Trascrizione
Attention! You have just stepped into a very crowded room… even when it is empty!
Here there are forty of the most distinguished foreign students who have attended the University of Padua. Among them are scientists, lawyers, writers, politicians and doctors.
The most imposing presence in this room, however, is that of Galileo Galilei. The large wooden structure you see in the room was his chair! Galileo taught here in Padua at the end of the sixteenth century and it is said that it was the students themselves who built the impressive structure in the nearby Aula Magna, the only space large enough to contain the crowds that flocked to his lessons.
Originally upholstered in fabrics and cushions, the chair now looks so modest that in the mid-1800s it was nearly torn apart. Luckily it was possible to save it, but in the end one of the two side stairs was lost.