Natural History Museum: closed for restoration
2023-07-24 08:00 - 2024-09-15 17:00 (Europe/Rome) | Orto Botanico, via Farini 90, Parma, 43121, Italia
From Monday 24 July, the Museum of Natural History, both the premises on Strada Farini and Via Università, will also close for restyling.
We will keep you updated on these pages.
When: from Monday 24 July until the end of work

Botanical Garden closed for restoration
2023-07-24 08:00 - 2024-09-30 17:00 | Orto Botanico, via Farini 90, Parma, 43121, Italia
The Botanical Garden is closed for the start of restoration and enhancement work.
Two interventions will affect the Botanical Garden area in the coming months:
The historic garden enhancement project, financed under the PNRR project ‘Programmi per la valorizzare l’identità dei luoghi: parchi e giardini storici‘, by the Ministry of Culture.The work, which concerns the landscaping of the garden, is aimed at respecting biodiversity while minimising water and energy management costs. The leitmotif of the intervention is consistency: the vegetation, naturalistic and environmental needs of the plants prevail over other aspects and the entire garden must be able to act as a ‘botanical embassy’ of the area, as a platform for dialogue to reinforce education in a non-anthropocentric observation of the world.
The project takes into utmost consideration the ecological and naturalistic requirements of the site, minimising soil consumption and reducing the impact on the root systems in the garden. The work includes the resurfacing of paths, the construction of an irrigation system, the creation of new flower beds with low water requirements, the landscaping of rockeries and wetlands, and the building of a new greenhouse to display the succulent collection, which cannot be visited today.
The project is by A+C_Architettura e Città Studio Associato
The project to restore the historic greenhouses and the Botany School, which benefits from a fundamental impulse by ‘Parma, io ci sto!‘, is co-financed by the University of Parma, the Ministry of University and Research, the Cariparma Foundation and the Chiesi Group.
Thanks to sponsors, the Ferdinandee Greenhouses (dating back to the end of the 18th century) and the 19th-century Botany School will be restored and reinstated. The latter building will house the historical herbarium collections, the historical library and a small botanical museum. The Bourbon greenhouses will be restored to their original structures, with the elimination of posthumous structures and a return to the original design of the Petitot School. The new installations will ensure maximum energy savings. The spaces will not only house plants, but will be multifunctional buildings that can also be used for exhibitions and events. Next to the Serre Ferdinandee, new public services, cafeteria, meeting place, bookshop will be opened.
The project is by Studio Canali Associati
The projects were presented on Monday 29 May in the historical headquarters in Strada Farini in the presence of the Rettore, Paolo Andrei, of Mayor Michele Guerra, the Scientific Director of the Botanical Garden Renato Bruni,of the President of Fondazione Cariparma Franco Magnani, the President of ‘Parma, Io ci sto! Alessandro Chiesi and Giovanna Usvardi, Global Communication & External Relations Head of the Chiesi Group, and of course the designers Guido Canali and Paola Cavallini, representing Studio Canali Associati and A+C_Architettura e Città Studio Associato.
When: from Monday 24 July until the conclusion of the work.

Closed, on 1 April, with great success the exhibition 'Impronte. Noi e le piante': over 21,000 visitors
2024-04-16 00:00 - 2024-05-31 23:59 | Palazzo del Governatore, Piazza Garibaldi, Parma, PR, 43121, Italia
Over 21,000 people visited ‘Impronte – Noi e le Piante‘, the exhibition organised by the University of Parma’s Sistema Museale di Ateneo between 13 January and 1 April at the Palazzo del Governatore. A decidedly positive result, which rewards the choice of integrating modern and ancient materials, local collections and ‘pieces’ from other institutions, creating a rich and multifaceted itinerary centred on the innate beauty of the plant kingdom and scientific research.
The exhibition was realised in collaboration with the Municipality of Parma and the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, under the patronage of National Geographic Italia and Le Scienze, and thanks to the fundamental support of Fondazione Cariparma, Gruppo Chiesi and Davines Group.
By reconstructing the scientific album of our relationships with plants from the 15th century to the present day, ‘Impronte’ recounted in parallel the evolution of visual representation technologies, the succession of discoveries and the gradual transformation of the very idea of the plant among researchers, researchers and the public. Visitors were literally able to browse through the magnificent images on display as in a sort of family album, discovering rigorous and fascinating illustrations, exotic and precise prints, pyrotechnic and unexpected photographs, books and herbaria that speak of places and people, bringing order to utilities, discoveries, biodiversity, ecology and experimental data that become aesthetics. By inviting us to follow the footprints that so many different disciplines have left behind, the exhibition highlighted how much the answers to non-trivial and evidently deeply felt questions have changed over time, starting with what a plant really is and how it relates to the world.
The exhibition, based on more than 200 objects, was appreciated for the presence of material from local institutions (Convitto Maria Luigia, Biblioteca Palatina, Fondazione Cariparma, Orto Botanico) as well as from nationally important institutions. This very aspect represents an important legacy for the University Museum System and for the city. “Impronte’ not only fascinated the people who visited it, but also laid the foundations for a better valorisation of Parma’s historical and botanical heritage. In this sense, a further prestigious achievement is the signing of a framework agreement between the University of Parma and the University of Padua for the joint development of museum activities centred on their respective botanical gardens. This choice revived relations that were already strong at the end of the 18th century, when Gianbattista Guatteri, before founding the current Botanical Garden of Parma, was sent to Padua to learn and transfer the essence of the world’s oldest botanical garden.
Confirming the success of the exhibition and the content offered by ‘Impronte’ is also the trend in visits, which gradually increased over the weeks until reaching the final figure of 21,423.This is a sign of an important appreciation and word of mouth that has gone hand in hand with constant media attention.
The numbers for groups and schools were also significant: more than 100 groups took advantage of the guided tours and educational workshops, also arriving from outside Parma, testifying to an attraction that did not only concern the city.
Over a thousand children and girls participated in the workshops. And over 300 attended the side events at the exhibition.
The public success of ‘Impronte – Noi e le Piante’ represents an important basis for the future of the University of Parma Museum System. In fact, the layout and the decision to focus on the relationships between people and plants anticipate the cornerstone on which the Botanical Garden’s cultural and scientific offer will soon hinge, the subject of an extensive restoration and redevelopment project financed with public and private funds.

