The Renaissance

The photograph to the left shows the objective lens of the telescope with which Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter in 1609. It is in the Museum of Science in Florence, directly behind the Uffizi art gallery. One room is devoted to Galileo memorabilia - inclined planes, telescopes, pendulums, and Galileo's finger. The museum is really quite good, but no photography is allowed in the Galileo room. I did, however, take this picture. It was on a poster hanging on a wall outside the museum!

Galileo was professor of mathematics at the University of Padua (Padova) when he began investigating the heavens with the telescope. The University of Padua is the second oldest university in Italy (Bolonga is the the first), and has had numerous illustrious alumni, including Copernicus and Dante. These photographs depict various scenes around the old part of the school. The photo at the upper left is the entrance to the Alta Magna (Great Hall) where Galileo delivered lectures on mathematics, physics and astronomy. The picture in the center is a view of the old courtyard; the Alta Magna is directly across the courtyard from the photo viewpoint. The final scene shows modern students walking past the Galileo memorial unveiled in 1992 as part of celebrations associated with the 400th anniversary of Galileo's tenure at the university. This is very near the spot where Galileo attempted to show the professors the moons of Jupiter with his telescope without much success.

One really disappointing aspect of my visit was that none of the rooms were open to the public. The university fathers had recently decided that they were "not in the tourist business", so you could see the old courtyard and the outside of the buildings but nothing inside. This was especially frustrating since you can take a "virtual tour" at the university website (University of Padua). As of this writing (9/2002), the hall has been reopened to visitors and I am looking forward to leading a tour there in the summer of 2003.

Galileo spent many happy days in Venice. When he visited the city, he stayed mostly with his friend and patron the Venetian nobleman Sagredo who had pretty fancy digs along the Grand Canal (left, center images). It was here that Galileo met the woman who would become the mother of his children. Also during this period he became a favorite of Venice's ruler, the Doge. From the top of the Campanile Galileo (right) demonstrated the usefulness of the telescope for maritime trade.

Although Galileo had a secure, tenured position in Venice, he always wanted to go back to his native Tuscany (there was no united Italy in those days). He was offered a post in Florence by the city's rulers, the Medici family, after, among other things, naming the newly discovered moons of Jupiter for the four Medici brothers. The thirteenth century Duomo (cathedral) and the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge across the Ano River lined with shops), dominate Florence today much as they did in Galileo's day. Generally speaking, relocating to Florence was not a good move. The pulpit of Santa Maria Novella (right photo) is where Father Caccini denounced Galileo's book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Father Caccini's sermon, prefaced with the phrase, "O ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up in the heavens?", was the opening salvo in a theological battle which would end in Galileo's disgrace and imprisonment (The Galileo Project site has a student "reconstruction" of this sermon).

Galileo ended his life under house arrest in this house (left photo) in the Florence suburb of Arcetri. The exterior of the house looks pretty much as it did in Galileo's day except there is now a bust of Galileo in a niche in the street-facing outer wall (center photo). The view from around in back of the house is quite agreeable - the Tuscan Hills, dotted with posh villas (right photo). As with so many Galileo - related sites, the house is not open to the public (however, across the street there is a great restaurant with superb views of Florence!) . I am hoping to make arrangements to visit the interior of the house during my summer 2003 tour of Italy.


The Great Hall	Courtyard, University of Padua	Commemorative Sculpture


Window, Palazzo Sagredo	Palazzo Sagredo	Campanile, Piazza San Marco


Florence Duomo	*Shop windows along the Ponte Vecchio*	*Santa Maria Novella*


Galileo's final residence in Arcetri	Bust of Galileo	View of Tuscan Hills from Arectri


Galileo's Final Tomb (1737)	Tomb Detail (moons of Jupiter)	Tomb Detail (dynamics of moving bodies)