Civic museums

And finally, Valeria Cafà, Director of the Civic Museums of Vicenza, invites us to visit the Naturalistic and Archaeological Museum of Santa Corona.

The Naturalistic and Archaeological Museum of Vicenza and Lake Fimon have been closely connected since the nineteenth century. One need only think of the first archaeological investigations carried out by Paolo Lioy. In 1864, Lioy identified the first prehistoric pile dwellings at Fimon and decided to donate the finds uncovered during his excavations to the recently inaugurated Civic Museum of Vicenza. These finds formed the foundation of the Museum’s Prehistory and Protohistory collection. After Lioy, numerous scholars continued, throughout the twentieth century and up to the present day, to conduct excavations and research in this area, which is rich in invaluable evidence of past lives and civilisations. We preserve artefacts dating from the Neolithic period, around 7,000 years ago, up to the dawn of the Iron Age, around 3,000 years ago. The galleries of the Naturalistic and Archaeological Museum therefore preserve the results of more than 150 years of research. From a natural history perspective as well, the Museum of Vicenza is an essential place to visit. We hold invaluable records relating to the biodiversity of Lake Fimon, including collections of freshwater molluscs, insects, fish, mammals, birds, minerals and fossils. Our herbarium is a true archive of biodiversity, containing more than 750 dried plant specimens collected from Lake Fimon. Another important example is the Faustino Cussigh entomological collection, which includes more than 500 insect specimens from the lake area. Lake Fimon and the Naturalistic and Archaeological Museum of Vicenza are therefore deeply interconnected, and each naturally leads to the other. We invite you to visit them both and to follow our work, because we continue to carry out research and publish new research. We also run an extensive educational programme through which we share the results of excavations, research and museum collections every day. We look forward to welcoming you to the Museum of Vicenza, where you can complete your journey of discovery around Lake Fimon.