What was Galileo's punishment after the trial?

Galileo’s punishment after the trial was house arrest for life. On 22 June 1633, the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of “vehement suspicion of heresy” for supporting and defending the claim that Earth moves around the Sun. He was also required to formally recant the condemned position.

The original sentence included imprisonment, but on the following day it was commuted to house arrest. Galileo first stayed in the residence of the archbishop of Siena, a supporter, before being allowed to live at his villa in Arcetri near Florence. He remained there under restrictions for the rest of his life.

House arrest did not mean complete intellectual silence. Galileo continued working, corresponding with scholars, and developing his scientific ideas. His final major work, Two New Sciences, was published in 1638 after being smuggled out of Italy and printed in Leiden. By then he was elderly, increasingly blind, and prohibited from freely publishing or teaching his views. The popular story that he was tortured or imprisoned in a dungeon is misleading: his formal punishment was lifelong house arrest, though the condemnation and restrictions were real and severe.