Galilæana. Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science

Anachronistic marginalia: An annotated copy of Ludovico Delle Colombe’s “Risposte piacevoli e curiose” (1608)

Francesco Barreca — 2025-10-31

The National Library of Turin holds a copy of Ludovico delle Colombe’s Risposte piacevoli e curiose (1608), notable for its Italian handwritten marginal annotations, which may date to the 1660s (Coll. CIACC 256). This paper summarizes the key arguments of the Risposte, analyzes the annotations in five thematic areas, and explores the history of the annotated copy. A table at the end provides transcriptions of the notes.

Federico Cesi’s Museum

Alessandro Reca — 2025-10-31

Federico Cesi’s Museum, whose inventory is transcribed here in its entirety for the first time, is in constant dialogue with the Library. Through the study of the Lincean sources, which attribute so much importance to the ars pingendi, the writing contextualizes the various inventory items, by analizying the events that influence the history of the Academia and by proposing some new documents on the legacy of the Cesi family.

Introduction: Women’s voices in Renaissance and early modern scientific culture

Meredith K. Ray — 2025-10-31

This focus section reassesses the overlooked yet meaningful role of women in shaping early modern scientific culture during the late Renaissance and the seventeenth century. By foregrounding marginal spaces and manuscript sources, these six essays offer fresh insights into the gendered dynamics of scientific authorship and the epistemic boundaries of early modern science.

Voices from the margin. Italian Renaissance paratexts and women’s knowledge production

Jelena Bakic — 2025-10-31

This article investigates the role of Renaissance paratextual sources – particularly dedicatory epistles authored by women – as a key space for understanding female contributions to knowledge production in the early modern period. Focusing on Italian works from the late sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, it analyses how female authors, within contexts such as the querelle des femmes, epistolary practices, scientific dialogues, and poetry, used these marginal spaces to negotiate gender roles, claim authority, and position themselves within the circulation of knowledge. Approaching these texts through the lens of privacy studies and the history of emotions, and applying a slow close-reading methodology, the article reveals how dedicatory epistles served both as self-defense and as a declaration of intellectual agency in the Italian Renaissance.

Inner discourse as philosophical debate in Margaret Cavendish

Mary Purcell — 2025-10-31

Despite being the first woman to attend a meeting of the Royal Society, Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673) was denied membership. Her exclusion from these inner circles prevented her from participating in rigorous debates about her work and the work of her contemporaries. Although she was not invited into these conversations, she nevertheless entered them by imagining the kinds of objections her opponents would raise and publishing her responses in the form of an inner discourse. Inner discourse, here, describes a written dialogue where an author argues with themselves. This paper explores Cavendish’s use of inner discourse across three genres: philosophical prose, letter writing, and science-fiction. Ultimately, I argue that inner discourse as a literary device, for Cavendish, serves not only as a way to overcome social barriers, but also as an argument, by demonstration, against members of the Royal Society who believed that natural philosophy should be done primarily through experiments.

“The highest and deepest speculations of the mind”: Venetia Digby and domestic experimentation in early modern England

Annastasia Conner — 2025-10-31

This project examines the life and experimental/ domestic writing of Venetia Digby (née Stanley; 1600-1633), including the context of her marriage to Sir Kenelm Digby, an original member of the Royal Society. Women like Venetia are often lost to history beyond their social and familial roles. She is remembered for her beauty and possible adultery, but rarely as a medical practitioner, or as a participant in the developing scientific world of seventeenth-century London. By examining the lives and writings of women like Venetia, we may be able to expand our understanding of the nature of knowledge production in this period and the gendered ways we have tended to separate sources, with the result of obscuring the contours of the larger historical landscape. Through this type of study, we can endeavor to show that these women were visible and crucial contributors to the scientific environment and institutions of the seventeenth century.

Framing the “Tenth Muse”: Gendered strategies of intellectual legitimacy in the case of Maria Selvaggia Borghini (1654-1731)

Noemi Di Tommaso — 2025-10-31

Maria Selvaggia Borghini (1654-1731) occupies a unique position in the intellectual landscape of seventeenth century Tuscany. A poet of considerable acclaim, she was also deeply engaged with the scientific culture of her time, particularly through her correspondence with leading scholars such as Francesco Redi (1626-1697), Alessandro Marchetti (1633-1714) and Antonio Magliabechi (1633-1714). This article seeks to examine Borghini’s role within the intellectual networks of post-Galilean Florence, highlighting her engagement with natural philosophy and the Medicean court. Despite her recognition in literary and scientific Academies, she remained excluded, for example, from the Accademia della Crusca, reflecting the broader gendered constraints on learned women in early modern Europe. By analysing her letters, poetic compositions, and her choice to translate Tertullian, this study seeks to shed light on the complex strategies Borghini employed to navigate the intersections of poetry, science, and patronage in late seventeenth century Tuscany.

Experimenting with new ingredients for health: Asian plants in women’s recipe books in early modern Britain

Cheng He — 2025-10-31

This paper explores the role of early modern British women in incorporating Asian plants into healthcare practices. As plant circulation across Eurasia increased, knowledge of medicinal ingredients evolved, especially those from Asia. While physicians and botanists copied and translated recipes into printed books, household recipe manuscripts – often compiled by women – suggest different ways of using foreign ingredients. Rather than directly transcribing printed sources, women adjusted ingredients and methods, demonstrating practical engagement with these plants. This study traces the use of galanga, camphor, and cardamom to reveal their roles in domestic medicine. By examining women’s manuscripts alongside botanical and medical texts, the paper highlights how these plants were adapted and integrated into daily practice. It argues that early modern women actively participated in knowledge-making by experimenting with and refining medical recipes. Their contributions shaped household medicine and influenced broader understandings of Asian plants in early modern Britain.

Virgo, Mater, Nutrix. Women in the writings of a doctor from Arezzo in the 17th century: Emilio Vezzosi (1563-1637)

Maria Chiara Milighetti — 2025-10-31

This article aims to highlight philosophical and scientific thought in both published and unpublished writings by Emilio Vezzosi, a physician from Arezzo. The article concerns the role of women in society and their education in the early modern age.
Women as objects of investigation occupy a large space in his scientific and literary production. Physician and poet, he obtained his degree in Pisa in 1589; ‘Prince’ of Discordi’s Academy and polygrapher, he was born in Arezzo in 1563, and died in 1637. He focused his scientific interests on women, their education (De instituenda Virgine, MS. 31, Library “Città di Arezzo”), their health as mothers (Gynaecyeseos, sive De mulierum conceptu, gestatione, ac partu, 1598, Library of the Academy “Francesco Petrarca”, Arezzo), with field medical consultations and investigations (De partu mirabili Alexandriae Spathariae iudicium Aemilii Vezosi medici aretini, MS. 38, Library “Città di Arezzo”), as well as on to their role as nurses (Nutrix sive De alenda sobole, MS. 41, Library “Città di Arezzo”). His correspondence was also extensive; it remained unpublished and was addressed, above all, to his students.
This article intends, therefore, to fill a historiographical gap as regards the consideration of the female body and its dignity in early modern times, but also as regards the conception of women’s role in society, in relation to men and religion (De Nuptiarum dignitate, MS. 39, Library “Città di Arezzo”), and with science.