page_title: Tommaso Rinuccini
section_title: The Assayer and correspondence with Galileo
hierarchical_section_title: Tommaso Rinuccini / The Assayer and correspondence with Galileo
context_page_description: Tommaso Rinuccini was an Italian noble, diplomat and friend of Galileo Galilei.
context_section_description: There were a number of Florentines in Rome who were connected with Urban VIII or his nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini - Rinuccini's brother Giovanni Battista became lieutenant to Cardinal Barberini. Galileo was in frequent correspondence with a number of them, including Mario Guiducci, Francesco Stelluti and Benedetto Castelli, as well as both Rinuccini brothers. The new Pope was friendly towards Galileo and many of his ideas, and his election seemed an excellent opportunity to take a more assertive line on astronomy than had been possible since the Roman Inquisition had proscribed heliocentrism in 1616. It was important for Galileo to carefully judge the political mood in Rome before publishing anything controversial and Tommaso Rinuccini was an important informant on whom he relied.
  The same year as the Pope was elected, Galileo published The Assayer, the final round in his protracted polemical battle with Orazio Grassi over the origin of comets, which Galileo mistakenly believed were an optical illusion.  In a letter to  Galileo on 20 October 1623, Tommaso Rinuccini wrote on behalf of Cardinal Barberini that Urban VIII had indicated he would appreciate a visit from Galileo. He followed this up with another letter on 2 December 1623 reporting Orazio Grassi's reaction to the publication of The Assayer and his promise to respond to it quickly. He also reported that Urban VIII had read it and was very pleased with it. On 10 August 1624 Rinuccini wrote that Grassi had visited Galileo's friend visit Mario Guiducci while he was sick. It appears that behind a show of friendliness Grassi was gathering information to denounce Galileo to the Roman Inquisition.
caption: Cardinal Barberini, for whom Rinuccino worked in the 1620s
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