The Hoax of the Invention of Glasses in Florence

Many have been contending for the paternity of the invention of glasses since Roman times, and among these are Pisa and Florence, the eternal rivals. Even China has tried to claim the paternity of the invention of glasses, but Chinese chronicles report that it was the Jesuit missionaries who imported them to China, not before the 14th century.
Although there is already evidence of the use of glass lenses as an aid to vision, the actual invention of glasses seems to date back to the 13th century. At that time, the monks who worked as copyists for many hours a day were the people who suffered most from vision problems, so it is not surprising that they tried to find a solution.

The history of Florentine glasses
Based on dubious historical sources (Ferdinando Leopoldo del Migliore claimed to have found an epitaph celebratingthe Florentine Salvino d’Armato degli Armati Salvino - whose existence has also been questioned - as the “inventor of glasses”) and moved by a strong parochial spirit, in 1885, Senator Pasquale Villari had a plaque placed in the ancient parish of the Armati in memory of Salvino: “Here lies Salvino D'Armato degli Armati of Florence, inventor of glasses (…).”
It was not true, it was a 19th century hoax, spread to somehow bring new glory to Florence. Although this fact has been denied, it must be said that in the fifteenth century, Florence had indeed become a point of reference for the production of glasses, with orders for fashionable glasses produced at a low cost coming from all over Europe.

The seemingly Venetian invention and the contribution of Pisa
However, it is Pisa that seems to win the paternity of the invention of glasses, or rather, of their diffusion.
On February 23, 1305, during a sermon held in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, the Dominican Benedetto Giordano da Pisa (or da Rivalto) sang the praises of that magnificent invention that were glasses: “Not even twenty years have passed since the art of making glasses was developed. It is one of the most important and indispensable arts that the world has developed, and it has only recently developed (…). I have known the man who discovered and created glasses, and I have spoken with him.”
Another testimony speaks of a monk from Pisa, Friar Alessandro della Spina, “able to recreate everything he saw. He made the glasses that someone else before him had invented and whose secret, however, he never wanted to reveal. Instead, Alessandro taught everyone how to do it”.

It was in fact Alessandro Spina who made the technique of making glasses known in 1284, after having most likely learned it from Venetian craftsmen, famous for their mastery in working glass.
At that time, the technique of making glasses was kept secret, but thanks to the Pisan friar it soon spread to Tuscany.
Initially, the glasses were called “brille”, taking their name from beryl (berillo in italian), the rock crystal that was used for these ancestors of modern lenses. They were made of convex lenses fixed on rudimentary frames of wood or metal and leather. Later, both the lenses and the frames were perfected until they reached the modern results.

Sooner or later in our lives, we will all need to use glasses, an object that today we take for granted without actually realizing the historical importance of its invention.
We may never know for sure who was the real inventor of glasses, but there is no doubt that the legacy that this person had left to the world was a revolutionary invention that has improved the life of humankind.