City Museum of Natural History

The Morbegno Civic Museum of Natural History preserves rocks, minerals, plants and animals of the Alps in its collections and is a meeting point for naturalists, enthusiasts, visitors, schools, families and children who want to get closer to, learn about and protect our natural heritage.

The museum was established in 1974, with a donation of 500 mineral specimens by Giacomo Perego of Morbegno, and has been housed in the 18th-century Palazzo Gualteroni since 1983. To date, its collections include about 1,500 minerals and fossils, 5,000 herbarium sheets and 1,000 mosses, lichens and fungi, more than 35,000 insects, 250 amphibians and reptiles, 1,000 birds, and 1,300 mammals.

The visitor is greeted by the first rooms on the geography, geomorphology and formation of the Alps, followed by the display of rocks, minerals and fossils, including the Cassinisia orobica, the Museum's symbol. Next is the amphibian and reptile room and a display of fish from the Adda River. The upper floor is devoted to birds and mammals and large dioramas of the most representative ecosystems: the valley floor, forest and high mountains. Displayed in two separate showcases are the large carnivores that are making a comeback in recent years: the wolf and the bear. Prominent in importance is the skull of a female brown bear shot on July 4, 1887 in Val Gerola. The visit then ends with the Hall of Insects, and a staircase that has herbarium specimens of the most representative species posted on the walls.

The purpose of the Museum is to collect, conserve and enhance, scientific research and permanent cultural and educational promotion; in fact, it regularly hosts temporary exhibitions, lectures, presentations of nature books, thematic courses and hands-on activities for children and young people aimed at delving into various naturalistic themes both local and non-local, opening a glance towards the whole natural world around us.