Amedeo Avogadro and Vercelli

The Lion Museum by Vercelli celebrates the genius of Amedeo Avogadro at 250th birth anniversary with an extraordinary documentary exhibition. Curated by Luca Brusotto e Riccardo Rossi, The exhibition explores the figure of the famous scientist from Vercelli, universally known for his enunciation of the gas law and for the “Avogadro's number”, a discovery that revolutionised the physics and the chemistry by defining the concept of a mole.

The exhibition route winds its way through the Hercules Hall by Alciati House and boasts the collaboration of Vercelli Historical Society. Most of the rare scientific texts on display belong to the private collection of prof. Giovanni Ferraris, whose volumes testify to the scientist's academic career, the chair at Turin and educational links with the area, where he taught from 1809 at the Royal College local. The archive documents and objects from the Lion Museum of the collection of Camillo Leone Instead, they outline the historical framework between the 18th and 19th centuries, recounting the turbulent geopolitical changes: from the Napoleonic period linked to the Department of Sesia at Savoy Restoration, until the reign of Charles Albert and the magisterium of the Bishop of Angennes.

The event is made all the more special by a recent, extraordinary discovery unearthed from the museum’s storerooms thanks to the curators’ preparatory research: the Napoleon's cup. It is a green coffee cup and saucer with gold snake-shaped decorations (Ouroboros), which tradition attributes to the emperor during his exile in Saint Helena and brought back to Europe in 1829 by Pietro Lovati. Having been separated from its original case over time, the cup has been successfully identified and reassembled for the occasion. This fascinating example of collecting joins other previously unseen rarities, such as books signed by Avogadro and the only flag of the Guard of Honour embroidered in the 1800s to mark the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte a Vercelli. Finally, a special feature, curated by the family Bagliani, is dedicated to Professor Luigi Borasio, who in 1956 organised the first centenary commemorating the scientist’s death, whose bronze commemorative medal.