ITEN
The interiors of La Specola in the 1980s, with the roof gone, open to the sky

The history

Of an observatory wanted by a duchess, designed by a thirty-two-year-old architect and left, by choice, unfinished.

1819

“An enchanting place”

The decision to build La Specola was taken by Maria Luisa of Bourbon, Duchess of Lucca. By a decree of 17 September 1819 she ordered that an observatory “be immediately built and fitted out at the expense of our private Council”, a stone’s throw from her summer residence at Marlia.

The decisive voice was that of Baron von Zach, a celebrated astronomer of the day, who called the chosen hill “an enchanting place”.

1819 – 1824

Variety in unity

Its designer, Lorenzo Nottolini of Lucca, was thirty-two: a neoclassicist, a Palladian, a rigorous purist. He set the building on a high platform that rises almost five metres on the valley side, with a rectangular plan and two projecting wings at the back.

Its centrepiece was to be the cylindrical observation tower. It was never built. To direct the observatory came Jean-Louis Pons, the comet hunter. In 1824, with the death of Maria Luisa, the scientific work was suspended.

The façade of La Specola before the restoration, with its portico and columns

The valley façade, before the restoration

1787 – 1851

Lorenzo Nottolini

Born in Segromigno in Monte in 1787, a brilliant architect, he worked extensively in Lucca, in town planning too, and became known in Italy and abroad as a hydraulic engineer. He embanked the Serchio river, drained the marshes of Bientina and Massaciuccoli, built bridges and the famous aqueduct, with its 459 arches.

From 1818 to 1848 he was royal architect of the Duchy of Lucca, at the Bourbon court.

Before the restoration

  • Maria Luisa’s monogram, carved in wood
  • The cornice, before consolidation
  • An Ionic capital of the portico
  • The base of a column, in sandstone
  • The rubble-stone back, without the tower
From the 1980s

From neglect to care

In the early 1980s La Specola was completely abandoned, open to anyone, exposed to damage and the weather. The present owner, Giuseppe Ciambelli, began its conservation, rebuilding almost the whole timber structure of the roof, then the ceilings, plaster, floors and window frames.

The last phase restored the exterior, consolidating the sandstone parts of the valley façade.