example of how flummoxed one can get doing a live show of one hour in length, but no excuses, I apologize for placing Nero in the wrong century.
As always I placed a lot of material into one show, and as it turned out, too much. That is the remnant of the basic insecurity I started out with almost two years ago when development of the show began. I have to learn to cut and trim and not make each show so long. In time perhaps I will. This show concludes, for a while anyway, the old shows I had created prior to our recent trip. Now begins the Florence/Venice programs photographed and videoed recently. I will start with Venice, but deviate slightly as I do the Jewish Experience in Italy and start with Florence. Then I will shift gears to Venice and stay on the Venice theme for several months, from the Jews in Venice to the Venice Biennale to some of the evocative scenes of the world's most unique city. In this regard I have some excellent themes, such as Neighborhoods of Venice, a Boat Ride Down the Grand Canal (really several videos combined into one show), Everyday Life in Venice, a Story of Three Hotels (the three places we stayed during the 7 days and why we stayed in so many places for such a short time), and several others. The show about the Palazzo Bembo I will create on my own, but the artists of the Venice Biennale at Arsenale and Giardini will be developed by Laura. Then in a few months, it will be back to Florence for some fine shows. That's the next year's line-up.
So on we go for the next 33 shows. I say 33, because that will bring me to 100 all together, always one of my goals; then we'll see what happens. Thanks for staying with me through thick and thin, and I hope you will enjoy the next phase of this total experience.
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