Top Rated Attractions in Verona

The civic natural history museum is in the 16th century Palazzo Pompei, a masterpiece by Sanmicheli. The building was given to the town in 1854 by Count Alessandro Pompei for it to become an exhibition site for scientific and ethnographic collections, and for renaissance artifacts and art collections. While there was a time when the natural collections were few in comparison to the rest, the collection grew quickly with the passage of time. There were problems of space and it was only in 1936 that the art collections were moved to other buildings. Palazzo Pompei became an exhibition space exclusively for natural science. At present, there are 19 rooms in which you can see more than 2,000,000 examples of the world's animals, plants, geology, paleontology and prehistory. The fossilized fish from Bolca are a major attraction. They are contained in a weir which is 45,000,000 years old.

The Museo Africano was founded by the Combonian missionaries in 1938 to give value to the materials which had been collected during their missions. The materials show the culture and daily life of the African populations. In 1996 the display area was radically changed. From a classical ethnographic museum, which stood out for its interesting but rather sterile displays, it was made into a center for communication and intercultural dialogue. Thanks to radical restructuring and the use of modern multimedia techniques, the museum now offers a positive and unusual picture of the African continent.

Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi Erizzo is housed in the 15th-century palace of the same name in the Via Mamaso. It exhibits the furnishings and rich art collections of an ancient family. The 15 rooms, containing furnishings from the 16th and 18th Centuries, house numerous, varied collections. They are all organized by theme. Some of the rooms contain important archaeological finds from the Etruscan and Roman periods, including bronzes, glassware, ceramics and coins. Other rooms contain weapons and armor from the 16th and 17th Centuries while in others paintings and drawings by Venetian masters of the 16th and 17th Centuries are displayed. The Portrait of Nicolò Erizzo by Alessandro Longhi is one that particularly stands out.