 After a period with the friendly Ascanio Piccolomini ( the Archbishop of Siena ) , Galileo was allowed to return to his villa at Arcetri near Florence in 1634 , where he spent the remainder of his life under house arrest . Galileo was ordered to read the seven penitential psalms once a week for the next three years . However , his daughter Maria Celeste relieved him of the burden after securing ecclesiastical permission to take it upon herself . 
