February, 20 and 21
Museo Galileo celebrates its second National Braille Day (February 21) through a series of events that have been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Tuscan Braille Printery and the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired.
On Saturday, February 20, at 6 p.m., Teatro 13 (via Nicolodi 2, Firenze) will host a talk, with Andrea Gori and Sara Bonechi (Museo Galileo), on Galileo’s life and scientific discoveries. On this occasion, philologically accurate versions of the clothes he and the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine wore will be at the disposal of visitors, who will be able to wear them and touch their precious textiles.
On Sunday, February 21, Museo Galileo will offer an amusing afternoon at its own premises. At 3 p.m. an educational activity (in Italian) will introduce to the figure and history of Louis Braille, who invented the special writing system for the blind that made him a famous man of science. At 4 p.m. Emma Angelini (Politecnico di Torino) will present “A lume di naso” (in Italian), an activity centered on the sense of smell.
From February 21 to 28 the exhibition Braille Writing Techniques and Instruments will be displayed for the second time at Museo Galileo. It illustrates through a tactile tour ways how the blind can access museums and engage with the works on display. The exhibition also aims to offer sighted visitors the opportunity of coming into direct contact with a different form of communication code. The exhibition displays Braille writing instruments and early-20th-century tactile books bearing witness to the activity of Braille Printery in Florence, as well as the image molds used for the Braille guide book of the Museo Galileo.
Thanks to Olfattorio for their kind collaboration.
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Useful links
- Unione Italiana Ciechi e Ipovedenti Firenze (Italian only)
- Stamperia Braille (Italian only)
- Olfattorio (Italian only)
Pdf resources- Olfattorio: a presentation (Italian only)