In Rome, on top of the church of Saint Ignatius (you know the one that has a tromp l'oeil dome), just behind the building that used to house the very first Jesu

In Rome, on top of the church of Saint Ignatius (you know the one that has a tromp l'oeil dome), just behind the building that used to house the very first Jesuit school (ask a Jesuit and they will say the very first school in the modern sense), used to be the Vatican astronomical observatory. Nowadays there is nothing much left to see, since all of the scientific instruments were moved to a museum in Florence when Rome became part of Italy in 1870. The place is not open to the public, but if you know a friendly Jesuit you can take an elevator from within the church and take a look around. The first time I went there, the Jesuit who was accompanying me told me that Galileo had visited this place, and that the story of church vs. science that we've all learnt in school was very simplified. Apparently Riccioli defended a hybrid geo-heliocentric model (due to Tycho Brahe) where the earth is at the center of the universe, the sun and moon revolve around it, but all the other planets revolve around the sun. We now know neither the sun, nor the earth is at the center of the universe, so both models were equally wrong, however according to my Jesuit guide, Riccioli's point of view was the only one that would have been both theologically acceptable and scientifically sound. I guess what is really wrong about the classical story of Galileo's trial is that the catholic church is not and never was a monolithic entity: there are factions, dissent, political agendas. If you're interested in further reading on Riccioli the Wikipedia page is very detailed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Riccioli#Arguments_Concerning_the_Motion_of_the_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Riccioli#Arg...