Museo paleontologico di Montevarchi, Natural history museum in Montevarchi, Italy.
The Museo paleontologico di Montevarchi belongs to the Accademia Valdarnese del Poggio and holds over 1,600 fossils, almost all from the Upper Valdarno and dating between the Upper Pliocene and the Lower Pleistocene. The ground floor opens with the skeleton of Elephas meridionalis; upstairs, the first room keeps its 19th-century cases and handwritten labels, while later rooms follow the Valdarno's lake phases up to the first human presence 200,000 years ago.
The institution was founded in the early 19th century and soon received expert evaluations from European scientists. Since then it has been an important place for studying and preserving finds from the region.
The museum belongs to the Accademia Valdarnese del Poggio, founded by Marie-Louise of Austria. Its collection grew thanks to rewards the academy paid to farmers who reported fossils. The first room keeps 19th-century handwritten labels with the scientific name, place and year of each find.
The museum is located in a historic building with good accessibility for visitors with mobility issues. Groups can book a guided tour to see the collection with expert explanations.
The museum's emblem is the skull of Elephas meridionalis, found in the second half of the 19th century at Le Ville and displayed with tusks 320 cm long. The first-floor room keeps its 19th-century handwritten labels, which give each fossil's scientific name, find spot and year, making it a "museum of the museum".
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