Museo naturalistico di Stazzano

This museum at Stazzano offers an impressive learning experience. Founded in 1980 by a group of nature enthusiasts from the town who had been working together since 1974 to protect and preserve the rich natural heritage of the area. The Museum in Villa Gardella was recently renovated and is home to an impressive collection of minerals, fossils, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibious creatures, insects and plants. There are different learning paths a visitor can take, dependent on his or her specific interest. Wall displays show mineral examples from all over Italy, a considerable number of fossils and rock strata from the local Apennine range. There are also interesting anthropological remains which bear witness to human evolution on this planet. The second room houses an impressive ornithological display, donated to the museum by Mario Carrega and Fabrizio Silvano and comprises birds from all over Italy, together with eggs and nests. Also on display is a selection of small mammals like rodents. Going on through this room are examples of carniverous mammals like stone martens, badgers and foxes, and examples of reptiles. All the animals on display are indigenous to this area. Amongst the reptiles are vipers from the Apennines as well as large examples of the Montpellier snake. Also on show are fish, molluscs and shellfish. In the third room are to be found a collection of insects including a range of butterflies and moths. There are also drawers full of examples of butterflies from Africa, South America and Asia, remarkable for their colouring together with examples of other insects, all grouped by family. In the final room are examples of plant life, catalogued and kept on the upper floor of the building. Also on display here is the most important herb collection in the Province of Alessandria, the result of long and patient effort by Mario Carrega and Domenico Silla. On the same floor is a projection room and a small science library.