The early origins of the collections are due to the Carmagnolese naturalist Giacinto Carena (Carmagnola, 25 aprile 1778 – Torino, 8 marzo 1859), former Secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Turin.

Now the Museum collections include many thousands specimens. The largest of the collections, in terms of numbers, is the extensive insect collection. As with all of the natural science holdings of the Museum there is large amount of material from outside Italy, especially from Africa. Much of this came from the entomological expeditions of Gianfranco Curletti and the herpetological researches of Roberto Sindaco.

Old and new specimens are the individual examples of particular species of animals, plants, fossils or minerals, which are used by scientists from a variety of researches (see here).

The collections are used as a reference resource by staff and research visitors, and play an important role in the identification of specimens such as insect pests that may have considerable economic significance. Staff carry out field work, publish their own research and assist visitors who are also involved in scientific publications. Time is also spent acquiring new specimesn through regular fieldwork.

The official acronym of museum collections is MCCI (Museo Civico di storia naturale di Carmagnola, Italy), that replace those used in the past mainly for Vertebrates (MCSNC and MCC).

The CITES code of the Museum is  IT016

 

√  Consult the Museum collection databases