A lecture by Natacha Fabbri
In Galileo’s Florence, the telescope transformed the observation of the sky, reshaped humanity’s understanding of the cosmos, and served the Medici court’s ambitious use of science to project dynastic power. Yet the new cosmos of the early seventeenth century was not only a scientific and political arena: it also became a space in which women could claim new forms of visibility.
This talk explores how, in the cultural world of Medici Florence, the heavens were reimagined as a language through which to debate women’s dignity, authority, and place within the order of knowledge. From Cristoforo Bronzini’s reinterpretation of celestial harmony in support of women’s equality, to the symbolic presence of Medici women in the new astronomy, and to the broader literary culture in which women writers asserted their intellectual authority, the lecture traces how gender entered the very fabric of the early modern cosmos.
Against the backdrop of Galileo’s discoveries and the first women to engage with telescopic observation, it reveals how the sky became a site where science, power, and ideas of equality converged.
Natacha Fabbri (PhD, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa) is a historian of science and philosophy specialising in Galileo, early modern astronomy, and the intersections of science with gender and music. She currently leads several research and public engagement projects at the Museo Galileo in Florence.
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please register here or send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it
The registration fee is 15 Euro per person.
To join this lecture online, simply click on this link to register and receive the Zoom meeting invitation: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/_KYsmUkyR0Go4uouwifaKw The virtual doors will open at 18:00 Italian time on Wednesday 18th November.
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This lecture is curated and presented in partnership with Calliope Arts