Galileo's Six Trips to Rome

William R. Shea
and
Mariano Artigas
THE GALILEO AFFAIR
January 2006

GALILEO’S SIX TRIPS TO ROME
• 1587 JOB HUNTING
• 1611 ROMAN TRIUMPH
• 1616 ROMAN CLOUDS
• 1624 ROMAN SUNSHINE
• 1630 STAR-CROSSED HEAVENS
• 1633 FOUL WEATHER IN ROME

First Trip (1587) - JOB HUNTING
•Galileo was 23 years old
•He was searching for a job
•Date of the trip: 1587
(letter from Clavius)
•Galileo and the Jesuits of
the Roman College
•The Rome of Sixtus V
(1585-1590)

Christopher
Clavius
(1537-1612),
famous Jesuit
astronomer in
the Roman
College,
whom Galileo
met in his
first trip to
Rome

Pope Sixtus V
(1585-1590)
approves a work
of architect
Domenico
Fontana, whom
he
commissioned
to do many
public works in
Rome

Fontana
dell’acqua
felice, the
Roman end of
a long
aqueduct built
by Sixtus V
(1587, the
year of
Galileo’s first
trip)

Inscription in the Fontana dell’acqua
felice (Sixtus V, 1587)

Fontana dell’acqua felice, detail

Obelisks were
symbols of
immortality for the
pharaohs, one of the
most popular
trophies for Roman
conquerors in
ancient Egypt. Pope
Sixtus V situated
them in centric
places in Rome,
under the Cross, as
symbols of the
victory of
Christianity. This is
at St Peter’s Square

Latin
inscription
by Pope
Sixtus V at
the Vatican
Obelisk,
dated 1586

Putting the
Vatican
Obelisk in
place at St.
Peter’s
Square, a
historical
event

Obelisk of Santa
Maria Maggiore:
at one time in
Egypt,
afterwards at
Emperor
Augustus’s
Mausoleum in
Rome, finally
placed by Pope
Sixtus V in its
present location

Obelisk at
Saint John
Lateran,
retrieved
from the
Circus
Maximus

Correspondence Galileo-Clavius
There are no documents reporting
Galileo’s first trip to Rome in 1587.
On 8 January 1588, Galileo (in
Florence) wrote a letter to Clavius
(in Rome), reminding him of their
encounter in Rome, and dealing
with scientific issues. Clavius
answered him with a letter dated
January 16.

Second Trip: 29 March to 4 June 1611
ROMAN TRIUMPH
• 1609-1610: telescopic discoveries,
published in 1610 in Sidereus
Nuncius (The Starry Messenger)
• 19 April: Bellarmine’s letter to the
Roman College
• 22 April: meeting with Pope Paul V
• 25 April: member of the Academy of
the Lynxes
• 13 May: Honors in the Roman College

Galileo’s telescopic discoveries
in 1609-1610
•Mountains and craters in
the Moon
•Jupiter’s four satellites
•Multitude of stars
•Venus’ phases

Observation
of Jupiter’s
moons,
handwritten
by Galileo

Cosimo II (1590-1621)
Grand Duke of
Tuscany (1609-1621)
Galileo was his private
tutor in summer
(1605-1608), and in
1610 was appointed as
his first mathematician
and philosopher

In 1610 Galileo
published his
astronomical
discoveries in
the Sidereus
Nuncius, a best
seller that made
him famous in
Europe

The building
of the
Roman
College
houses a
high school
now

Federico Cesi
(1585-1630), a
Roman noble,
founder of the
Academy of the
Lynxes, a very
good friend of
Galileo

Signature of
the four
first
members of
the
Academy of
the Lynxes
17 August
1603

Using the telescope in the Gianicolo to
view the Lateran
During the banquet organized
by Federico Cesi on the hill of
the Gianicolo, close to St.
Peter’s, they used the
telescope in daylight to view
the inscription of Sixtus V in
the façade of St. John at the
Lateran, several miles away.

Lateran Palace. Right: Loggia of the
benedictions (Sixtus V)

The inscription of Sixtus V at the Lateran (1586) viewed
by Galileo and his friends with the telescope in 1611

Galileo’s signature as a
member of the Academy of the
Lynxes
25 April 1611

Paul V
(1605-
1621)
Cardinal
Camillo
Borghese,
from a noble
Roman family

Mariano Artigas before St. Peter’s façade

Paul V at St Peter’s façade (1612)

Third Trip
10 December 1615 – 4 June 1616
ROMAN CLOUDS
• 7 February 1615: Galileo denounced to Rome
• Galileo goes to Rome to prevent condemnation
• 12 April 1615: Bellarmine’s letter to Foscarini
• Galileo’s intense activity in Rome
• 24 February 1616: censure of the 11 theologians
• 26 February 1616: Galileo meets Bellarmine
• 5 March 1616: anti-Copernican decree of the Index
• 11 March 1616: Galileo meets Pope Paul V
• 26 May 1616: Bellarmine’s certificate for Galileo

