of much contention between seen the Orde and the Balbi family which owned the land they wanted to build on. When he later became vice-rector of the college, he resumed work on the project, which had made little progress in the intervening years and was only eventually finished in 1664. In the Spring of 1645 Grassi visited Rome, where he carried out an inspection of the works on Sant'Ignazio and wrote a highly critical report, resulting in a general review of the construction that had already been completed under the direction of Antonio Sasso. Grassi was responsible for work relating to the elevation of the facade, and proposed a novel interior dome scheme to solve other problems arising from earlier departures from the original design. This was never built however, and instead installed a trompe-l'œil dome painted by Andrea Pozzo. Works References External links Digital version of Grassi's 'De Iride Disputatio Optica' (1617) Digital version of Grassi's 'De Tribus Cometis' (1619) 1583 births 1654 deaths People from Savona 17th-century Italian Jesuits 17th-century Italian mathematicians 17th-century Italian astronomers Jesuit scientists