Ascanio II Piccolomini

Ascanio Piccolomini (1590–1671) was the archbishop of Siena from 1629 to 1671.[1]

Shovel of Ascanio Piccolomini in the Accademia della Crusca

Ascanio was a mathematics pupil of Bonaventura Cavalieri.[2] He hosted Galileo in Siena.[3] According to Dava Sobel, Galileo's ability "to rise from the ashes of his condemnation by the Inquisition" and complete perhaps his most influential book, the Two New Sciences, was "due in large measure to Piccolomini's solicitous kindness".[4]

He was the younger brother of commander Ottavio Piccolomini.

While bishop, he was the principal co-consecrator of Carlo Fabrizio Giustiniani, Bishop of Accia and Mariana (1656).[1]

Notes and references
  1. Cheney, David M. "Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
  2. The Galileo Project
  3. Stillman Drake, Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (2003), p. 357.
  4. Dava Sobel, Galileo's Daughter (2000), p. 287

Sources
  • Pecci, Giovanni Antonio (1748). Storia del Vescovado della città di Siena (in Italian). Lucca: Marescandoli. pp. 364–366.
  • Suter, Rufus (1965). "A Note on the Identity of Ascanio Piccolomini, Galileo's Host at Siena," Isis Vol. 56, No. 4 (Winter, 1965), p. 452.


Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Alessandro Petrucci		 Archbishop of Siena
1628–1671		 Succeeded by
Celio Piccolomini


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