Benedetto Castelli
Galileo’s faithful
friend, disciple,
and collaborator. A
Benedictine,
professor of
mathematics, who
did not see any
opposition
between
Copernicanism
and the Bible

Christina of
Lorraine
wife of Grand Duke
Ferdinand I, and
mother of Grand Duke
Cosimo II

Galileo’s denunciation
before Rome (1615)
• On 7 February 1615, Niccolò Lorini, a
Florentine Dominican friar, sent a copy
of the Letter to Castelli to Cardinal
Sfondrati, Prefect of the Congregation
of the Index in Rome, denouncing
some errors of the Galileists
• Lorini had commented the issue with
other monks at the convent of St. Mark
in Florence

Niccolò Lorini and Tommaso Caccini
• Both were Dominicans
• Caccini preached against Galileo from
the pulpit of Santa Maria Novella on 21
December 1614. In 1615, after Lorini’s
denounciation, he went to Rome to
declare against Galileo
• On the occasion of Lorini’s denunciation
in 1615, the Holy Office opened a
secret process, gathered a couple of
declarations, but nothing important
happened until 1616

The dogs of the Lord
• Dominicans considered themselves the
guardians of the Catholic faith, the dogs of
the Lord (in Latin, Domini-canes)
• In the cloister of Santa Maria Novella, a
large fresco represents people walking to
heaven. Dogs in white and black represent
Dominicans defending them against enemies
• But there were important Dominicans who
were on Galileo’s side, and did not see
opposition between Copernicanism and the
Bible

Santa Maria Novella, in Florence

Santa Maria
Novella, pulpit.
Tommaso
Caccini
preached
against Galileo
here, on 21
December
1614

Fresco of the Domini canes in Santa Maria Novella

Altar of St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-
1621), in the church of St. Ignatius in
Rome

Copernicanism and the Bible
• Galileo attempted to show that
Copernicanism was compatible with the Bible
in his Letter to Castelli and Letter to
Christina of Lorraine
• The conflict could have been avoided
applying well-known rules of interpretation
when the Bible speaks on scientific issues
• The circumstances of the Counter-
reformation (polemics with Protestants) led
to interpret the passages of the Bible in an
excessively rigid way

In 1616, nobody considered Galileo
the father of modern empirical science
• Modern empirical science did not exist
yet, only initial fragments
• Galileo was famous due to his
telescopic discoveries of 1609-1610.
But he published his major works only
many years later: the Dialogue in
1632, and the Discorsi in 1638.
• He did not have real proofs of
Copernicanism

The opinion of the 11
theologians of the Holy Office
On 24 February 1616, 11 theologians of the
Holy Office reported that the notion that the
Sun is at the centre of the world and at rest is
“foolish and absurd in philosophy, and
formally heretical, inasmuch as it expressly
contradicts the doctrine of the Holy Scripture
in many passages”
This opinion influenced the course of the
events, but was not included in any public
document of the Magisterium of the Popes

The condemnation of Copernicanism
did not involve the Pope’s infallibility
The decrees of the Congregation of the Index
were disciplinary (they forbade books). The
anti-Copernican decree was published under
the authority of the Congregation (not of the
Pope, who was not mentioned)
The decree stated that Copernicanism was
opposed to the Bible, but did not condemn it as
a heresy: everybody knew that such a decree
could be revoked

In 1616, the Roman authorities
could have taken a softer course
Bellarmine was more
strict that the Council of
Trent, refusing to
acknowledge, with
Galileo and the Council,
that Copernicanism was
not a matter of faith,
and that the Bible does
not intend to teach this
kind of subject

Fourth Trip:
23 April 1624 - 16 June 1624
ROMAN SUNSHINE
• 1623: Cardinal Maffeo Barberini becomes
Pope Urban VIII
• 1624: six meetings with the Pope
• Speaking with the Pope about Copernicus?
• Urban VIII to Cardinal Zollern:
Copernicanism cannot be proven
• Urban’s argument on God’s omnipotence
• The doctrine of the Eucharist, sensible
qualities, and the denunciation of The
Assayer

In 1619, the
Jesuit Orazio
Grassi published
in Rome the
lecture he had
addresed in the
Roman College
on the three
comets seen in
1618

Galileo’s
reply to
Grassi was
written by his
disciple Mario
Guiducci, and
was
published in
Florence in
1619

Grassi replied
to Galileo with
his Libra
astronomica,
published in
Perugia in
1619, using
the pen name
Lotharius
Sarsi

In 1623 Galileo
published in
Rome The
Assayer
(Il Saggiatore), a
reply to Grassi,
dedicated to
the new Pope
Urban VIII

