«Io vorrei poter doventare un Antigalileo». Ludovico delle Colombe e la nova del 1604

«Io vorrei poter doventare un Antigalileo»: Ludovico delle Colombe and the nova of the 1604. Ludovico delle Colombe was among the most tenacious adversaries of Galileo Galilei. A staunch defender of Aristotelian natural philosophy, he sought by every means – even invoking the authority of Scripture – to oppose Copernicanism, which Galileo openly endorsed with the publication of the Sidereus nuncius in 1610. This article aims to investigate the distinctive features of Delle Colombe’s Aris totelianism prior to 1610, when he had not yet defined himself as «an Anti-Galileo». To this end, the analysis has focuses on his two works on the nova of 1604, the Discorso of 1606 against Raffaello Gualterotti’s thesis, and the Risposte piacevoli e curiose of 1608, addressed to Alimberto Mauri, probably a pseudonym used by Galileo. It has therefore been established that, contrary to what was previously assumed, his shift to an anti-Galilean form of Aristotelianism cannot be attributed to the existence of a Florentine circle opposing Galileo before the publication of the Sidereus nuncius.