The hidden observatory of Venice

One thing many people - not only tourists, actually, but even born and bread Venetians - ignore is that Venice has got its own astronomical observatory.

When we think of observing stars we normally associate this activity to huge and infinite spaces, with no lights and no people, such as deserts, for instance. The main observatories in the world are not by chance located either on some almost unreachable mountain peaks or in very scarcely inhabited areas in countries with names difficult to pronounce.

The Observatory is in the circle

On the other hand though, it's also true that Venice - the Serenissima - was the capital of a State where inventor of the telescope Galileo Galilei would teach for most of his life. Padova, where the University of the same name was and still is, was in those days part of the so called stato da Terra (Mainland) of the Most Serene Republic of Venice - therefore no wonder if we find out that in the very heart of Venice there is a proper observatory!

The structure is part of the big building just behind the Chiesa della Salute and it is still included in the Diocesan Seminar which now has turned into a Catholic University called Studium Generale Marcianum.
In fact, the observatory was originally meant to serve ordinands of the Catholic Church who would spend some of their nights looking at stars and planets - of course we all know that the Vatican and the Catholic Church have their own department of astronomical studies.

Nowadays, with some luck and knowing the right people (which is the key to everything, in Italy), one can get the permission to be admitted to one of these special astronomic sessions although I personally think that all the fun would easily be spoiled by the light pollution which affects Venice as long with many other Western cities.

I have always thought of this observatory as in some senses representing the main contradictory soul which is the core of the Catholic Church - they tend (and have tended, especially in the past) to deny the bases of Scientific knowledge but at the same time they are the first to study Science and Astronomy.
I've always perceived this as a kind of teaching. Never judge a person (or an Institution) by what he/she/it says - have first a look at what they do !