The Island of the Day Before

A fascinating journey through time between literature, history, science e voyages in the South Seas, designed to highlight the work and ideas of Umberto Eco. Organised in collaboration with the Umberto Eco Foundation and the Galileo Museum, Florence, the exhibition takes visitors into the heart of the Milanese writer’s studio, revealing the genesis and inner workings of his famous 1994 novel.

The exhibition highlights around seventy antique volumes, the majority of which come from the A Curious, Eccentric, Magical and Pneumatic Semiological Library, the legendary “Room of the Ancients”, where the author kept books devoted to curious sciences, errors and forgotten theories. Among the most valuable editions, the’Hypnerotomachia Poliphili printed in Venice from Aldo Manuzio, l'Almagestum by Ptolemy and theAmphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom by Heinrich Khunrath.

The fit-out transforms the ship Daphne in a veritable floating chamber of wonders, with the tour divided into seven themed sections or “stops” that explore the enigma of longitude, the magic dust, the dream of a universal encyclopaedia by Athanasius Kircher, theories on memory by Giulio Camillo and the powerful metaphorical device of Emanuele Tesauro. The narrative is complemented by preparatory materials drawn from the author’s archive, interactive displays, digital stations and valuable astronomical measuring instruments made available by the Florentine institute.

The exhibition is being held at the Braidense National Library (Maria Teresa Room).