La Specola, Padua

La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, and converted in 1767 into an astronomical observatory (specula) in Padua, region of Veneto, Italy.

The 13th-century ruler of Padua, Ezzelino III da Romano, had built a castle at the site; this tower had served as a dungeon.

[1] In the 14th-century during a reconstruction by Francesco I da Carrara, this tower was raised further.

The entrance has an inscription by Abbé Toaldo added in 1771, reflecting on the changed uses of the site:[2][3]1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows/ now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767The lower observatory was named the Sala Meridiana; noon was measured on the meridian line sunk in the floor.

The observatory remained in use until the 1930s, when the University of Padua decided to procure a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova, commissioned in 1942.