The Borgia Pope

Has anyone seen the American Showtime production 'The Borgias'?  It's lavish and dramatic with a generous bounty of scenes from the Italian countryside and cities.  It stars the celebrated Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander Sextus and the handsome French-Canadian actor François Arnaud as Cesare Borgia.  It's probably way more soap opera than history, but I found it interesting enough to watch it twice.  There's very little Italian spoken in it, but the writer (Neil Jordan) does try to avoid anglicizing most of the Italian names.  For example, Cesare is not pronounced Cees-zer, but Chez-a-ray.  Reference to Italian cities such as Napoli, Firenze, etc., however, retain their English equivalents.  

 François Arnaud as Cardinal Cesare Borgia

They were a fascinating family, the Borgias.  Apparently originating from Spain, they basically ruled a large part of Italy for years.  But enemies were all around and many influential Italians struggled to depose 'that Borgia pope.'  

In short, it's an easy, pleasurable way to acquire a little Italian history of one of the most turbulent and fabulous times in Italian history.  I'd like to see one about the Medici next.