Class Field Trips!

The last couple of Renaissance Art & Science classes we've had have been psuedo-field trips.. one to the Museo di Storia della Scienza (Museum of the History of Science), and another to the Palazzo Pitti.

The museum is connected to the Museo d'Uffizi, which is another well known art museum, and houses a large number of scientific instruments ranging from early history through the Renaissance, all the way up to around the 19th century. For our class, we were focusing on optical instruments, including many an interesting telescope, including one of Galileo's! We also got a chance to see some of Galileo's drawings of the moon, which included craters and all sorts of things we take as normal, but at the time were very controversial, because the moon was considered a heavenly body that was perfectly smooth, at least according to ancient Greek philosophers.

At the Palazzo Pitti, the "new" Medici family home (they lived in the Palazzo Vecchio before becoming Grand Dukes of Tuscany), we saw a science exhibition "The Medici and Science".
There, we got a chance to see more scientific instruments, along with some actual manuscripts of maps made of Europe during the Renaissance. One particular instrument we saw was a recreation of a machine that was built to help erect Brunelleschi's dome on top of the Duomo, which in real life was absolutely massive. Another fun fact about the Palazzo Pitti.. the Medici sometimes would flood their courtyard in the middle of the palace, and have mock naval battles on it for entertainment purposes! How about that for a house, huh?

Not to mention the Palazzo Pitti has the Boboli Gardens attached to it (built by the Medici), which we've visited before. The gardens are both huge and beautiful. See our Boboli Garden Photos