Museum of Natural History

The Natural History Museum is part of the University of Florence and one of Europe’s oldest and largest collections of exhibits and documents on botany, biology, mineralogy and anthropology.

The museum was founded at the end of the XVIII century by Duke Pietro Leopoldo and has since been housed in the Palazzo Torignani. Today, the museum has 7 major departments devoted to the history of various branches of science - botany, biology, anthropology, paleontology, mineralogy and zoology.

Closely linked to the work of the National University, the museum houses one of the world’s largest botanical collections, with over two million specimens in the Florentine Herbarium. The local botanical garden dates back to the beginning of the XVI century, which makes it truly unique.

Visitors to the main building at the entrance are greeted by huge life-size dinosaur figures. Since the museum belongs to the local university and is an active scientific center, it is open for free visit only in the first half for 9 to 13 hours.