A person buried in tomb no. 28 of the Sant’Eulalia crypt is still proving, after centuries, his medium-high level status because of his metal reading glasses (fig. 1), found during the dig.

Fig. 1 - Metal glasses (from Pinna 2003b, p. 335, fig. 13).

That personal object is dated XVIII century based on comparison with similar examples, including a bronze pair from Genoa (fig. 2).

Fig. 2 - Bronze glasses from the convent of San Silvestro in Genoa (from Gardini, Benente 1997, p. 322, fig. 13).

Glasses seem to have been invented during the XIII century by Alessandro della Spina, a Dominican monk from the Monastery of S. Caterina di Pisa. But their use only became widespread from the XVII century, period in which the German astronomer and mathematician, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) theorised on the subject (fig. 3). Their diffusion is documented by the portraits of historical figures from the XVIII-XIX centuries, wearing glasses (fig. 4).

Fig. 3 - Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), (from http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Keplero).

Fig. 4 - Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (1810-1861), minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1850 to 1852 (from http://biografieonline.it/biografia.htm?BioID=989&biografia=Camillo+Benso+conte+di+Cavour).