Pienza Piccolomini Palace: Allesandro Piccolomini was a 16th century scholar and astronomer, who wrote The treatises Sfera del mondo e Delle stelle fisse (The sphere of the world and The fixed stars) (1540), in which he adhered to Ptolemaic theories.
Vatican City The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. In fact, three early observatories were founded by the Papacy: the Observatory of the Roman College (1774-1878), the Observatory of the Capitol (1827-1870), and the Specula Vaticana (1789-1821).