Museo civico di storia naturale di Cittanova

Civic museum in Cittanova with around 2,000 specimens in mineralogy, palaeontology, zoology, botany and mycology, and a diorama of the Aspromonte park.

Opening hours unknown

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About the museum

The Museo civico di storia naturale di Cittanova was born from an idea by Giacomo Tripodi, a botany lecturer at the University of Messina, in 1994. Within about two years, with the support of the municipality and volunteers, the museum was set up in a municipal building of about 500 square metres; the collections have grown over time through purchases, donations and loans.

After a period of inactivity and reorganisation, the collection was moved to the former town prison, between Via Nazionale and Via Regina Elena, and reopened in 2014. In 2019 the museum recorded around 1,500 visitors.

The holdings comprise around 2,000 specimens divided into six sections. The petrography and mineralogy section has over 200 samples, including fluorescent minerals and products of Etna lava. Palaeontology illustrates the processes of fossilisation with a Precambrian stromatolite and a Pleistocene insect preserved in bitumen. Vertebrate zoology includes more than 1,000 birds, over 100 birds of prey and some notable mammals, while invertebrate zoology has around 500 specimens. The botany section shows the evolution of plants and a herbarium of about 300 sheets on the flora of Aspromonte, including Woodwardia radicans, the museum's symbol; the mycology section presents 150 resin models of Italian fungi. A diorama of the Aspromonte National Park with beech forest, wolf and wild boar completes the route.