Botanica Fantastica: exhibiting selected works from the competition
2024-05-11 08:00 - 2024-05-12 17:00
In December 2023, Interno Verde launched the second edition of Interno Verde Design, an illustration competition aimed at students, recent graduates and young professionals under 35, who were called upon to interpret the theme: Botanica Fantastica.
Ten illustrations to explore the unexpressed potential of the plant kingdom, including flowers and imaginary plants. On display are the works selected from the Botanica Fantastica competition, conceived by Interno Verde with the support of “Parma, io ci sto” and the collaboration of the Botanical Garden.
The initiative – supported by the association “Parma, io ci sto!” – represented the heart of the Impronte Off programme, devised by Interno Verde to bring the new generations closer to the exhibition “Impronte | Noi e le piante”, open free of charge until Monday 1 April 2024 at the Palazzo del Governatore in Parma

Curated by the Botanical Garden of Parma, it brings together a compendium of fascinating testimonies that narrate the evolution of botanical representation over the centuries: from medieval herbarium drawings to the most innovative digital reproductions.
The ten works selected from 180 applications received as of Friday 1 March have become an integral part of the exhibition itinerary. They welcome the visitor on the ground floor of the building, anticipating the testimonies and historical documents that can then be encountered on the first floor.
Also on Friday 1 March, along with the presentation of the boards, the name of the first-prize winning author was revealed, who deserved a prize of EUR 500, a two-night stay for two people in an INCHotels establishment and two tickets to the next edition of the Interno Verde festival.
The evaluation was entrusted to an exceptional jury, composed of: Emiliano Ponzi, an internationally renowned illustrator with countless awards and prestigious collaborations behind him, from the Salone del Mobile to the New Yorker, from Vanity Fair to Moleskine, Elisa Seitzinger, a visual artist famous above all for updating and reinterpreting the iconic conciseness of medieval art, Silvia Molinari, an artist specialised in botanical watercolours, the signature of well-known campaigns and covers, from Legambiente to Gardenia, Elena Canadelli, professor of naturalistic museology at the University of Padua, a populariser committed to combining science and contemporary visual culture.
The work that earned the highest step on the podium is called ‘Botanic Magic’, is inspired by Paul Klee’s ‘Fish Magic’, and was created by Francesca Padovan. In second and third place were ‘Erba Bestia’ and ‘Fragili Fiori’, respectively by Giulia Piras and Laine Nameda Lazda.
Each of the ten finalist authors will receive two free tickets to an edition of their choice of the Interno Verde 2024 festival. A nominal free ticket will also be reserved for the remaining 170 nominees.

'Caring: heritage, waste and identity': International Museum Day - 18 MAY 2024
2024-05-18 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
On the occasion of the ‘International Museum Day 2024’ proposed by ICOM, following the theme ‘Museums for Education and Research’, CSAC proposes an afternoon of workshops and insights for all ages. This year’s theme focuses on the fundamental role of cultural institutions in promoting and ensuring an increasingly inclusive, sustainable and informed educational experience, supporting Goals 4 and 9 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Through workshops and events, our aim is to make CSAC an increasingly dynamic and accessible centre, demonstrating how a conscious enjoyment of cultural and artistic heritage can actively contribute to the promotion of the well-being of the individual, the environment and society.
The programme:
SATURDAY 18 MAY
3 p.m.
Guided tour of the exhibition ‘Planimetrie Naturali: Giacomelli, Ghirri, Guerzoni, Archivio’, a photographic exhibition on landscape research in the second half of the 1970s. CSAC presents a small sample of works with the common suggestion of the conventional representation of territory, of the plan, of the map, of the translation into image of the territory as indissoluble, of matter and time that transforms. The materials on display range from photographic collections by Mario Giacomelli, Luigi Ghirri and Franco Guerzoni’s majestic work ‘The Forgotten Wall’, donated by him. There will also be a series of projections of digitised images from the Publifoto Roma and Villani archives.
4 p.m.
“HAVING CARE: Heritage, waste and identity” workshop: In this workshop, each participant will have the opportunity to experiment with self-representation through different media: we will start with photography, move on to synaesthetic drawing, and conclude with painting and collage. We reason about the fragmentation of identity and the re-evaluation of the gap as a possibility for the discovery of the unexpected.
The workshop is free of charge and open to all, with reservations at servizimuseali@csacparma.it
FREE ENTRANCE to the museum and current exhibitions from 10:00 to 19:00

