Descrizione
Just north of Saltara stands the Villa del Balì, a beautiful 18th-century building reached via a long avenue shaded by cypress trees, beneath whose shade it is said that the ancient philosophers debated the great questions of life.
Built around a chapel dedicated to Saint Martin dating back to the year 1000 – the setting for tales of ghosts – inside the villa, superstition gives way to scientific rigour, revealing the Balì Museum, a modern interactive Science Centre and a shining example of Italian excellence.
This is a museum whose philosophy is ‘you must NOT touch’, with interactivity being its key strength: a tour of the nine galleries involves hands-on experimentation at more than 40 stations showcasing a wide range of scientific phenomena and experiments. An original and entertaining way to experience science, perfectly suited to light-hearted, child-friendly education but also very interesting for adults, who find themselves intrigued by the great phenomena of physics and jostle with the little ones over the many installations.
The museum’s Planetarium
The museum is enhanced by an 8-metre-diameter planetarium: on its dome, visitors can admire the spectacle of the night sky, travel as if in a spaceship through distant galaxies and land on planets at astronomical distances from our Earth – all without leaving the comfort of their seats. But the Balì Museum does not merely reproduce the stars virtually. In the villa’s grounds, visitors can go in search of the moon and the sun from the powerful astronomical observatory. The main telescope, a 40 cm diameter Ritchey–Chrétien, bridges the gap between us and the universe, allowing us to see celestial bodies as if they were truly within reach.