In 1626 Grassi
published in
Paris his reply to
Galileo, again
using the pen
name Lotharius
Sarsi

Galileo’s enemies
The bitter polemics with Jesuits Orazio
Grassi on the nature of the comets,
and with Christopher Scheiner on the
sunspots, seriously deteriorated
Galileo’s relationship with the Jesuits.
When he published the Dialogue in
1632, his adversaries were ready to
make the case against him

Cardinal Maffeo
Barberini, Galileo’s
admirer, was
elected Pope
(Urban VIII) in
1623. Galileo
thought this was
his chance to
argue for
Copericanism

Galileo’s letter to
the Grand Duke
of Tuscany (27
April 1624),
recounting his
arrival at Rome
and that the first
day he had been
received by the
Pope

Galileo and Urban VIII in 1624
• In his 1624 trip to Rome, Galileo was
received six times by the Pope, with
manifestations of great affection
• Galileo learned the mind of Urban VIII
on Copernicanism through Cardinal
Zollern. The Pope said that the Church
had only condemned the doctrine of
Copernicus as “rash,” not as heretical.
Nonetheless, he made it clear that, in
his own view, there was no chance that
it would ever be proven true

The “divine
omnipotence
argument” used by
Urban VIII played an
important role in the
Galileo affair: we
cannot be sure that
our theories are true,
as God could produce
the same effects we
observe using causes
unknown to us

Galileo and Urban’s argument
• Urban was very serious with his
argument. If we do not accept it, he
thought, we are denying God’s
omnipotence
• Urban explained his argument to Galileo
when he was a cardinal, before he
became Pope
• He thought that he had convinced
Galileo, so that Galileo would speak of
Copernicanism as a purely mathematical
device useful for calculating the motion of
heavenly bodies

Galileo Heretic?
• In 1981, historian Pietro Redondi was able
to consult in the Vatican archives an
unknown document, which he named G3
• It is a denunciation of Galileo’s atomism
and his negation of the reality of sensible
qualities (color, flavor, etc.), as
incompatible with the Catholic doctrine on
the Eucharist
• He published Galileo heretic,
reinterpreting the Galileo Affair in the light
of this unsigned and undated document

G3, first page
(of three)
Redondi
proposed that
G3 played a
major role in
the Galileo
Affair

EE291, an intriguing new document
• In 1999, Mariano Artigas discovered in the
archives of the Holy Office in Rome an
unsigned and undated document, EE291
• It is a report on the denunciation contained in
G3
• Rafael Martínez determined that the author
was Melchior Inchofer, a Jesuit who
intervened in the trial of Galileo in 1633
• The document raises questions that still
remain unanswered about the role played by
G3 and EE291 in the Galileo Affair

First page of
EE291, an
internal report
of the Vatican
assessing the
denunciation
of Galileo
contained in
G3

Fifth Trip: 3 May 1630 - 26 June 1630
STAR-CROSSED HEAVENS
• searching permission to publish the
Dialogue
• Riccardi’s doubts, almost double game
• 18 May 1630: Galileo meets the Pope
• easy return and difficult permission
• 1 August 1630: Prince Cesi dies
• more difficulties: the plague
• the Thirty Years War
• Galileo’s political pressure to obtain the
permission

Palace of Federico
Cesi, in Rome. Cesi
was to be the
publisher of Galileo’s
Dialogue. He could
have avoided the
dificulties that led to
the trial of Galileo. His
premature death in
1630 was a major
blow for Galileo

Nepotism
reached a high
peak in the
pontificate of
Urban VIII,
represented in
this engraving
with his
nephews

Bernini’s
baldacchino
at St. Peter’s
(1624-1633),
built between
Galileo’s
fourth (1624)
and sixth
(1633) trips
to Rome

The Barberini during the
pontificate of Urban VIII
• Barberini’s memory in Rome is
associated with the Barberini Palace,
whose construction started in 1624
• Also with the adjacent piazza
Barberini, containing two famous
foutains by Bernini: the fontana del
Tritone in the middle of the square,
and the fotana delle api in a corner.

Fontana del Tritone (Bernini, 1642-1643)

Piazza Barberini, with the Fontana del Tritone at the
center

Fontana
delle api
(Bernini,
1644)

Galileo and Velazquez
• In 1630 both Galileo and Velazquez
were guests of the Grand Duque of
Tuscany in his Roman palaces
• Galileo lived with the ambassador in
Palazzo Firenze, Velazquez lived in
the Villa Medici
• There are two paintings of the
gardens of the Villa Medici by
Velazquez

In the Villa
Medici
painting by
Velazquez
(1)

In the Villa
Medici
painting by
Velazquez
(2)

