 Galileo continued to receive visitors until 1642 , when , after suffering fever and heart palpitations , he died on 8 January 1642 , aged 77 . The Grand Duke of Tuscany , Ferdinando II , wished to bury him in the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce , next to the tombs of his father and other ancestors , and to erect a marble mausoleum in his honour . 