"Planimetrie naturali": the exhibition at the CSAC until 9 June
2024-06-09 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
Opened in the Sala delle Colonne of CSAC the photographic exhibition “Planimetria Naturali: Ghirri, Giacomelli, Guerzoni, Archivio”, curated by Paolo Barbaro and Margherita Zazzero.
Starting from the knot between nature and artifice, controlled figurative action and the form of the uncontrollable or the unconscious, a small sample of works from the CSAC archives is presented with the common suggestion of the conventional representation of territory, the plan, the map, matter and time that transforms. The exhibition will feature works by Mario Giacomelli and Luigi Ghirri, two very different and in many ways opposing researches on the landscape, so much so that they appear as mirror images, but with sometimes coinciding outcomes. These parts of important photographic research are juxtaposed with the work ‘The Forgotten Wall’ that Franco Guerzoni donated to the CSAC in 2004, on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to him.
Completing the exhibition are digitised images taken from gelatin bromide glass negative plates from the Villani and Publifoto archives, which, due to their state of preservation, had been piled up waiting to be disposed of; these materials, usually considered as -scrap-, were recovered by the CSAC together with the rest of the respective archives.
“Planimetrie naturali”
Curated by Paolo Barbaro and Margherita Zazzero
Opening: Saturday 11 May, 5 pm
Exhibition opening: 11 May to 9 June 2024
Where: CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione
Abbazia di Valserena
Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, 43122 Parma

Veterinary Museum: closed Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June
2024-06-12 08:00 - 2024-06-13 17:00 | Museo Anatomico Veterinario “A. Lemoigne”, Via del Taglio, 10, Parma, 43126, Italia
Users are advised that the Veterinary Anatomical Museum A. Lemoigne will be closed on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 June.

Until 1 September the exhibition 'Ugo Sterpini: l'ecart absolu' opens at the CSAC
2024-06-15 00:00 - 2024-09-01 23:59 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
The exhibition “UGO STERPINI – l’écart absolu” It was inaugurated on Saturday 15 June at the CSAC of the University of Parma, in the Sala delle Colonne of the Valserena Abbey.
The exhibition explores the profound connection between the artist and the Surrealist movement, on the occasion of the centenary of the movement’s foundation: Sterpini’s interest in Surrealism pervades much of his artistic career, as demonstrated by his personal library, full of critical texts, plays, novels and poems that nourished his imagination.
The works on display date mainly from the early 1960s, a period when Sterpini was closest to the movement in which he actively participated and was considered among the official members, as documented by his correspondence with André Breton, Jose Pierre and Arturo Schwartz.
Tra le opere esposte, Primavera insidiata del 1964 segna l’incontro con Breton e mostra evidenti influenze surrealiste. The 1966 series Fantasia Feminilil mixes elements of Pop Art and references to Xavièr Gauthier’s ‘Surrealism and Sexuality’, exploring eros as the driving force behind the Surrealist movement.
Along the way is The Throne of Ubu, a work exhibited among the Surrealist ‘meubles’ at the last major exhibition dedicated to the movement in 1965 in Paris, and a selection of furniture with anthropomorphic features from the same period.
The exhibition concludes with a screening of the Surrealist short film Un chien andalou by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, made in 1929 and reworked in 1960, which well represents the dreamlike, delirious and psychoanalytic themes typical of the movement.
Sterpini’s affiliation with Surrealism, although apparently late, is profound and dictated by a genuine desire to know and share the movement’s fundamental principles.
Sterpini leaves behind an important artistic legacy with works donated to the Communication Studies and Archive Centre of the University of Parma, which preserves a fund of over one hundred works and a selection of volumes from his personal library. In 2003, CSAC dedicated a major monographic exhibition to him.
UGO STERPINI – l’écart absolu
by Giulia Ferrari
16 June – 1 September 2024
CSAC Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell’Università di Parma
Abbey of Valserena
Strada Viazza di Paradigna 1, 43122 Parma
Museum opening hours:
Friday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 10 am-7pm
Entrance:
Full price ticket 10 euro
For info and reductions: https://www.csacparma.it/visita/
For information and reservations:
CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell’Università di Parma
csac@unipr.it
servizimuseali@csacunipr.it
+ 39 0521 903649

SUMMER 2024: MUSEUM CLOSURES
2024-06-26 08:00 - 2024-09-01 17:00
The museums of the University Museum System will observe a few weeks of closure during the traditional summer holidays.
Here is the calendar:
Veterinary Anatomical Museum: 22 July to 23 August. Regular reopening on 26 August.
Museum of Mathematics and Informatics: 29 July to 30 August. Regular reopening on 2 September.
Museum of Palaeontology:1 to 30 August. Regular reopening on 3 September.
Museum of Crystal Chemistry:1 to 30 August. Regular reopening on 2 September.
Mineralogy Museum: 5 to 16 August. Regular reopening from 19 August.
Centro studi e archivio della comunicazione (CSAC):5 to 22 August. Regular reopening from 23 August.
Macedonio Melloni Museum: 5 to 23 August. Regular reopening on 26 August.
The Museum of Natural History, the Botanical Garden, the Museum of Biomedicine and the Permanent Interactive Scientific Exhibition ‘Microcosm with a View’ will remain closed to the public for the relocation of the collections and restoration until the work is completed.

