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Podcast: The Thinking Traveller
Episode: The Lombards in Northern Italy
Description: The Lombardy region of Italy, bordered on the north by Switzerland and south by the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, has a fascinating and complex history. But where did the name Lombardy originally come from? The Lombards were a Germanic tribe who fought their way across Europe during the Early Middle Ages, before settling on the northern part of the Italian Peninsula where they would establish a powerful kingdom that grew rapidly. In the process, the Lombards became a major thorn in the side of the Byzantine Empire and its capital Constantinople.In the first episode fo...