Museo di scienze naturali
Educational museum of the Collegio San Francesco in Lodi, with around six thousand specimens of mineralogy, malacology, ornithology, zoology and palaeontology.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The museum is located in the Collegio San Francesco, a school run by the Barnabites in Lodi. It is arranged along three corridors overlooking the 16th-century cloister, next to the large library, over about 300 square metres. The exact date of its founding is not known, but the first collections probably date back to the foundation of the college in 1833.
The promoter of the museum, of the physics cabinet, of the meteorological observatory and of the astronomical observatory was Father Bernardo Galli, rector from 1859 to 1874. The collections were enriched by donations of stuffed animals, geological collections and physics instruments, the bequest of Dr Paolo Lanfossi (1862) and, in 1884, the transfer to Lodi of the museum of the Barnabite college in Monza.
Today the collections reach around six thousand specimens, arranged in 19th-century display cases in five sections: mineralogy and petrography, malacology, ornithology, zoology and palaeontology. The museum has a strong educational vocation and is considered the largest of its kind in the Lodi area.
Highlights
- About 2,000 minerals, including a large quartz druse from the Simplon Tunnel
- About 700 stuffed birds and a collection of nests and eggs
- Five-metre anaconda, monk seal, dolphin and other stuffed animals
- About 800 fossils, including ammonites, trilobites and dinosaur eggs
- 19th-century display cases along the 16th-century cloister
- Operated by
- Collegio San Francesco (Padri Barnabiti)
- Visitors per year
- approx. 90
Admission & discounts
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
By public transit
Piazza San Francesco
Urban bus line 1, stop Piazza San Francesco; Lodi railway station (Milan–Bologna line) is about a ten-minute walk from the college.
By car
Parking available
The car park in Piazza San Francesco is accessible at the times when pupils arrive and leave (08:15–08:45 and 15:15–15:45); for longer stays, the car parks in Via Serravalle and Via Agostino Bassi are suggested.
The college is in the historic centre of Lodi.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| School programs | yes |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Visits are arranged on request to the college secretariat; the music archive, the museum of scientific instruments and the ancient library are also accessible in the same complex. |