“Archivio Paesaggio. L’Italia del secondo Novecento nelle collezioni CSAC”: the exhibition until 23 December
2024-09-14 00:00 - 2024-12-23 23:59 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
The exhibition Archivio paesaggio. L’Italia del secondo Novecento nelle collezioni CSAC is an itinerary around the theme of the landscape, its codifications and transcriptions, conducted on the archival traces of the transformations that, starting after World War II and over the course of forty years, have crossed Italy reconfiguring spaces and territories, aspirations and tensions, images and imaginaries.
Museum opening hours:
Friday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, Sunday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Entry
Full price ticket: € 10.00 For info and reductions: https://www.csacparma.it/visita/
For information and reservations:
CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione dell’Università di Parma csac@unipr.it servizimuseali@csacunipr.it + 39 0521 903649

"Community Specific Archive": until 6 October, the exhibition at the CSAC
2024-09-14 08:00 - 2024-10-06 18:30 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
Community Specific Archive collects a series of photographs by Paola Di Bello and a video-installation by Valerio Rocco Orlando born from the artists’ confrontation with the CSAC archive and with the students of the Three-year BA Program in Communication and Contemporary Media for the Creative Industries at the University of Parma The Community Specific Archive project was selected within the framework of the public notice PAC2022-2023 – Plan for Contemporary Art, promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, on the proposal of the CSAC Centre of Studies and Communication Archive – University of Parma. Through a series of workshops, the artists developed a research based on self-awareness and knowledge sharing, valorising the collection of the Study Centre and Communication Archive of the University of Parma as a trigger for the work. The result is a new production focused on the identity dimension of the territory, capable of reflecting the instances and urgencies of local society.For this occasion Paola Di Bello and Valerio Rocco Orlando produced a series of works composed of static images and moving images capable of resonating with the archive, the university and the city of Parma. The work expresses the synthesis of a participatory process flowing into a photographic production consisting of a series of collages, the result of a visual dialogue with the students, which draws on the photographic section used as raw material.
The archive comes out and returns to it revitalised and re-actualised. In parallel, the video installation expresses the formal synthesis of a pedagogical methodology based on the practice of active listening, on non-creative writing exercises and on dramaturgical and audiovisual reworking as a collective action. With the acquisition of this new corpus of works from the Centre’s heritage, the hope is to provide a useful key to penetrate and reread the complexity of the archive itself, in order to prolong its life by mending ties with the everyday life of its inhabitants. For the occasion, a publication published by Silvana Editoriale will be produced. In addition, as part of the project, on Tuesday 17 September 2024 at 11 a.m., in the Mulas Lecture Hall of the University of Parma, a round table on the topics discussed will be organised in the presence of the artists, the curator and researchers Guido Mannucci and Kevin McManus. Exhibition curated by Cristina Casero.
Paola Di Bello (Naples, 1961) is an artist and Professor of Photography at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, where she directs the Photography Department. Her research well represents the trajectories that photography has taken in the last thirty years, directing its interests towards installation-based operating methods, the result of the hybridisation between the conceptual vocation of previous generations and the social investigation that sees man and context at the centre of its interests.
Valerio Rocco Orlando (Milan, 1978) is an artist, lecturer in Multimedia Dramaturgy at the Brera Academy and doctoral student in Architectural and Urban Planning Engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome. Through practices ranging from workshops to video installations, his research takes art as a process of mutual analysis and knowledge and explores the osmosis between institutions, museums, academia and the social sphere.
Participants: Wafa Arfaoui, Silvia Balzarini, Jacopo Botto, Simone Cangiati, Marzia Carpitella, Giulia Conte, Gaia Conti, Gabriele Dalla Grana, Vladyslava Dovzhyk, Alice Dugaria, Liam Falleri, Rachele Ferrari, Claudio Magnano, Dominique Montanari, Sofia Piana, Alexia Piazza, Chiara Solari.
Quando: 14 September – 6 October 2024
Dove: CSAC – Abbey of Valserena – Via Viazza di Paradigna, 1 – Parma

