Who was the Husband Poisoner of Renaissance Italy?
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Odourless, tasteless, colourless, lethal. In the mid-17th century, men were dropping like flies in Italy. And this wasn't just the plague - it was the work of the poison Aqua Tofana.
So what is Aqua Tofana? And who was its apocryphal purveyor, Giulia Tofana? In this episode we are diving back to Renaissance Italy to learn more about a circle of women poisoners, and the men they chose to murder. How did they eventually get caught? What is their legacy?
Kate is joined by Cathryn Kemp, author of historical novel, 'A Poisoner's Tale'.
This episode was edited by Tim Arstall and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister. |
| 0:02.4 | If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit. |
| 0:08.7 | With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters. |
| 0:16.1 | And enjoy a new release every single week. |
| 0:19.8 | Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:24.6 | Hello, my lovely bird twixters. |
| 0:26.4 | It's me, Cade Lister. |
| 0:27.8 | How are you? |
| 0:28.6 | Nice to see you again. |
| 0:31.1 | Pull up a chair, pull up a chair, let's make some room at the back for everyone else. |
| 0:34.8 | But before we can go any further, I do have to tell you, this is |
| 0:38.8 | an adult podcast, spoken by adults, to other adults about adulty things in an adulty way, |
| 0:42.2 | covering a range of adult subjects, and you should be an adult too. Today is a particularly spicy |
| 0:46.5 | episode because we're talking about the history of poisoning husbands. So don't be getting any bright |
| 0:52.3 | ideas, you lot. I know what you like. Right, on with the show. |
| 0:59.9 | We are in Rome in the 1650s, and there are so many people around. Don't they know there's just been a |
| 1:07.9 | plague? Shouldn't they all be at home, self-isolating? There's quite a |
| 1:12.1 | cue for the bakers. They seem to be up early for mass, and they're chattering quietly beside the |
| 1:17.6 | doors of the Kiesa de Santa Maria. There are families, couples, old maids, young women, lots of young |
| 1:26.3 | women, actually. Lots of widows. Why are there so many widows here? Is there some kind of widow festival on that I am unaware of? But all of these women have one other woman in common, the notorious Juliana Tafana. And quite how this woman has been responsible |
| 1:44.7 | for making as many widows as I'm seeing around here |
| 1:47.5 | is the subject of today's episode. |
... |
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