Photo: BlackSheep81 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo civico di storia naturale di Stazzano

Civic natural history museum at Villa Gardella: rocks, fossils, birds, mammals, insects and herbaria from the Ligurian-Piedmontese area.

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About the museum

Villa Gardella was donated to the municipality of Stazzano by Dr G. Gardella in 1964 and houses the Museo civico di storia naturale. The museum is run by the Gruppo Naturalisti Stazzano, an association formed in 1974 with the aim of studying, preserving and protecting the natural heritage of the Alessandrino area. After several years of restoration work on the premises, collecting material and setting up four exhibition rooms, the museum opened to the public in 1980.

After further renovations, a fifth room devoted to botany was added in 1996. The museum’s distinctive feature is that it displays mainly material from the Ligurian-Piedmontese area; the naturalists’ approach aims to present the natural aspects of the Alessandrino and, at the same time, to trace the history of life on Earth.

The route is divided into earth sciences and life sciences. The rooms present fossils, rocks and minerals, a large section on birds including diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and fish, a selection of insect drawers chosen from more than 10,000 specimens, and a botany room with panels on local habitats, models of fungi and a valuable herbarium dating from 1700. The collections also include more than 5,000 herbarium sheets; part of the material not on display can be consulted for scientific research and educational activities, and a specialised library is available to scholars.

Highlights

Five rooms covering earth sciences and life sciences
Bird room with diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey
Over 10,000 insects in the collection and display drawers arranged by order
Botany room with fungus models and a herbarium dating from 1700
Over 5,000 herbarium sheets and a specialised library