European Researchers' Night: Events in Museums
2024-09-27
Friday 27 September sees the return to Parma of the European Researchers’ Night, the most important European scientific communication event promoted in the city by the University of Parma with the co-organisation and patronage of the City of Parma and Imem – CNR.
The activities are almost all free to access, but some require booking: it will only be possible to book online from 13 September via the event’s official website.
Many initiatives also in museums!
At the Museum of Crystallochemistry we will be able to explore a truly gigantic molecule and travel through the nano-world of crystals to discover splendid acrobatic architectures.
At the Museum of Mathematics and Informatics, children and young people will be guided in the discovery of Pythagoras and his famous theorem with interactive paths, while adults and young people can immerse themselves in the fascinating history of the Personal Computer.
At the Veterinary Anatomical Museum, researchers will take us on a discovery of muscles, bones, preparations and organs of many animals (from mammals to birds, from amphibians to reptiles)
At the Mineralogy Museum, we can have close encounters with minerals and rocks and learn about their wonderful world through interactive activities and games.
At the CSAC, Centre for Studies and Archives of Communication, the question is asked whether it is possible to educate people to care for the environment through art. Researchers will answer the question with creative experimentation workshops between art and the environment for children and young people.
At the permanent science exhibition ‘Microcosm with a View’, we will be able to see demonstrations and observations of what we see with a fog chamber (an instrument that reveals elementary particles).
The detailed programme of the European Researchers’ Night in Museums:
The Giant Molecule
Exploration and socialising with a giant molecule. Truly giant!
Referees: Alessia Bacchi, Giuditta Cicconi.
For who: for everyone
When: from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Activities with free access.
Where: Complex of Chemistry – Hall 01 – Museum of Crystal Chemistry (entrance hall, mezzanine floor corridor).
Journeys in the nano-world of crystals: acrobatic geometries and splendid architectures
Themed guided tours in the Museum of Crystallochemistry: each tour will focus on an element of the periodic table, or on a molecule important for life and the environment, exploring the architecture of materials at the atomic level and their properties. The visits will be followed by experimental activities: visualisations of computer models and analysis of samples under the microscope.
Contact person: Alessia Bacchi.
For who: for everyone
When: from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. – free access on a rotating basis – groups of 10-15 people.
Where: Chemistry Complex – Hall 01 – Crystal Chemistry Museum (entrance hall, mezzanine corridor).
Visit to the ‘Interactive Exhibition on the History of the Personal Computer’
Guided tours of the Interactive Exhibition on the History of the Personal Computer will be offered. The exhibition allows personal and interactive tours that can be enjoyed by ‘children’ of all ages.
Contact person: Federico Bergenti.
For whom: for children (15-19 years) and adults.
When: Activity by appointment only. 4 one-hour shifts: 5-6 pm; 6-7 pm; 7-8 pm; 8-9 pm. – 25 people per shift.
Where: Mathematics Complex – Hall 21 – First floor, Exhibition Hall/Lecture Room.
Visit to the exhibition ‘Pythagoras and his Theorem’
Guided tours of the exhibition ‘Pythagoras and His Theorem’ will be offered. The exhibition allows personal and interactive tours that can be enjoyed by ‘children’ of all ages.
Contact person: Alberto Saracco.
For whom: for children and young people (12-14 years and 15-19 years)
When: Activities by prior arrangement. 4 one-hour shifts: 17-18; 18-19; 19-20; 20-21. – 25 people per shift.
Where: Mathematics Complex – Hall 21 – Second floor, Exhibition Hall/Lecture Room.
Close encounters with minerals and rocks
Activities and interactive games to introduce people to the wonderful world of minerals and rocks that make up the Earth, the planets and that we use every day without, sometimes, even knowing it.
Various activities are planned during the event, such as:
– ‘Mineral Hunt’: a treasure hunt to identify the minerals that make up objects of everyday life
everyday life
– ‘The world in a grain of sand’: let’s discover with a microscope what sand is made of
– ‘Discovering rocks’: a journey from the depths of the planet under a microscope
– ‘Wow! it glows even at night’: enter the darkroom and discover the magical world of fluorescent minerals!
Referees: Sabrina Nazzareni, Luciana Mantovani, Alessandra Montanini.
For who: for everyone
When: from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. – free access on a rotating basis.
Where: Earth Sciences Complex – Halls 07 – Central Corridor and Mineral, Rock and Fossil Hall (Tooth C).
Guided tour of the Anatomical Veterinary Museum
Guided tour of the rooms of the Veterinary Anatomical Museum, where skeletons, bones, muscles and organs of mammals, birds and reptiles studied by Veterinary Medicine are exhibited.
Contact person: Luisa Ragionieri.
For who: for everyone
When: Activity by appointment only. One shift: 4-5pm. Minimum 5; maximum 20 people per shift.
Where: Veterinary Pole – Veterinary Anatomical Museum – Strada del Taglio, 10.
Imagining landscapes: creative experimentation workshops between art and the environment
Is it possible to educate to care for the environment through art? You can find out through a rich programme of workshops organised in the spaces of the CSAC museum archive in collaboration with the Education Unit of the University of Parma. An itinerary in which to learn to
observe the environment around us not only with your eyes, but also with your hands. Through our workshops, you will be able to experiment with different artistic techniques, including cyanotype, collage, visual poetry, printmaking and group painting. Multiple ways of exploring the world of art and the landscape, to educate and educate oneself to experience the environment in a more conscious manner.
Contacts: Margherita Zazzero, Mariangela Scarpini (Education Unit-DUSIC).
For whom: children and young people (6-8 years and 9-11 years)
When: from 4 to 8 p.m. (last admission at 7 p.m.). Free access activities.
Where: Communication Study Centre and Archives (CSAC). Valserena Abbey (Via Viazza di Paradigna, 1 – Parma) – Sculpture Court – Consultation Room and Church.
Microcosm with a view
A short visit to fundamental interactions with access to simple demonstrations and observations of what we see with a fog chamber and the fundamental particles that reach us.
Contact person: Roberto De Pietri.
For whom: for everyone
When: from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. – free access on a rotating basis with a quota of a maximum of 10 people at a time.
Where: Physics Complex – Hall 03 – First floor laboratories adjacent to Squid Lecture Hall.
Download the complete programme

Gala in Nero, inaugurazione “Respira” XVIII edizione de Il Rumore del Lutto Festival. Sabato 28 settembre allo CSAC
2024-09-28 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
Il Gala in Nero, con dress code total black, è da sempre uno degli eventi più iconici del Festival Il Rumore del Lutto, nato dalla collaborazione con Verdi Off nel 2015.
Quest’anno, Segnali di Vita Aps ha deciso di organizzare un evento che unisca musica, danza e teatro in un’esperienza unica.
Il Gala sarà interamente ispirato al tema ‘RESPIRA’, offrendo agli ospiti l’opportunità di esprimere liberamente la propria creatività attraverso l’evocazione del nero, anche in stile vittoriano.
Il programma di sabato 28 settembre:
Un pomeriggio con il tradizionale Gala, rigorosamente in total black
Ore 15.00 – Addito Salis Grano
Visita guidata alla scoperta dell’antica Abbazia di Valserena
A cura di Maria Pia Branchi
In collaborazione con AISAC – Associazione Italiana Siti e Abbazie Cistercensi
A seguire, nel cortile dell’Abbazia, un pomeriggio con Ape Regina e Mario Mascitelli, e un Death Cafe con Massimo Carosi, Patrizia Cirino, Maria Angela Gelati, Francesco Marilungo
Ore 18.00 – Stuporosa in Abbazia
Coreografia e Regia: Francesco Marilungo
Con Vera Di Lecce, Martina di Parto, Roberta Racis, Barbara Novati e Alice Raffaelli
Una produzione Körper | Centro di Produzione Nazionale della Danza in coproduzione con Fabbrica Europa
Dopo lo spettacolo, BREATHE un percorso musicale curato da Marco Pipitone
Ingresso regolato da Up To You, decidi tu liberamente quanto pagare
Info e prenotazioni: irdlbiglietteria@gmail.com
Fino ad esaurimento posti
Tutte le iniziative inserite all’interno del Gala in Nero sono regolate da un dresscode in total black obbligatorio.
In collaborazione con AISAC, CSAC, VERDI OFF, Teatro del Cerchio, Danza Urbana
Con la partecipazione di Associazione Esperienze e Valico Terminus.
Con il contributo della Regione Emilia-Romagna, con il sostegno di Ade Servizi Srl e Infortunistica Tossani.

