2. A Golden Age?

Could it be that the Renaissance as we know it wasn't a renaissance at all?

Could Donatello's David really be a political statement for the Medici?

And what has Liverpool got to do with it?

Historian and classicist Bettany Hughes continues her three-part journey through the beauty and the blood-letting of Renaissance Florence.

Taking part:

* Evelyn Welsh, Professor of Religious Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College
* Professor Martello Frantoni, University of Tolerno
* Quentin Skinner, Regus Professor of History, Cambridge
* Paul Stathern, author of "Godfathers of the Renaissance."
* Jerry Brotton, author of Rennaissance Bazaar

Readings by Jonathan Keeble.

Producer Philip Sellars

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2006.