Research on History of Astronomy

A small group of people in Arcetri does research on:

• Astronomy & Astrophysics in Italy in the XIX century.
• History of the Arcetri Observatory.
• Activity of astronomers related to Arcetri: Giovan Battista Amici, Giovan Battista Donati, Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel, Antonio e Giorgio Abetti etc. 
• Arcetri's Heritage: instruments, documents & decorations.

Research is carried out maily by studying unpublished documents in several historical archives, including that of the Arcetri Observatory and of the other institutes belonging to the National Institute for Astrophysics.

Pubblications in English (for publications in Italian, see here):

• One hundred years of the Arcetri Solar Tower , Bianchi S., Galli, D., Gasperini, A., (2025)
• Comet Observers in Florence in the Nineteenth Century, Bianchi S., Galli, D., Gasperini, A., (2024)
• 150 years of Observatory in Arcetri, Bianchi, S. (2023)
• Old documents, new technologies: the preservation and valorization of the Italian astronomical archives, Zanini V., Gargano M., Gasperini A. (2022)
• The Ups and Downs (and Ups again!) of Astrophysics in Italy after Secchi, Bianchi, S. (2021)
• Italian astronomers @ IAU: the contribution and the role of the Italian astronomers inside IAU from the foundation to the second post-war period, Gasperini A., Zanini V., Gargano M. (2020)
• The founding of Arcetri Observatory in Florence, Bianchi, S., (2020)
• The origins of Astrophysics in Florence, Bianchi S., Galli D., Gasperini A. (2016)
• Les Observatoires astronomiques en Italie. An 1863 report by Otto Wilhelm Struve. An 1863 report by Otto Wilhelm Struve, Bianchi S., Galli D. (2015)
• The worldwide impact of Donati's comet on art and society in the mid-19th century, A. Gasperini, D. Galli, L. Nenzi (2011)

 Group members: Simone Bianchi, Daniele Galli, Antonella Gasperini.