"Clenice Capece" exhibition open until 24 December
2024-10-19 00:00 - 2024-12-24 18:30 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
The Cleonice Capece exhibition is open, the first in a new series dedicated to the presentation of recent CSAC acquisitions.
The artist’s fund was in fact donated by Cleonice Capece herself in 2024.
Through a selection of materials including drawings, photographs, press reviews and fabric samples, the exhibition will highlight Capece’s work, which has remained too long forgotten.
The ‘Cleonice Capece’ exhibition is curated by Maria Vittoria Alpi
Where: CSAC – Communication Studies and Archives Centre – Valserena Abbey, Via Viazza di Paradigna, 1 – Parma
When: 19 October – 23 December 2024

More information

MUST is born: Italy's first Museum of Natural History. Watch the video!
2024-11-13 08:00 - 2025-06-30 17:00 | Museo di Storiografia Naturalistica, via Università 12, Parma, 43121
Italy’s first Museum of Natural History is being set up at the University of Parma: MUST.
A museum that is accessible to all, with special attention to those with sensory and mobility difficulties, and which aims to be a great natural history tale along the timeline. Work is ongoing and the opening is scheduled for June 2025.
On Tuesday 12 November, in the Aula Magna of the University, the presentation of the project was held, with speeches by the Rector Paolo Martelli, the Delegate for Museum Activities Donato Antonio Grasso, the Head of the Area for Relations with Society Riccardo Marini, the Scientific Director of MUST Davide Persico, the expert in exhibition valorisation Maria Amarante and Sandrino Luigi Marra, in charge of the MUST’s soft decolonisation process. Deputy Pro-rector Fabrizio Storti also spoke at the meeting.
Thanks to a PNRR grant from the Ministry of Culture, a process of complete renovation and rethinking of the University’s Natural History Museum has begun: at the end of this process, the MUST will be created.
In the Museum of Natural History, located in the University’s main building since the end of the 18th century, the accessibility of the museum’s holdings was limited by the spatial dispersion of the collections and laboratories over several buildings and several vertical levels, which particularly penalised visitors with mobility impairments. The new project will make it possible to create a museum organised to be accessible to all and sundry, with collections also set up to disseminate the principles of biodiversity, environmental protection and cultural exchange The project is also intended to be a driving force for the museum collections to intersect with debates on sustainability and the role of the scientific community in relation to society.
The collections will be integrated in a single location in the University’s main building, breaking down motor, cognitive and sensory barriers to allow all audiences to visit independently, and also enhancing educational activities. The intervention consists of the creation of an independent, barrier-free access route on two levels: ground floor and first floor. On the ground floor, a layout will be created along the perimeter corridor, where materials representative of the collections previously decentralised in various locations will be relocated. On the first floor, a single entrance will be created, also signalled by a tactile footpath, with stairs and a lift suitable for motor and sensory disabled people. Sensory and cognitive accessibility to the collections will be improved by using new display cases of a height suitable for children and wheelchair users, thus enhancing the quality of the visitor experience for the entire public. Digital explanatory aids will be used.
In MUST, the idea was to describe Natural History through a historiographical chronological path, represented by the personalities who founded and contributed to the growth and evolution of the Museum. From Father Fourcault, who will welcome visitors by recounting the time when he started a small collection of natural history exhibits in 1768, to Duchess Maria Luigia of Austria, who between 1816 and 1847 did her utmost to increase the collections and who will tell visitors about her love of the natural world: what enabled the original nucleus to be enriched with important exhibits, considered extremely rare and fascinating at the time, such as an ostrich specimen, a kangaroo, a narwhal tooth, birds of paradise and the precious San Donnino meteorite (Fidenza, 1808). Other guides of the museum will be other of its ‘fathers’: from Pellegrino Strobel to Alberto Del Prato and Angelo Andres.
At the opening of the tour, there will be a re-enactment of the wunderkammer, an exhibition hall ‘of wonders’ whose purpose was to stimulate the amazement of those who crossed its threshold: artefacts and objects of all kinds, heterogeneous and spectacular, will occupy all the surfaces of the hall, the inside of the cupboards and the barrel ceiling, just as happened in the Scholars’ Palaces from the 16th century onwards. And in closing there will be a new, modern wunderkammer: a cubic room that will welcome visitors in an astonishing immersive vision of a thousand colours, in the splendid collection of butterflies and beetles that belonged to Don Boarini and was acquired by the Museum in the 1990s.
There will be a section of human anatomy, with a room dedicated to the work of anatomist Lorenzo Tenchini and his wax masks made on commission by Cesare Lombroso, a room of comparative anatomy, an ethnographic section, and much more, in a tour that promises to be truly a journey of wonders.
The layout will be totally revolutionised compared to the Natural History Museum, and will be aimed at enhancing the heritage in a totally immersive approach.
Follow the presentation

The Macedonio Melloni Physics Collection is temporarily closed.
2024-12-12 08:00 - 2025-01-31 17:00 | Campus – Parco Area delle Scienze, via delle Scienze, Parma, 43125, Italia
The Macedonio Melloni Physics Collection is temporarily closed to the public due to the unavailability of the physics building .
It is scheduled to reopen in January 2025.

