Piazza della Minerva, embellished by the splendid Bernini's work of art (the elephant topped by the obelisk), one of the oldest hotels in Rome and the fantastic Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (with a marble statue made by Michelangelo and Filippo Lippi inside), has a very, very particular history tied to the famous Inquisition! This small area is usually crowded, because it is very close to the Pantheon, for the church and the strange Pulcino della Minerva (that is the name of the Bernini's project), but there is something more. There is, here, an historical legay that I try to display during my tour here. Let's discover it together.

In fact, at the side of the basilica stood the palace, with its court, of the office of the Church, devoted to the organization of the processes against heretics. Especially here in Rome the Inquisition was run by the dominicans, a religious order particularly keen to evangelization and the spread of catholic doctrine. It was within this complex of buildings, in particular the orange one in the picture, that took place the processes against heretics, or for the public abjuration. It was here, in fact, that at the dawn of the XVII century was the famous abjuration of Galileo Galilei, guilty of having questioned the cosmological vision of the Church, and, therefore, the centrality and universality of God. Thanks to the invention of the telescope Galilei directly observed the starry sky, recognizing some of the moons of Jupiter and, above all, understanding that the truth of the Catholic Church was not supported by direct observations. Galilei understood that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, and that it was not true that even the Sun revolving around it. Try to understand how this view of the universe could deeply destroy the millennium dogma of the Catholic Church.

Don't forget another important aspect concerning the processes for rejection: they were a wonderful opportunity for the Church to celebrate the doctrine and the victory of God against the heretics, while for the people they were an opportunity to receive indulgences. What was supposed to be a victory of the religious against those who committed sin against God and its works, should be celebrated by everyone, no one excluded. Oh yes, because the participants and spectators of these processes could obtain by some cardinals public and free indulgences, which sometimes were sold directly there. For this reason it seems that, because of the enormous amount of people participating in the process against Galileo, the square was so crowded that even some cardinals are wounded for too much crowd. Truth or not, it is certain that the process against the precursor of modern science made really a stir, and even scandal.

Galilei, after all, had also friendships, even in the high spheres of the cardinalate. But this has not saved him, and, indeed, it is only the fact of having agreed to make public amends, admitting before the Inquisition, and to God that what he had foreshadowed in his studies was false. Just with this act he was not killed. The process against Galileo took place in 1633, but something more happened over the centuries! Of the original building of the XI century, purchased from the dominicans, we have some parts of the internal cloister. It became, after the unification of Italy and capture of Rome of 1870, even the headquarters of the ministries, such as Education. Just then, the palace became what it is today: one of the headquarters of the Library of the Senate. A long and fascinating history, which, however, will always be link to the destiny of the scientist Galileo Galilei. After all, it is not a case of if, just at the exit of that building, to abjure completed, according to tradition, Galileo looked up in the sky of Rome, declaring, "and yet it moves".