Paleontology museum of Naples, Fossil museum in Naples, Italy
The Paleontology Museum of Naples, part of the Federico II University's science museum centre, occupies the cloister of Santi Marcellino e Festo. Its collections range from fossil fish of Giffoni Valle Piana, Pietraroja and Castellammare di Stabia to a complete fossil palm, marine and flying reptiles, and a young Elephas antiquus italicus skull. Since 1996 a well-preserved North American Allosaurus fragilis has been mounted in a walking pose, its jaws open, held by thin metal cables above a dark stone floor.
Fossil collections were already held at Naples' Real Museo Mineralogico in the 19th century, before the museum itself was established in 1932. It is the most recent of the four museums of the university's Centre for Natural and Physical Sciences, and it is now housed in the cloister of Santi Marcellino e Festo. Since 1996 it has kept a well-preserved Allosaurus fragilis fossil from North America.
The museum belongs to the University of Naples Federico II's Centre of Physical and Natural Sciences, alongside three older collections. Its specimens come from Campanian sites such as Pietraroja, Giffoni Valle Piana and Castellammare di Stabia, and the nickname "Ciro" refers to the Scipionyx samniticus cast, a fossil found in the Pietraroja limestone.
The museum occupies the cloister of Santi Marcellino e Festo, in the university complex of Federico II. It closes on Tuesdays and public holidays, and morning opening hours end at 14:00, so an early visit is advisable. The Allosaurus fragilis specimen, on display since 1996, stands on a raised dark stone floor before a pale wall with two lit display cases.
The Allosaurus fragilis skeleton on show since 1996 comes from North America and is mounted in a walking pose, jaws open, held up by thin metal cables. Near it are casts of Scipionyx samniticus, the Italian dinosaur known as "Ciro", and an Oviraptor skull.
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