Natural History Museum - La Specola Zoological Museum

The Specola in Florence is one of the headquarters of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence and is the heir of the oldest scientific museum in Europe to be open to the public.

In particular, the central nucleus of the collections was located in this building (palazzo Torrigiani, formerly Bini) when the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History was established in 1775, while today, after the separation of the collections, it houses two distinct collections: the zoological with examples of animals preserved mainly through straw, and the anatomical one, with wax models dating back mostly to the eighteenth century.

The name of the Specola refers to the observatory that the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo installed in the turret, where the Florence meteorological station La Specola Museum was also located.

Map: Natural History Museum - La Specola Zoological Museum