Science geeks will adore the Tempio Voltiano, a museum constructed in the style of an ancient Greek temple celebrating the life and work of Alessandro Volta, one of the most influential and admired physicists in the world.

Volta, as his name implies, was the inventor of the modern battery. The museum is filled with his original notes, experimental setups and research instruments. Its main attraction is naturally, the very first battery to be produced in the world in the 1800s. Many times larger than your average AA battery, this battery, called a voltaic pile, is a column of alternating zinc and silver disks separated by pieces of cloth soaked in brine. It makes use of the chemical reactions between brine and the metal disks to transfer electricity between its two ends, a mechanism still used in batteries today. Other curios relics from his early research litters the museum such as the voltaic pile’s predecessor, which utilises a frog’s body as a conductor. Imagine how vastly different our batteries would be today if his frog experiment had worked!

Sure to bring back fond (or traumatic) memories of science lessons, the Tempio Voltiano is well worth a visit.