Despite Tuscans being completely in love with the past of their homeland, we haven't had the chance to talk about "big history" events, the ones that get into the books and are taught in schools. There is a reason for this: history hasn't been kind to this land. After being the centre of Western civilisation for half a millennia, the tide of history left Tuscany behind. When world trade shifted from the Mediterranean to the oceans, our land became just another backwater territory littered with relics of a glorious past. Things didn't necessarily have to go this way, though. There was a crucial time in our history when Tuscany funded a serious expedition to the Americas and was ready to build their very first colony overseas, on the north coast of Brazil. The expedition was a complete success but when the ships came back to Leghorn, the Grand Duke had died and his son was much more interested in what was going on in Lebanon than across the Atlantic. The story of the only expedition by an Italian state in the Americas is quite fascinating, with plenty of facts that are unknown by many Tuscans as well - myself included until a couple of days ago. What would have happened if Ferdinand I had lived just a few months longer and given the green light to the colony of New Tuscany? Would that have been enough to avoid Tuscany from sliding into irrelevance in just a few decades? Plenty of interesting food for thought in this episode. Let us know what you think about it by sending us a message on our social media accounts. Remember, folks, if you don't speak up, we're flying blind. Any feedback is crucial for the future of this podcast. Thanks in advance.
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Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany

LINKS TO SOURCES (ITALIAN ONLY)
https://www.corrieremarittimo.it/ports/da-livorno-la-spedizione-thornton-tentativo-coloniale-di-ferdinando-i-propeller-club/
https://www.polimathes.com/caffe-lettere/storia-della-spedizione-thornton/
http://falsariga.altervista.org/la-toscana-coloniale-la-spedizione-thornton/
https://www.nove.firenze.it/b402280923-toscana-e-mezzogiorno-spagnolo-nel-diario-dell-emiro-fakhr-ad-din.htm
http://www.fmboschetto.it/Utopiaucronia/Darien_Scheme.htm

BACKGROUND MUSIC
Title: Mapping The Stars (Instrumental)
Artist: Pipe Choir
Source: www.pipechoir.com
Links: https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-mapping-the-stars-instrumental
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
#Pipechoir #Mapping The Stars Instrumental #CreativeCommonsRock