Oh. My. God!! We found Cellini's house (didn't find the cache but whaththefuck we found the artist who created Perseus killing Medusa!!!! Holy Shit!!! And the story is fascinating, too.
We also found the Theatre where Marconi, the REAL inventor of the telephone, worked and first invented the phone! Alexander Graham Bell can kiss my ass because in 2002 Marconi was recognized as the real inventor. It was amazing to read the history and how Bell had illegal connections to the patent office (sneaky fucker).
Here's the Cellini story and it's a doozy!
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| Antonio Meucci 1808 – 1889 The United States House of Representatives in its resolutions HRES 269 IH dated October 17th 2001 and HRES 269 EH dated June 11th 2002 resolved that the life and achievements of Antonio Meucci should be recognized, and his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged. According the this resolution Antonio Meucci and not Graham Bell is to be considered the inventor of the telephone. Antonio Meucci was born in Florence, he studied design and mechanical engineering at Florence's Academy of Fine Arts and then worked in the theatre Teatro della Pergola, where he was the manager of the theatre sceneries. To improve the communications between the back stage and the art director and to change the scenery faster Meucci invented a device: an acoustic telephone that is still on site and is still normally used by the personnel of the theatre. Meucci was a patriot and was involved in the Risorgimento, the patriotic movement for the reunion of Italy. For this reason he was under the surveillance of the grand-ducal police of Tuscany. In 1835 he decided to emigrate to Cuba with his wife, accepting the offer of the theatre Tacòn in La Habana. Meucci was a volcanic person, he loved to pass the time inventing new devices. In Cuba in 1848 he directed a medical cabinet where the clients were cured by applications of electricity. Once a client, suffering under a charge of 114 Volts, shouted and Meucci, who was two rooms away, heard the shout through the wires of the device! Meucci worked on this phenomenon and in 1849 he prepared a device able to transmit the human voice. Meucci called it “Telettrofono”: the telephone was invented! In 1850 he emigrated to the United States where he established a factory of candles in New York (Staten Island), in 1854 Giuseppe Garibaldi joined him and worked there for four years. In 1856 Meucci constructed the first electromagnetic telephone, using it to connect his second-floor bedroom to his basement laboratory, and thus communicate with his wife. Between 1856 and 1870, Meucci developed more than 30 different kinds of telephones on the basis of this prototype. The finances of Meucci became worse, he hadn’t enough money ($250) for the patent of his invention, he could only pay for a caveat ($10) valid for only one year. He was able to renew it only until 1873. One day while Meucci was going by ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan, the boiler of the ship exploded and Meucci was severely injured. He ramained for 6 months in hospital and his wife, to pay the cures, sold all the devices for only 6 dollars! Meucci tried to convince the Western Union Telegraph Company, asking permission to demonstrate his "Talking Telegraph" on the wires of the Western Union system. He had no answer and when he asked for his designs back he was told that they were lost. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent which didn't really describe the telephone but referred to it as such. When Meucci learned of this, he instructed his lawyer to protest to the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, something that was never done. Later investigation produced evidence of illegal relationships linking certain employees of the Patent Office and officials of Bell's company. Later, in the course of a litigation between Bell and Western Union, it was revealed that Bell had agreed to pay Western Union 20 percent of profits from commercialization of his "invention" for a period of 17 years. Meucci started a litigation against Bell, but despite a public statement by the then Secretary of State that "there exists sufficient proof to give priority to Meucci in the invention of the telephone," and despite the fact that the United States initiated a prosecution for fraud against Bell's patent, the trial was postponed from year to year until, at the death of Meucci in 1896, the case was dropped. The resolution of 2002 has recognized the truth. The cache is hidden in Florence besides the Teatro della Pergola. |
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Cam
Via iPhone (please excuse any bizarre autocorrections)
Sorry that was Meuchi's story. Here is Cellini's and it as just as interesting:
ReplyDeleteBenvenuto Cellini's Studio Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) Benvenuto Cellini, the famous artist of the Renaissance, had his studio in Via della Pergola 59 in Florence, where he cast his masterpiece: the “Perseo e Medusa” now in Piazza della Signoria. The statue in bronze includes the body of Medusa, the head of Medusa and the body of Perseo: three parts joined. In his autobiographical book “Vita” - “Life” he recounted the dramatic moment of the fusion of the Perseo: the body of Perseo, upon the opinion of many, included the Grand-Duke Cosimo who financed the statue, was too high, any so great figure in bronze was made in the past in only one piece. This was a challenge for Cellini who was instead confident in the performance. The day of the fusion was dramatic: the molten bronze wasn't so fluid as Cellini wanted, the metal couldn't reach the feet, so ordered to his assistants to increase the fire, but for this reason the roof of the studio began to burn, fortunately happened a storm with heavy rain that put out the fire, suddenly a big fever hit Cellini who had to lay on the bed for a while, when he felt better he returned to the studio but he saw in horror that the storm was cooling the fusion and the metal begun to thicken, quickly ordered to add more tin to make the alloy more fluid, but it was finished, then Cellini went to the kitchen, took plates, glasses, every kind of pottery made in tin and threw everything into the fire; at the dawn of the day after, the form of he body was filled with the bronze and Cellini was able to happily celebrate with his assistants and his family the accoplished mission! A curiosity: if you look at the back of the neck of Perseo, you will see the portrait of Benvenuto Cellini! The cache is hidden near the Cellin's Studio in Via della Pergola.