Museo anatomico "Leonetto Comparini"

About the museum

The Siena anatomical museum dates from 1862, when the preparations of Paolo Mascagni were collected, later enriched by dissectors and teachers of the Institute of Anatomy. In 1883 Guglielmo Romiti, with the dissector Pilade Lachi, reorganised the collections and published the catalogue of the museum of the Regia Università di Siena (Royal University of Siena). In 1895 the collections were moved to the new Institute outside Porta Laterina.

The present display was inaugurated in 2001, after the Institute of Normal Human Anatomy moved to the ground floor of the first lot of the Polo Scientifico di San Miniato. The museum is named after Leonetto Comparini, director of the institute from 1966 to 1997, and offers an ideal route through a 19th-century anatomical institute, with professional figures that have now disappeared, such as the settore (dissector) and the preparatore (preparator).

The collections are spread over three rooms and a corridor: the Sala dei Preparati in Formalina, the Sala delle Ossa, the Sala dei Microscopi and a Sala Settoria reconstructed with a dissecting table from around 1930. The spaces are also used every day for university teaching.

Highlights

• 19th-century craniological collection of international scientific importance
• More than 300 skulls of foetuses and newborns from the 19th century
• Preparations in formalin and dried preparations
• Anatomical models in plaster, coloured wax and papier-mâché
• Anatomical plates from 1784, including drawings by Mascagni and Scarpa
• Reconstructed Sala Settoria with dissecting table

Permanent exhibition

• Collezioni del Museo Anatomico – Preparations in formalin and dried, craniological collections, anatomical models in wax, plaster and papier-mâché, and anatomical plates from 1784.

Founded

2001

Operated by

Università degli Studi di Siena – Sistema Museale Universitario Senese (SIMUS)

Visitors per year

approx. 1,601

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission; guided visits are charged.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is inside the Polo Scientifico di San Miniato, reached from the main entrance on Via Aldo Moro or from Via Ugo La Malfa through the pedestrian promenade Piero Calamandrei. For public transport, the museum recommends downloading its dedicated app.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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