The Museo Galileo is located inside the historic Palazzo Castellani, one of the most ancient buildings of the city, known in the 11th century as Castello d’Altafronte. The extraordinary collections of the Museum, among the most important in the world, include ancient scientific instruments dating from the 11th up to the 19th century. Named for the scientist Galileo Galilei in 2010, the museum preserves all of Galileo’s original instruments, among which two telescopes, the first zoom lens, the geometric and military compass and the jovilabe. 

Visits to the museum begin on the first floor with the instruments collected by members of the Medici family, boasting elaborate astrolabes, beautiful dials, solar and night watches, compasses and nautical instruments, often objects of hand-crafted sophistication executed by some of the most renowned Tuscan and foreign creators. This exceptional collection, begun by Cosimo I de’Medici, was originally housed in the Map Room of Palazzo Vecchio. A hall is dedicated to the Accademia del Cimento, the first European scientific association, active in Florence between 1657 and 1667 at the Medici Court. Objects collected later on by the Lorena Grand Dukes to explain the fundamental laws of mechanics, electrostatics and pneumatics are displayed on the second floor. The itinerary ends with the interactive halls: a space where young and older visitors can use interactive exhibits to better understand the principles and operation of some of the original instruments displayed in the museum halls.