Villa Il Gioiello
Villa at Arcetri where Galileo Galilei lived under house arrest from 1633 until his death, open only by booking on a guided tour.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The villa, with the farmland known as Il Gioiello, is at Arcetri, on the hills south of Florence. Galileo rented it in 1631, urged by his daughter Virginia, Sister Maria Celeste, a nun in the nearby monastery of San Matteo, about three hundred metres away. After the sentence of the Holy Office in 1633 he lived here under house arrest: the manuscript of the Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi took shape here, and it was published in 1632; here the scientist completed the Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze, published in the Netherlands in 1638, by which time he was blind.
In the last months of his life Galileo had his pupils Vincenzo Viviani and Evangelista Torricelli at his side. He died in the villa on 8 January 1642. The building has a U-shaped plan around a courtyard with a two-level loggia; since 1920 it has been a national monument, belongs to the Demanio dello Stato (State property office) and is entrusted to the University of Florence, which looks after it through the Sistema Museale di Ateneo.
Restored in 2006, the villa hosts meetings and seminars of the Arcetri research centres brought together in the project Il Colle di Galileo. In October 2018 a new display was inaugurated, promoted by the Fondazione CR Firenze with the support of the Museo Galileo and the Accademia dei Georgofili, which reconstructs and furnishes some significant rooms: the studiolo with authentic 17th-century furniture, the kitchen and the cellar.
Highlights
- Galileo's studiolo with authentic 17th-century furniture
- Kitchen and cellar reconstructed in the 2018 display
- Two-level loggia around the courtyard
- Bust of Galileo with an inscription of 1843 on the façade
- Land where Galileo grew his vegetable garden
Permanent exhibition
- La casa di Galileo – Route through the rooms of the villa, with the studiolo furnished with period furniture and the kitchen and cellar reconstructed in 2018.
- Operated by
- Università degli Studi di Firenze (Sistema Museale di Ateneo); proprietà del Demanio dello Stato
Admission & discounts
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Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
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Amenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
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Plan your visit
| Guided tours | yes |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Visits only with a guide and by appointment. For booking information, contact the Sistema Museale di Ateneo of the University of Florence. |
