Zoological Museum of Naples, Natural history museum in Naples, Italy.
The Zoological Museum of Naples is a natural history institution that houses more than 150,000 preserved specimens of mammals, birds, insects, and mollusks. Its rooms contain systematically arranged displays that document different animal families and their characteristics.
This museum was established in 1813 under royal patronage and grew from earlier royal and private collections that had been accumulated. Over the following centuries, its holdings expanded through donations and acquisitions from scientific expeditions.
The museum's name recalls its origin as a royal cabinet of curiosities, and its collection includes the Costa collection, donated by naturalist Oronzio Gabriele Costa, with about 30,000 exotic and Italian animal specimens. Visitors can also see an extinct Patella ferruginea mollusk found in the Gulf of Naples.
The museum is located within the university campus in central Naples and can be reached conveniently by public transportation. Before visiting, check the opening hours and any special exhibitions to plan your time effectively.
The museum's elephant skeleton belongs to an animal that reached Naples in 1742 as a gift to King Charles of Bourbon. It took part in parades through the city, astonishing onlookers, and Pietro Metastasio's opera Ezio, premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in 1743, drew on the taste for the exotic of that period.
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