Centro Studi Naturalistici

Centre in Paina (Giussano) with a permanent exhibition of minerals and fossils and educational activities on geology, mineralogy and palaeontology.

Opening hoursFree admission

Directions

About the museum

The centre was founded in 1981 at the wish of the Comune di Giussano as the Museo Etnologico Naturalistico del Territorio and is today known as the Centro Studi Naturalistici. It occupies about 200 square metres in the hamlet of Paina and houses a permanent exhibition of minerals and fossils; it also runs educational and outreach activities in the earth sciences, in particular geology, mineralogy and palaeontology.

The palaeontological route presents, in chronological order from the Archeozoico to the Neozoico, photographs, drawings, original specimens, casts, dioramas and models. Some casts are on loan from the Museo civico di storia naturale di Milano, with which the centre collaborates on research campaigns; among the finds recovered are the squid Ostenoteuthis siroi and the Saltriosaurus, the first carnivorous dinosaur from Lombardy. The mineralogical section displays minerals by class according to the Strunz classification, with topographic collections, cabinet specimens, thumbnails and micromounts, as well as common metals and alloys, minerals of the hardness scale and fluorescent minerals.

Highlights

Cast of the Saltriosaurus, the first carnivorous dinosaur from Lombardy
Squid Ostenoteuthis siroi
Minerals arranged according to the Strunz classification
Fluorescent minerals
Route from the Archeozoico to the Neozoico

Permanent exhibition

Mostra permanente di minerali e fossili – Route from the Archeozoico to the Neozoico with casts and fossils, and collections of minerals by class.

Founded: 1981
Visitors per year: approx. 2,000