The Historical Archive of the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory

The history of the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory preserved in the Observatory Archives: a wide collection of paper and correspondence that document the development of Italian astronomical research during the 19th and 20th centuries. The birth of the first Florentine school of astronomy can be dated back to 20th February 1807, when the queen Maria Luisa destined the Royal Museum for public education. The first chair of Astronomy held by Professor Domenico De’Vecchi who also studied in detail the situation of the astronomical and metrological observatories, which, at that time, were installed on the tower (the Specola) of the antique Palazzo Torrigiani in via Romana and proposed to move the premises. The construction of the new Observatory on the Arcetri hill, inaugurated on the 27 th October 1872, and the new solar tower, inaugurated on the 22nd of June 1925 (and used almost continuously until 1972). Finally the more recent history, characterized by the developments in Solar Observations and Astronomy.

The archive, founded in 1958 which reorganization is still in progress, collects administrative documents and accounts, together with material concerning the institutional activity of the Observatory and the scientific research of the astronomers.