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Florentine observatories
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Florence boasts a long tradition of astronomical studies documented as early as the Middle Ages in the "solstice" marble slab of the Baptistry of San Giovanni. Other significant testimony is found in later periods: the large gnomon of Paolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelli in the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Ptolemaic "planetarium" painted on the inside of the dome of the Sagrestia Vecchia of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, the astronomical instruments of Ignazio Danti in Santa Maria Novella, and the large armillary sphere of Antonio Santucci. Florence's first astronomical observatory was founded in 1756 by the Jesuit Leonardo Ximenes in the convent of San Giovannino, which also set up a teaching chair in astronomy that remained active until the mid-19th C. Between 1780 and 1789, at the behest of Grand Duke Peter Leopold, the Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale opened an observation facility (Specola) that remained practically unused until 1824, when Jean-Louis Pons—already director of the small Observatory of Marlia, near Lucca—was appointed to head it. In 1831, the directorship of the Florentine observatory passed to Giovan Battista Amici, also known as a microscope- and telescope-maker. The transfer of the Specola from the tower of Via Romana to the Arcetri hill—a place better suited to astronomical observation and rich with Galilean memories—was carried out by Giovan Battista Donati. The new Observatory was inaugurated in 1872.

Objects
Amici I telescope

Amici I telescope

Inv. 3795
Giovanni Battista Amici, Italy, first half 19th cent.

Amici II telescope

Amici II telescope

Inv. 345
Giovanni Battista Amici, Italy, first half 19th cent.

Dipleidoscope

Dipleidoscope

Inv. 595
Giovanni Battista Amici, Italy, first half 19th cent.

Dividing engine

Dividing engine

Inv. 3457
Maker unknown, Florence, first half 19th cent.

Lens

Lens

Inv. 2545, 2710/bis
Benedetto Bregans (lens), Francesco Spighi, Gaspero Mazzeranghi (mount), Lens: Dresden / Mount: Florence, Lens: 1690 / Mount: 1767

Mobile mount for eyepiece

Mobile mount for eyepiece

Inv. 3218
Giovanni Battista Amici, Modena, before 1831

Mobile mount for eyepiece

Mobile mount for eyepiece

Inv. 3242
Galgano Gori, Florence, 1838

Newtonian telescope

Newtonian telescope

Inv. 2707
Leto Guidi, Italy, 18th cent.

Newtonian telescope

Newtonian telescope

Inv. 2709
Maker unknown, 18th cent.

Newtonian telescope

Newtonian telescope

Inv. 2710
Maker unknown, 18th cent.

Objective lens

Objective lens

Inv. 3397
Giovanni Battista Amici [attr.], Italy, first half 19th cent.

Repeating circle

Repeating circle

Inv. 576
Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach, Munich, first half 19th cent.

Spectroscope

Spectroscope

Inv. 1394
Giovanni Battista Amici, Italy, first half 19th cent.

Spectroscope

Spectroscope

Inv. 1395
Maker unknown, 19th cent.

Universal theodolite

Universal theodolite

Inv. 3796
Repsold firm, Hamburg, 1839