The virtual exhibition represents an essential companion to the actual show held at the Uffizi Gallery (18 March – 18 June 2001). It is one of the thirteen initiatives of the great "multicentral" exhibition Mille Anni di Scienza in Italia (A Thousand Years of Science in Italy). Besides the virtual exhibition tour, it is possible to gain access to plenty of web resources concerning the Accademia del Cimento - digital documents and virtual simulations of some important experiments - as well as to explore a mid-17th century meteorological observatory.