Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The kitchen, which was built
on the top floor to stop fumes
passing through the entire
house, now contains Horne's
collection of Renaissance pots
and cooking utensils.
are on show here. Of equal
interest are the huge globes
made during the 16th and
17th centuries to illustrate the
motion of the planets and stars.
Also look out for Lopo
Homem's map of the world,
dating to 1554, and the nautical
instruments invented by Sir
Robert Dudley, the Elizabethan
marine engineer. He was
employed by the Medici dukes
to build the harbour at Livorno
from 1607-21
(see p162)
.
Museo di Storia
della Scienza
e
Piazza de' Giudici 1.
Map
4 D1 (6
D4).
Tel
055 265 311.
2
B, 23.
#
winter: 9:30am-5pm Mon-Sat (to
1pm Tue), 10am-1pm second Sun of
the month; summer: 9:30am-5pm
Mon-Sat (to 1pm Tue & Sat).
¢
1 Jan, 25 Apr, 1 May, 24 Jun, 15
Aug, 8, 25 & 26 Dec.
Museo Horne
&
^
7
Santa Croce
q
See pp72-3.
This small museum is some-
thing of a shrine to the Pisa-
born scientist 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 acceler-
ation. These are sometimes
demonstrated by the attendants.
In memory of Galileo, in
1657 Florence founded the
world's first-ever scientific
institution, the Accademia
del Cimento (Academy for
Experimentation). Some of the
academy's inventions, such
as early thermometers,
hygrometers and
barometers
Museo Horne
w
Via de' Benci 6.
Map
4 D1 (6 F4)
.
Tel
055 24 46 61.
#
9am-1pm
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), court
mathematician to the Medici
Mon-Sat.
1 Jan, Easter Sun,
Easter Mon, 25 Apr, 1 May, 15 Aug,
1 Nov, 25-26 Dec.
¢
&
6
Santo Stefano al
Ponte
r
Piazza Santo Stefano al Ponte.
Map
3 C1 (6 D4)
.
Tel
055 22 58 43.
Phone to check opening times.
The museum's small collection
of paintings, sculpture and
decorative arts was left to the
city by Herbert Percy Horne
(1844-1916), the English art
historian. It is housed in a
splendid example of a Ren-
aissance
palazzino
(small town
house), built in 1489 for the
wealthy Alberti family.
The arrangement of rooms,
with a working and storage
area at ground level and
grander apartments above, is
typical of many Renaissance
houses. The Alberti family,
who grew wealthy from the
city's thriving cloth trade, had
wool-dyeing vats in the
basement and drying
racks in the courtyard.
Most of the museum's major
artifacts, for instance a
number of important 17th-
and 18th-century drawings,
are now housed in the Uffizi.
However, the collection still
boasts at least one major
exhibit: Giotto's 13th-century
St Stephen
polyptych (an
altarpiece with more than
three panels). There is also
a
Madonna and Child
attributed to Simone Martini
(1283-1344) and
Madonna
by
Bernardo Daddi (c.1312-48).
St Stephen “by the bridge”,
dating to 969, is so called
because of its close
proximity to the
Ponte Vecchio.
Armillary sphere of 1564, used to map the stars and planets
