Museo di Merceologia

About the museum

The Museo di Merceologia (MuMe) originated at the beginning of the 20th century from a collection of samples of goods and products assembled by Gerolamo Vittorio Villavecchia. The collection served as a reference for the chemical analyses carried out at the Laboratorio Chimico Centrale delle Gabelle, which was set up and directed first by Stanislao Cannizzaro and then by Villavecchia himself. It was designed as a teaching tool for commodity science and as a resource for studies useful to Italian trade and industry.

The finds, originally kept in Via della Luce in Trastevere, later moved to the Facoltà di Economia of the Sapienza, in Via del Castro Laurenziano 9. Today the museum holds materials from the laboratory and from other collections, acquisitions and donations: minerals, metals, chemical products, building materials, ceramics, glass, textile fibres, paper, fuels, plastics, foodstuffs, dyes, precious stones, a xylotheque (wood collection) and a seed collection.

In 2019 renovation work began: the spaces grew from about 240 to 350 square metres with the former library, the systems were rebuilt with sustainable materials, and some of the historic display cases donated in 2018 by the former Museo di Mineralogia were restored. The new route, organised into energy raw materials, non-energy mineral raw materials, and agri-food and textile materials, follows the life cycle of products according to a circular economy logic. The first room reconstructs Villavecchia’s study, and the museum also offers 25 study places for students.

Highlights

• Samples of goods and raw materials from the collection of G.V. Villavecchia
• Routes on the circular economy and sustainable design
• Reconstructed study of Professor Villavecchia
• Xylotheque and seed collection
• Historic display cases restored from the former Museo di Mineralogia

Permanent exhibition

• Materie prime e merci: energetiche, minerarie, agroalimentari e tessili – Route through commodity science finds and the life cycle of products, in the perspective of the circular economy and sustainability.

Operated by

Sapienza Università di Roma – Polo museale

Director

Donatella Restuccia

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is at Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, at the Dipartimento di Management (former Facoltà di Economia).

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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