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The acclaimed novelist Sarah Dunant explores the craft of blending fact and fiction to understand the past in a beguiling series of essays centred on the Renaissance icon Isabella d'Este, The Marchesa of Mantua. Written and read by Sarah Dunant. The best-selling author of the acclaimed Italian Renaissance novels The Birth of Venus, Blood and Beauty and now, The Marchesa, takes us into the archives where she uncovers a wealth of letters and other documentation charting the wonders of the high Renaissance and the life and times of its first female art collector, fashion icon and political operator, Isabella d'Este, marchesa of Mantua. In this illuminating series Sarah Dunant unearths wonders that bring alive the past, how people lived, their values and their beliefs. Taking as her starting point the novelist L.P. Hartley's line 'the past is a foreign country' Sarah explores how we must sometimes suspend our own judgements to understand the social, political and cultural forces that determined the outcome of world events and every day life. From the acquisition of assets, art and horses, to the fealty of pets, the vicissitudes of motherhood, sex and marriage, and the wielding of cultural influence, Unearthing the Past gives us insights into how we might better understand and appreciate our colourful forebears. You can hear more from Sarah Dunant about Isabella d'Este on Not Just The Tudors, available now on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Sounds. From the Aztecs to witches, Prof Suzannah Lipscomb talks all aspects of the Tudor period. Produced by Elizabeth Allard