Museo Civico di Storia Naturale

The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Ferrara was founded in 1872 in the former convent of the Martiri in Via Roversella. Under the direction of Galdino Gardini and thanks to his careful cultivation of relations with donors and benefactors, the collections grew rapidly, soon comprising more than 70,000 zoological, mineralogical, botanical, paleontological, and ethnographic specimens.

The move to the present building in Largo Florestano Vancini took place in 1937, following a closure for inventory purposes. A further transformation occurred in 1982 under the direction of Fausto Pesarini, who gave the museum its current appearance through a series of structural and functional renovations.

The American collections preserved at the Museo di Storia Naturale di Ferrara include materials from the Ecuadorian Amazon (Shuar people) and the Brazilian Amazon (peoples belonging to the Tupi linguistic stock). They consist mainly of feather artifacts and other body ornaments such as pectorals, necklaces, belts, and a tsantsa. All the materials are displayed together in a single showcase of the museum and entered the collections between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.