Following the success of the first season of Freddie del Curatolo’s podcast on the History of Italians in Kenya—which you can also find on Freddie’s Spotify channel at this link: https://open.spotify.com/show/6JCLE3EMMOCRSe9QXrIyBx—here is a list of all the episodes with links to their respective YouTube channels.

Episode 1 “The Mystery of the Vivaldis”

Freddie del Curatolo presents a series on the origins and history of our presence in Kenya, featuring legends, pioneers, events, and often-unknown figures. A story that’s often hard to find online and the result of information gathered over many years from archives, firsthand accounts, readings, and connections that are sometimes unimaginable. A story that, in this way, no one else can tell you. In this first episode: A journey (by sea) in search of the first Italian to land in Kenya, more than seven hundred years ago.

https://youtu.be/SdjY14L3gtg

Episode 2 “Sorleone”

Amid legends, manuscripts, and oral tradition, we set out in search of the first Italian to land in the African country from which the stories of our compatriots are told. Discovering incredible coincidences and parallels, leading up to a final revelation, everything seems to come full circle...because in Africa, you don’t go—you return!

https://youtu.be/VdXUmmusEdA

Episode 3 “The Consolata Fathers”

In this episode: the arrival in the early 20th century of the first Italian mission in Kenya, that of the Consolata Fathers of Turin... who initially had no intention...

https://youtu.be/bIVVhu57j9I

Episode 4 “Saints, Ants, and Giants”

The work of men of faith—missionaries, nuns, and lay brothers—has been of immense value to Kenya and has enabled many of its inhabitants to study, learn a trade, and receive medical care. Walking alongside them, between Nairobi and the slopes of Mount Kenya, we will discover some Italians who have left an indelible mark on Kenyan society today.

https://youtu.be/PtQ3bTsjsCQ

Episode 5 “From Friuli to Africa”

The arrival in Kenya of the first poor emigrants in the 1930s, when Italians were seeking their fortunes all over the world and some, perhaps not by their own choice, arrived in Mombasa on a ship bound for elsewhere… they stayed and recruited converts. As in the case of a small Friulian colony

https://youtu.be/rYVGQdak5FE

Episode 6 “Noble Flights Over the Land of Africa”

In addition to missionaries and emigrants seeking opportunities, noblemen and adventurers also arrived in East Africa. Some of them were among the first Italian pilots, but even while viewing Kenya from above, they decided to keep their feet on the ground and become owners of large plantations.

https://youtu.be/I4_CeFVptKs

Episode 7 “Prisoners in Kenya”

We have reached the eve of World War II, when living conditions for Italians in Kenya suddenly changed, as they were considered enemies of the British following Benito Mussolini’s declaration of war.

What will happen to the hundreds of residents who had by then put down roots in the country, including missionaries, landowners, workers, and many of the characters we met in previous episodes? And how will the deportees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia who survive remain attached to the African soil?

https://youtu.be/OmiFfQ2uzJU

Episode 8 “Mackinnon and roads”

We discuss Mackinnon Road, an Italian stronghold in the middle of the Kenyan savanna in 1949, which vanished within three years. From that place of anecdotes worthy of a film, different paths lead toward the famous and terrible Mau Mau uprising and Kenya’s independence... but in the meantime, the Italians...

https://youtu.be/jWFHeI-9xWw

Episode 9 “Mau Mau”

The story of our compatriots in Kenya is intertwined with the history of the African country. In this case, with Kenya’s struggle for independence from British colonialism in the early 1950s. A story steeped in the blood of the violent terrorist actions of the movement known as the Mau Mau, and the even more terrible repression by the British army. Amid this war, the lives of some Italians are in danger or cut short...

https://youtu.be/kVpZZAtPOdw

Episode 10 “A New Dawn”

We are at the dawn of the country’s independence from British colonial rule, and many Italians see an opportunity to start a new life: both those who have resettled after captivity and those emerging from the terrifying years of the Mau Mau uprising. Alongside them are many new immigrants, travelers, and businesspeople who are stepping into what is about to become a new Kenya. And also two courageous women who will serve as a point of reference for Italians in Kenya in the years to come...

https://youtu.be/Te32c0TwZr4

Episode 11 “Uhuru, Free Spirits”

The story of our compatriots in Kenya is one that inevitably and increasingly intertwines with that of the country itself, especially when it finally gains independence from the British. It is 1963, and from that point on, many things will never be the same; many relationships will change, and many Italians will arrive with new visions and intentions...

https://youtu.be/79Z1B2WJXRc

Episode 12 “Luigi Broglio”

This is a special episode focusing on the African experience of one of Italy’s most important scientists, who spent nearly thirty years in Malindi and established the only Italian space center abroad, as well as the first in Africa.

https://youtu.be/CX0vzNAsYvY

Episode 13 “Hunters”

This episode sheds light on one of the emblematic and controversial activities that both the local population and foreigners engaged in, from ancient times until 1977, at least in a free and authorized manner. It discusses so-called “big game hunting” and the Italian hunters who took part in it. And why, when it was permitted, there were far more animals in Kenya...

https://youtu.be/Oqx7e_OFwBk

Episode 14 “Summer at the Equator”

In this episode of The History of Italians in Kenya, we tell the story of a song and the extraordinary life that gave birth to it, watched it grow, and sent it out into the world. Or perhaps the other way around… while the songwriter chose the sea and the African savanna.

https://youtu.be/FOaNMYUUyJE

Episode 15 “A Plan in Africa”

The first season concludes with a link to current events, also telling the Kenyan story of an enlightened Italian entrepreneur and a Kenyan who, like him, was eventually silenced...

https://youtu.be/x-w7qkOJhi0