Meeting Galileo in Florence Italy and Sarasota Florida

Four Hundred years after,  we were in Florence where Galileo first looked through his telescope and discovered the earth was indeed not the center of the Universe.   And it was there when we took up residence at the Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci that we again learned that traveling is as much and maybe more about the intriguing people met as the places visited.

While having a cocktail on the hotel's pleasant terrace overlooking the domes of Florence, we fell into a conversation with a couple who we learned were staying in Florence for a very targeted reason --- the gentleman was studying for a role as Galileo in an upcoming theatrical production.   Now that production is in its final week at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in  Sarasota, Florida.   "The Life of Galileo" has been lauded in the local press in Florida as well as in the national press .  In fact, Paul Whitworth, the actor playing Galileo, has been noted  as "brilliant"  in the role and "as making you feel the sense of discovery Galileo must have felt".

This was no surprise to us. When we met Paul in Florence he was consumed by the historical figure he currently portrays.  In the mornings during his stay in Florence,  he accompanied Galileo through the same cloisters, where the great scientist could have roamed, repeating over and over again words that Galileo himself might have said.  It was from the actor who visited it many times that we learned about the Galileo exhibit that was then taking place at the Palazzo Strozzi right down the street from our hotel.  It was marvelous and renewed our interest in the physicist whose discoveries unbalanced the Church of Rome.

While the exhibit is no longer at the Palazzo Strozzi much of the Galileo ephemera that was the core of it can be viewed at the Science Museum one block east of the Uffizi Gallery on the Arno River.   The museum displays Galileo's telescopes (the ones he created based on a model in Holland by putting two magnifying glasses together in a tube), compasses and the like, and one real oddity -- his finger preserved in a jar.   Galileo, we learned from the exhibition, was the first human being to see the moons of Jupiter, which supported the Copernican theory of the universe causing Galileo to fall into disfavor with the Catholic Church.

It was also Paul who urged us to visit Galileo's tomb in the Santa Croce Church.  The remains of hundreds of famous Florentines ended up under the floors or behind the walls of the Church. Among them is the tomb of Galileo.   His tomb is the huge ornamental structure  on the left as you enter San Croce.  

Months after Florence, we were reunited with Paul who again brought Galileo to life for us through his exceptional portrayal of the scientist in Brecht's play.   I was brought back first to the terrace in Florence where we first met Paul and then to the cloisters of San Croce as Paul disappeared and Galileo emerged.  After the play I got to thank Paul for bringing us to Galileo  through the sites in Florence and ultimately on the Asolo Stage in Sarasota.