About
This lakeside monument to Alessandro Volta contains old batteries and frog skeletons.
The Tempio Voltiano, or the Voltian Temple, is a neoclassical monument and museum dedicated to the life and work of the Italian physicist and inventor of the modern battery, Alessandro Volta. In Como, where Volta was born in 1745, the temple houses a collection of Volta’s original papers, letters, and instruments. Included among the original instruments on display is the voltaic pile from 1800, the first ever battery to produce a continuous electrical current. Worlds away from your average AA battery, the voltaic pile was comprised of alternating silver and zinc disks separated by brine-soaked cloths. Chemical reactions between the brine (the electrolyte) and the metal disks (the electrodes) allowed for the transfer of charge through the apparatus.
