Zoology Museum and the Butterfly House
Scientific coordinator: prof. Giorgio Sabella
The Museum of Zoology belongs to UNICT’s Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, which is certainly its main facility devoted to wildlife in eastern Sicily and probably one of the major natural museums that exhibits a vast range of rare specimens in southern Italy. Established in 1853 with the malacologist Andrea Aradas holding a chair in zoology initially set inside UNICT’s Central Palace (located in Piazza Università).
Its early cabinet committee was made up of members of the Gioenia Academy of Natural Sciences who had donated their own collections to the museum in order to be established. These initial collections were subsequently integrated with further donations including the collection of Mediterranean shells donated by the Benedictines, the ornithic collection from the Hunters Club, the Auteri collection of exotic birds donated by Angelina Paternò Castello (a Sicilian aristocrat) and finally Ragusa’s entomological collection donated by the Experimental Institute of Citrus Cultivation based in Acireale. In addition to that, a number of other special specimens were bought such as the extra-European mammals, the Baglieri-Benanti ornithological collection, and the Briganti catalogue of coleopterous insects.
In 1922, the zoological museum was moved to its current location in via Androne, 81 so to house its entire collections. At present, the Art Nouveau building encompasses a total usable area of 260 square metres on the ground floor and 80 sq. metres on the first floor. Along the perimeter walls of both floors specially designed showcases to display the collections have been installed. The windows on the upper floor are still the original ones, although they have recently been restored in order to be more functional. The showcases on the ground floor were created from scratch in the mid-1980s and are currently being used for the display of larger vertebrates.
The museum is currently undergoing renovation and refurbishment.
Information and Admission
Temporarily closed to the public
[Tel. 095 7306 010-026 / muszool@unict.it / video]
