Museo Galileo
italiano
Virtual Museum
Camillo della Volpaia
1484-1560

A clockmaker and scientific-instrument maker, Camillo, like his brothers Benvenuto (1486-1532) and Eufrosino (late 15th C. - 16th C.), continued the business of his father Lorenzo (1446-1512), inheriting his workshop in Via dell'Oriuolo in Florence. In 1514, he succeeded his father as keeper of Lorenzo's own splendid Orologio dei Pianeti [Planetary Clock] in the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1534, he was asked to prepare astrological forecasts to determine the appropriate moment for the placing of the first stone of the Fortezza da Basso, designed by Antonio da Sangallo (1483-1546). In 1542, he made a wooden sundial, preserved at the Museo Galileo of Florence (inv. 2488).