Leonardo Turriano in Oeiras

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10402507

Abstract

This text intends to present a synthesis of what is known and what is unknown on the great Italian military architect of late 16th century and 3 first decades of 17th century at the service of Spanish Habsburgs – mostly of the ‘second period’ of his life (1597‑1629) which he lived between Lisbon and Madrid, as well as a critical review of his last published work: “De la Idea del Firmamento de Leonardo Turriano”, Madrid, Fundación Juanelo Turriano, 2023. We examine his family life in nearby Oeiras after marrying a local rich lady who gave him 8 sons, his intense professional endeavors and encyclopedic interests: most of all his hobby for Astronomy after building a house in Lisbon (1614) with a terrace‑observatory, from which he observed the sky and probably wrote the present essay. We show the scientific value of this one as an example of the “copernican revolution” (Kuhn) and propose to see it as a double work – a 1st one astronomical caused by the appearance of 1604 supernova, a 2nd cosmologic critical to Aristotelian‑Ptolemaic views but trying to hidden his new position under a general acceptance of Church’s ideology – taking its title from Scamozzi’s classic treatise “L’Idea della Architettura Universale” (Venice, 1615).