Natural History Civic Museum

Dinosaurs, minerals, plants, molluscs or big animals. If science is your passion or if you want to discover the history of the evolution of men and the earth, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale is the place for you. The Museum is organised on two floors: 23 halls for a total of 5.500 square metres.

Explore the halls dedicated to Mineralogy, Palaeontology, Zoology, where you can admire more than 4.500.000 specimens. The themes of life on Earth and the relationship between the environment and organisms are organised to let adults and children alike enjoy the journey to discover natural history.  

NOT TO BE MISSED
One of the not to be missed Museo di Storia Naturale spaces is the hall dedicated to dinosaurs. On display, amongst others, are a triceratops and a diorama reproducing a paleontological excavation that contains the complete skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur. Without forgetting, of course, the dinosaur skeletons made from casts of originals and mounted in lifelike stances, displaying some of the most popular species including the T. Rex, the Allosaurus and the Stegosaurus.

To appreciate the rich biodiversity of our planet, it is possible to travel through parks and nature reserves around the world, admiring the imposing dioramas of the first floor: the largest collection in Italy.

CURIOSITIES

The Natural History Museum is housed in a large Neo-Gothic style building, finely decorated in terracotta, built between 1892 and 1907 in the green area of the Public Gardens in Porta Venezia, and is the first building built in Italy with the intent to host a museum. This is the third home of the municipal museum, the oldest in the city, which was founded in 1838 thanks to the donation of the collections of the botanist Giorgio Jan and the naturalist Giuseppe De Cristoforis.