The historian's gaze snagged on a photo of a metal disc with a ring at the top that was kept in the same Verona museum as Moscardo's picture.
Gigante immediately knew she was looking at an astrolabe - an instrument used to map the stars and tell the time - and an extraordinary one at that.
But she would have no idea just how rare and special it was until she travelled to the Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi Erizzo three months later and watched the light stream through one of the museum's windows to illuminate the instrument's brass features.
"I saw it was a lot more ancient than they'd realised," she said. "But at that point, I had no idea it had Hebrew on it. It was only when we took it to a side room and I started to analyse it - by chance I was sitting by a window and the raking light came in - that I started to see these scratches. They were very strange because they weren't the scratches you'd expect from use. I thought maybe I was just a bit too tired, but more kept coming out."
Gigante, a research associate at Cambridge University's history faculty and a former curator of Islamic scientific instruments at Oxford University's History of Science Museum, had stumbled on a remarkable astrolabe that has passed through Muslim, Jewish and Christian hands in Spain, north Africa and Italy in the 10 centuries since it was constructed in Andalucía.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
If kids get protected from online harm, how about the rest of us?
The Australian government has proposed a ban on social media for all citizens under 16.
'It's not drought - it's looting'
Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded - and one group is profiting from these extremes: the thirsty multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for water in bottles.
Life in the grey Zone
Neonatal care has advanced so far that babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived. But is this type of care always the right thing to do?
Out of tune? Band Aid under fire for Africa tropes as it turns 40
Forty years ago this month, a group of pop stars gathered at a west London studio to record a single that would raise millions, inspire further starry projects, and ultimately change charity fundraising in the UK.
Deaths shine spotlight on risks of drinking on party trail
Vang Vieng is an unlikely party hub. Surrounded by striking limestone mountains and caves in central Laos, it morphed from a small farming town to a hedonistic tourist destination in the early 2000s.
Different strokes My strange and emotional week with an AI pet
Moflin can develop a personality and build a rapport with its owner - and doesn't need food or exercise. But is it comforting or alienating?
Strike zone Waking up to the rising threat of lightning
When the Barbados National Archives, home to one of the world's most significant collections of documents from the transatlantic slave trade, reported in June that it had been struck by lightning, it received sympathy and offers of support locally and internationally.
Cheap pints and sticky carpets: the old-school pub is back
In the Palm Tree pub, east London, barman Alf is taking only cash at the rattling 1960s till.
Brain gain Can a radical tax scheme convince the country's brightest to stay?
In the autumn of 2018, I moved to Lisbon for a month-long course at the Universidade .de Lisboa.
Fear and sympathy in small town divided over asylum camp
A year after anti-immigration riots, a site for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to help new arrivals