The adventure of the imprimatur
(1)
• Galileo and his friends confided in the
protection of Pope Urban VIII in case of
difficulty
• Niccolò Riccardi, the Master of the
Apostolic Palace, was to deliver the
permission to print the book (the
imprimatur). He realized the difficulties
that could arise, but he also wanted to
please Galileo, who pressed very hard,
using political influences also

The adventure of the imprimatur
(2)
• Riccardi did not want to deliver the
permission until a number of details were
introduced and corrected in the book
• The plague made communication
between Florence and Rome difficult
• Galileo was nervous over the delay, and
finally had the book printed in Florence,
with a permission that did not fully fulfill
Riccardi’s requirements

Galileo and Pope Urban VIII
in 1630
• Pope Urban VIII held Galileo in very high
esteem
• Urban thought that Galileo would present
Copernicanism as a merely mathematical
tool, useful for calculation
• When the Dialogue was published in 1632
and Urban realized that it was a defense of
Copernicanism, he was very angry with
Galileo, as if Galileo had played a double
game with him, abusing the Pope’s friendship

Sixth Trip:
13 February 1633 - 6 July 1633
FOUL WEATHER IN ROME
• 22 February 1632: publication of the
Dialogue
• July 1632: problems begin in Rome
• 23 September 1632: Galileo called to
Rome
• Galileo’s four depositions: 12 April, 30
April, 10 May, 21 June 1633
• 27 April 1633: extra-judiciary settlement
with Maculano
• 22 June 1633: sentence and abjuration
• House arrest: Villa Medici, Siena, Arcetri

Galileo’s
Dialogue on
the two chief
sytems of the
world,
Ptolemaic and
Copernican
was presented
publicly on 22
February 1632

Aristotle,
Ptolomaeus,
and
Copernicus,
represented in
the front
cover of the
Dialogue

Galileo was never in jail
• During the trial (1633) he lived in the Palazzo
Firenze, the house of the ambassador of
Tuscany in Rome
• When he remained in the Holy Office, he lived
in the apartment of one of the officials
• When he was sentenced to prison, this was
immediately commuted to house arrest: in the
Villa Medici in Rome first, then in the palace of
the archbishop of Siena, and finally, from
December 1633 onward, in the Villa del
Gioiello, his own house in Arcetri, in the
outskirts of Florence

Siena: bishop’s palace (left) and cathedral

Villa del Gioiello (Arcetri, Florence)

Galileo’s signature of his first
deposition, 12 April 1633
I, Galileo Galilei, have made a
deposition as above

Galileo’s signature of his second
deposition, 30 April 1633
deposition as above

Galileo’s signature of his third
deposition, 10 May 1633
I, Galileo Galilei, with my own
hand

Galileo’s signature of his fourth
deposition, 21 June 1633
deposition as above

Galileo was not tortured
On Tuesday, 21 June 1633, following the
rules, Commissioner Maculano threatened
Galileo with torture if he did not say the
truth. This was a mere formality, and
Galileo knew this. Five days before, the
Holy Office had already decided the
sentence. There was no torture. Galileo
anwered that he had nothing to add, and
immediately, as the document of his
deposition says, he signed the deposition
and was sent to his lodging.

Galileo’s sentence and abjuration at the
convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva
• It is the only Gothic church in Rome,
built on the ruins of an ancient temple
dedicated to Minerva
• The Roman Inquisition often used the
adjacent convent of the Domnicans for
its meetings
• The elephant in the square (1667) was
designed by Bernini. The obelisk,
dating back to the 6th century B.C.,
formed part of the ruins in that place

right: Santa Maria sopra Minerva
middle of the square: elephant with obelisk

Square of Santa Maria sopra
Minerva

Bernini’s elephant (Santa Maria sopra Minerva)

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, today

The rise and fall of an
uneasy genius
Galileo was a brilliant star. In 1611, when
he was 47 years old, he was publicly
honored at the Roman College of the
Jesuits. Ironically, in 1633 he heard his
condemnation in the nearby convent of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva. In a narrow
street, there is a sign indicating both
buildings, visible from that spot

Sign indicating the Roman College and the Minerva

The Roman College viewed from the sign

The Minerva viewed from the sign

The inner façade of the Villa Medici

Mariano Artigas within the Villa Medici

In the gardens of the Villa Medici

When, where, and how Galileo died
• Galileo died of natural causes, on 8 January
1642, when he was 78 years old, in the Villa del
Gioiello (his house in Arcetri, in the outskirts of
Florence)
• His disciple Vincenzo Viviani accompanied him
during the last years, and wrote: “he was
seized by a fever that consumed him slowly,
and by a strong palpitation, so that during two
months he became more and more exhausted,
and finally, on a Wednesday, 8 January 1642,
around the fourth hour in the morning, he died
with philosophical and Christian firmness, at the
age of seventy-seven years, ten months, and
twenty days”.

Galileo's Six Trips to Rome

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