Florence and Science

Florence and Science: Collections, Places and Personalities in 19th-Century Florence staged a number of events recalling the extraordinary period when Florence was one of the European capitals of scientific knowledge. During the first half of the 19th century, technological development and growing interest in science deeply influenced both Italian and European society, resulting in unprecedented progress in every field from mathematics, physics and chemistry to biology. Nourished by the increased interest in the usefulness of science during the Enlightenment, the Galilean heritage became an instrument of social, economic and cultural progress which was cultivated with astute foresight by the Lorraine Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Florence and Science was featured at four separate exhibition sites throughout Florence: Physics in Florence during the 19th Century: Working Machines and Models at the Museo di Storia della Scienza, Galileo’s Tribune and the Florentine Specola at the Museo di Storia Naturale “La Specola”, Teaching Science in the 19th Century at the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, and Florence 1829: Art, Science and Society at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi.

Exhibition Dates