Galleria di Storia Naturale dell’Università degli Studi di Perugia

About the museum

The natural history collections of the University of Perugia date back to the 19th century, with the collection of minerals, rocks and fossils of the physicist Luigi Canali, which was also visited by Georges Cuvier, and with the first zoological nuclei expanded by Orazio Antinori and Andrea Batelli. Another important core is the natural science museum that Monsignor Giulio Cicioni set up in the Archbishop’s Seminary in Perugia, which was opened to the public in 1925, closed in the mid-1990s, and whose collections were lent to the University at the end of that decade.

The Galleria di Storia Naturale was founded in February 2010 at Casalina, a hamlet of Deruta, in a disused industrial building from the first half of the 20th century, the former Manifattura Tabacchi owned by the Fondazione per l’Istruzione Agraria. The displays were funded by the Umbria Region with European funds and by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia. The museum is managed by the university’s Centro di Ateneo per i Musei Scientifici (CAMS).

The collections include geological, mineralogical, palaeontological, botanical, zoological and ethnographic material. The best known include the Antinori ornithological collection, with over 800 specimens mainly from the Western Palearctic, and the Cicioni collection, with over 500 minerals, hundreds of rocks and fossils, collections of insects and molluscs, and birds from around the world, especially Andean hummingbirds. The Moretti collection includes over 100 birds from Lake Trasimeno.

Highlights

• Antinori ornithological collection (over 800 specimens)
• Andean hummingbirds and birds from New Guinea and the Pacific
• Over 500 minerals and 300 rocks from the Cicioni collection
• Fossils and collections of molluscs and insects
• Birds of Lake Trasimeno from the Moretti collection

Permanent exhibition

• Collezioni di storia naturale – Antinori, Cicioni and Moretti collections with minerals, rocks, fossils, insects, molluscs, vertebrates and birds.

Founded

2010

Operated by

Centro di Ateneo per i Musei Scientifici (CAMS), Università degli Studi di Perugia

Visitors per year

approx. 1,857

Admission & discounts

Prices from a tourist portal of the Municipality of Perugia (undated); booking is required.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is at Casalina, a hamlet of Deruta, in the former Manifattura Tabacchi on Via del Risorgimento.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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