Museo di Storia della Scienza
(Italian pronunciation: moo-zay-oh   dee   stoh-ree-ah    day-lah   shee-en-sa)

Piazza Giudici, 1
addmission: Euro 6,50
Museo di Storia della Scienza website

Adjacent to the Uffizi, This museum houses an important collection of scientific instruments in a carefully arranged layout, the proof that Florence's interest in science from the thirteenth century onwards was as great as its interest in art. It was the interest of the Medici and Lorraine families in the natural sciences, physics and mathematics which prompted them to collect precious and visually beautiful scientific instruments along with paintings and other objects of art and natural curiosities; this provided the nucleus for this museum. It is well-known that Cosimo I and Francesco de' Medici encouraged the scientific and artistic researches carried out in the Grand Ducal workshops, but also members of the Medici family in the seventeenth century protected and personally followed physics experiments in the full light of Galileo's method.  Very important exhibits include the original scientific instruments used by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).  Exhibits include his telescopes and the lens he used to discover the largest moons of Jupiter.  The museum also features large-scale reconstructions of his experiments into motion, weight, velocity and acceleration.