Museo naturalistico Pietro Franchetti
Educational museum in the Collegio San Giuseppe with Italy's most important collection of hummingbirds, minerals, fossils, animals and historical scientific instruments.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The museum is linked to Canon Pietro Franchetti, a priest who graduated in natural sciences at the University of Turin in 1915 and a passionate collector, who contributed to several specialist journals. In 1945, according to a review of his work, Franchetti donated to the Collegio San Giuseppe the educational zoological museum he had set up in his family home.
The rooms occupy two corridors on the second floor of the school building and some adjoining spaces. The layout is that of a traditional educational museum and includes collections of mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology, with mounted vertebrates, insects and other invertebrates.
The best-known core is the hummingbird collection, the result of about thirty years of research by the canon. The regional museum network presents it as the most important in Italy, with over a thousand specimens representing 226 of the roughly 334 known Neotropical species, and of international scientific value. The museum also holds 19th-century instruments used by the Brothers of the Christian Schools to teach the metric decimal system, as well as physics and chemistry apparatus from the college, and a library of about 500 volumes and pamphlets that can be consulted by appointment with the curator.
Highlights
- Hummingbird collection with over a thousand specimens of 226 Neotropical species
- Collections of mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology
- Mounted vertebrates, insects and other invertebrates
- 19th-century instruments for teaching the metric decimal system
- Historical physics and chemistry apparatus of the Collegio San Giuseppe
Permanent exhibition
- Collezione di colibrì e raccolte di storia naturale – Route through two corridors with the hummingbird collection, minerals, fossils, animals and historical scientific instruments.
- Operated by
- Collegio San Giuseppe
- Visitors per year
- approx. 500
Admission & discounts
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair accessible
- Elevator: no information
- Accessible restroom: no information
- Accessible parking: no information
- Service dogs welcome: no information
- Tactile models & exhibits: no information
- Sign language tours: no information
- Easy-to-read materials: no information
- Audio description: no information
According to the regional museum network's listing, there are no architectural barriers; the rooms are on the second floor of the school building.
Kids & families
| Time needed | approx. 60 min |
|---|
Getting there & parking
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Amenities & 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
| Guided tours | yes |
|---|---|
| School programs | yes |
| Good to know | Guided visits and school activities require mandatory booking. The scientific library (about 500 volumes and pamphlets) can be consulted on site by appointment with the curator. |