Until 31 January the travelling exhibition "Aree verdi di Ateneo – Gestione, fruizione, sostenibilità”
2025-01-31 | Campus – Parco Area delle Scienze, via delle Scienze, Parma, 43125, Italia
Over the past few years, our university has made efforts to upgrade its green spaces, improve their quality and integrate them more effectively into normal teaching, research and third mission activities.
Some of these actions are beginning to become visible, such as the new styles of lawn care at the Science and Technology Campus. Of others, the Botanical Garden for example, building sites are becoming visible, some of which are close to closure. In other cases, work is underway to provide us with new rules for a management that is attentive to the needs of the environment and of anyone who directly or indirectly uses the University’s spaces.
In fact, all the interventions correspond to a common and coordinated intent: to devote the right care to sustainability and improve the impact of our actions according to scientifically correct dictates, while always keeping in mind the requirements of practicality, usability and functionality typical of spaces for collective use.
It is a work that involves the Ateneo Sostenibile Group with concrete and guiding actions, implemented and planned in several locations, whose effectiveness cannot disregard the involvement of all the people who work and attend the University of Parma: lecturers, technical-administrative staff, students and students.
“Aree verdi di Ateneo – Gestione, fruizione, sostenibilità” the title of the exhibition.
Four totems, which will also be exhibited in other University buildings during 2025, will illustrate four different interventions in different locations and typologies, but united by a single vision and a common thread: care, study and use of grassy areas (also with circularity criteria and Citizen Science actions); improvement of the energy performance of buildings through green walls and the creation of a living lab in the Engineering Department; regeneration of greenhouses, buildings and the Botanical Garden.
When: 16 December 2024 to 31 January 2025
Where: St. Elisabeth Centre – Science and Technology Campus

"Intorno ai ’70: ideologie, progetti, linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC":The exhibition at Palazzo Pigorini
2025-03-01 11:00 - 2025-05-04 18:30 | Palazzo Pigorini, Strada della Repubblica 29/A, Parma, 43121
It is a sort of ‘dissertation through images’ on the 1970s, the second exhibition of the triptych envisaged by the collaboration betweeCSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the Parma Univertity and the Municipality of Parma – Assessorato alla Cultura. After the exhibition “Visioni (im)possibili” of 2024, which focused on the 1960s seen ‘from a Bauhaus point of view’, here we are with “Intorno ai ’70″, a journey through ideologies, projects and languages from the CSAC collections, which anticipates the final stage of the journey, a survey of the 1980s that will be staged in 2026.

Intorno ai ’70: ideologie, progetti, linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC will be open on the first floor of Palazzo Pigorini from 1 March to 4 May.
Curated by CSAC Director Cristina Casero, lecturer in History of Contemporary Art at the University of Parma, and by CSAC, in collaboration with the City of Parma, it offers an in-depth look at a decade in which artists, photographers, stylists, designers and planners intercepted the tensions and social upheavals and in a broader cultural sense, that erupted during 1968 and interpreted the utopias that swept through civil society, often also giving voice to the increasingly widespread discontent in Italian society, caught between modernity and problems that, never dormant, are now overbearingly exploding.
These are years in which many certainties are being questioned, starting with some of the more traditional institutions. In this climate, those professionally involved in visual communication, art and design, are questioning their own role.
In a society that commodifies even the artistic act, the desire is to stimulate critical thought and reflection, interpreting the innovative season that the country is going through, and to renew languages in function of a more direct relationship with the public.
In the halls of Palazzo Pigorini, the works of artists, designers, photographers, illustrators and stylists dialogue with each other, giving visitors a mosaic rich in suggestions and food for thought and highlighting the plurality of visual languages that permeated Italy in the 1970s. From the photographs of Mario Cresci and the Publifoto Roma agency to the sketches of Walter Albini, Giorgio Armani, Brunetta and Krizia, from the design icons of Achille Castiglioni, Alessandro Mendini, Roberto Menghi, Alberto Rosselli and Ettore Sottsass Jr. to the satire of Alfredo Chiappori and Felis to the works of Enrico Baj, Emilio Isgrò, Ugo La Pietra, Mimmo Rotella, Mario Schifano and Emilio Vedova.
In autumn, a second exhibition dedicated to the 1970s will be set up at the Valserena Abbey, CSAC’s headquarters, with the aim of further exploring the themes investigated in the exhibition at Palazzo Pigorini.
INFO
Intorno ai 70: ideologie, progetti e linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC
curated by Cristina Casero and CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the University of Parma
in collaboration with the Municipality of Parma
Palazzo Pigorini, Strada della Repubblica 29/A, 43121 Parma, first floor
Exhibition opening: 1 March – 4 May 2025
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday and public holidays 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. (last admission to the exhibition 6.30 p.m.). Open 20 and 21 April (Easter and Easter Monday), 25 April, 1 May.
Free admission
pigorini@comune.parma.it
www.comune.parma.it/cultura
THE THREE-YEAR COLLABORATION PROJECT
“Intorno ai ’70: ideologie, progetti, linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC” is the second act of a three-year collaboration project between CSAC and the Municipality of Parma: in the three-year period 2024-2026 the project envisages six exhibition events, three in the CSAC premises at the Abbazia di Valserena and three in an exhibition space of the Municipality, to propose a reflection on recent history. The exhibitions have as their generating element the works and documents selected from the CSAC collections and aim to shed light not only on the major themes of the cultural debate of the identified period, but also on social and political dynamics, the transformations of the languages of communication and the complex and biunivocal relations between art and industry, design and mass culture, document and narration.

