Since the end of XVI century

Towards the end of the XVI century all over Europe were widespread the so-called Wunderkammern or Raritatkammern (“Chambers of wonders” o “Chambers of rarities”). Put together by kings, princes and lords fond of science, these collections included every kind of finding, without orders and without any standards but rarity and oddity.

1600-1700: fall and rise

About the half of the XVII century the Pisa’s Gallery went through a period of decadence: in 1672 cardinal Leopoldo of Medici commissioned to the Danish Niccolò Stenone the writing of a brand new inventory of the objects in the Gallery, also giving him the task to choose and take “a few curiosities for the Gallery starting in Florence”.