Museo di storia naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici, Natural history museum in Siena, Italy
The Museo di storia naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici occupies the former Camaldolese convent of Santa Mustiola, a 12th-century building, since 1816. Its four sections — geology, zoology, anatomy and botany — fill the two gallery floors around a cloister courtyard with a late 16th-century well, plus ground-floor rooms and basement halls. Specimens sit in antique 19th-century cases, and whale bones found in central Siena in 1854 are on display.
The Accademia dei Fisiocritici was founded in Siena in 1691. Its museum's original core dates to the second half of the 18th century, when minerals, rocks and fossils from the Sienese territory joined earlier scientific instruments. Acquisitions and donations enlarged the collections through the 19th and 20th centuries. Closed after the Second World War, the museum reopened in 1972 after restoration work; in the 2000s the building was made fully accessible and the basement rooms were recovered for exhibitions.
The museum grew from the Academy of Fisiocritici, which has existed for over 300 years and has always aimed to share knowledge about the natural world. Today visitors can see how this institution continues to connect the local community with scientific discovery through projects like Siena BiodiverCity, which involves residents in protecting the city's wildlife and plants.
The museum is located in Siena's historic center on Piazzetta Silvio Gigli and is easy to reach by foot or public transport. The collections are logically arranged across two floors, allowing visitors to explore at their own pace, and guided tours, workshops, and hands-on activities for families and school groups are offered regularly.
The whale remains in the collection were found in 1854 in the centre of Siena, not in the museum courtyard, and they are bones rather than a mounted 15-metre skeleton. The display also holds three megalodon teeth collected in Malta and the hairs of a Siberian mammoth calf.
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