La Sapienza, via della Sapienza

Porticato interno - La Sapienza (G. Bettini, Comune di Pisa)

The anatomical theatre, a curiosity near the Sapienza: in via della Sapienza, in front of the entrance of the University, we find the ancient church of Santa Maria Vergine (Virgin Mary), now deconsecrated. On the left side a plaque tells us of when that space was dedicated to the lessons of the medical school, inside the anatomical theatre inaugurated in 1544 by Cosimo I of the Medici family, with the scientific contributions of anatomist Andrea Vesalio. A reconstruction is found inside the Certosa di Pisa, in Calci (PI). Galileo Galilei also studied here.

Alchemy, an ancient and mysterious art: Right inside the Sapienza there was an Athanor, or alchemical oven, where the substances were cooked to bring them back to their primordial state. In the Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermétique (Mythological-Hermetic Dictionary) we read, “in terms of vulgar chemistry, it is a stove that has the shape of a square and a long cube, in which there is a tower communicating with one of the sides by means of a tube. This tower fills with coals, lights up, and the heat is transmitted to the stove by means of the tube […] Therefore, it was given the name of Athanòr...”. Already in medieval times, Pisa was considered one of the most important centres of alchemical knowledge, also thanks to the works of a certain Rusticus and primarily of Costantino Pisano, an author of the thirteenth century who wrote the Liber secretorum alchimiae (Book of secret alchemy) tackling with ease the theme of the relationship between alchemy and theoretical-practical knowledge such as medicine, astronomy and prophecy, claiming that all metals can be brought back to their four primordial stages through transmutation and then studied. Judicial astrology was also taught, which studied the position of the planets and their influence on the sub-lunar world and Divination, which studied the fluids contained in some people that made them capable of influencing the animal entrails and initiating a premonition process. Both sciences were condemned during the Council of Trento in 1563 and considered heretical.