Museum of Earth science
Culture, Museum and historical sites
The first floor of Palazzo delle Scienze houses unique collection cured by University of Catania.
The exhibition halls are very intresting thanks to its historic, scientific and educational value, you will see: Paleontological collections, Scientific Instrumental collections, Mineralogy, Petrographical and Vulcanological collections.
Created after the Second World War by Prof. Ottorino De Fiore, the “Museum of Paleontology” of University of Catania collects a wide heritage of fossil records (from Mediterranean area, South-East of Asia, South America and Antarctica) and includes some paleontological historic records, collected from 18th.
The visit of the Mineralogy, Petrographical and Vulcanological collections will allow you to better know mount Etna – the biggest active volcano in Europe which cover a surface of about 1260 km². In its basaltic volcano rocks one can find minerals formed during the process of cooling of magma (primary minerals) and the one formed after the eruptions (secondary minerals). The collection boasts also an interesting heritage of minerals coming from Sicilian mines.
The museum is completed by the exhibition hall with the collections of Instrumentals of Geophysics, Microscopy and Geochemistry. It houses also two protractors from 20th century which have different features and functionalities.
SCIENTIFIC CONTACT POINT:
Paleontological collections – Prof.ssa Antonietta Rosso
Collections of Instrumentals of Geophysics, Microscopy and Geochemistry – Prof. Lino Cirrincione
Mineralogy, Petrographical and Vulcanological collections – Prof.ssa Germana Barone