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Until 13 June ILIADE#1 CAVALLI by Lenz Foundation at the Veterinary Collection
2025-06-05 00:00 - 2025-06-13 23:59 | Museo Anatomico Veterinario “A. Lemoigne”, Via del Taglio, 10, Parma, 43126, Italia
From Thursday 5 June at 21. 00, in replication until 13 June, the spaces of the Veterinary Anatomy Collection of the University of Parma (via del Taglio 8) will host the debut of ILIADE#1 CAVALLI, the new site-specific performative composition by Maria Federica Maestri and Francesco Pititto, the first chapter of the anatomical/dramaturgical work on Homer’s Iliad and the central nucleus of the Atlas on Violence, the artistic project that over the next three years will engage Lenz Fondazione in a reflection on the structures that define the suffering of the human and non-human animal in an analysis of impiety, the destructive act, the hero and war.
Performed by Tiziana Cappella, Aldo Rendina, Sandra Soncini, Carlotta Spaggiari, with music by Andrea Azzali, the site-specific composition will be articulated in three different spaces of the museum, whose origins date back to 1845, together with the birth of the Veterinary School, in which 694 anatomical, normal and teratological preparations produced in the 19th and 20th centuries are preserved.
The artistic direction communicates that no harm was done to animals in the realisation of the performance, and the work aesthetically expresses the desire to restore dignity to all living things.
The creation was realised with the support and collaboration of the University of Parma – Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Enterprises; Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences; University Museum System; MuDes Museo Diffuso delle Scienze – ‘Alessio Lemoigne’ Collection of Veterinary Anatomy of the Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences.
The project Atlas on Violence_Anatomies of the Landscape is supported by: Ministry of Culture, Emilia-Romagna Region, Municipality of Parma, Ausl di Parma, Cariparma Foundation, Chiesi Farmaceutici.
Notice to the public:
Some scenes of the performance may have a strong emotional impact and may shock the sensitivity of the spectator. The performance is itinerant on several floors. A lift will be available for people with mobility difficulties. Due to the limited number of seats, booking is compulsory.

ILIADE#1 CAVALLI
Dramaturgy, imagoturgy Francesco Pititto
Composition, installation, enclosures Maria Federica Maestri
Performers Tiziana Cappella, Sandra Soncini, Carlotta Spaggiari, Aldo Rendina
Music Andrea Azzali
Project care Elena Sorbi
Organisation Ilaria Stocchi
Lighting design Alice Scartapacchio
Production Giulia Mangini
Graphic design and dissemination Alessandro Conti
Communication and press office Giovanna Pavesi
For information on performances and bookings, contact Lenz Fondazione on 0521-270141 and 335 6096220 (also via WhatsApp) and info@lenzfondazione.it
press release Lenz Fondazione

Botanical Garden: second phase of restyling
2025-06-27 08:00 - 2025-12-15 17:00 | Orto Botanico, via Farini 90, Parma, 43121, Italia
The first renovation site of the Botanical Garden of the University of Parma, relating to works financed under the PNRR investment line “Programmi per valorizzare l’identità dei luoghi: parchi e giardini storici”, supported by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

The work, in fact a first part of a larger restyling of the garden in Via Farini, involved the conservative restoration of internal pathways, fountains, stone flower beds and the gate and access staircase from Viale Martiri della Libertà, restored to its original colours. A lighting and irrigation system was also installed for all 11,000 square metres of the garden, with a recovery of the water used to feed the fountains.
The most important operation involved the construction of a new exhibition greenhouse to be dedicated to succulent plants, built according to the specific ecological requirements of high-altitude Cactaceae. The decision to create a small rock garden and a large dry garden, as well as the refurbishment of the wetlands, followed one of the most important guidelines for the future management of the Garden: to represent a sort of “urban embassy” of the most relevant and sensitive habitats in the area, in synergy with the framework agreement that the University has recently signed with the Ente Parchi del Ducato.

The work also laid the foundations for the complete redevelopment of the offer in terms of communication, education and accessibility, with the creation of new visitor routes based on the balance between the multimedia component and direct experience, increasing the dimension of the visual, olfactory, sound and tactile landscape. Finally, more historic trees were secured through modern arboricultural approaches aimed at prolonging their life, to be illustrated to the public as a correct management model for the urban tree component.
The closure of the PNRR funding activities now allows the start of a new phase in the parallel building renovation project involving the Botanical Garden’s historical buildings, including the Ferdinandee Greenhouses and the School of Botany. This second line of action, which has benefited from a fundamental impulse and active collaboration from “Parma, io ci sto!”, is co-financed by the University of Parma, the Ministry of University and Research, the Cariparma Foundation and the Chiesi Group.
The restoration project, developed in its executive phase by the companies Mazzei Architects srl, Faccio Engineering srl and SC Engineering srl starting with the final design by arch. Guido Canali, focuses on a conservative approach, aimed at preserving the historical and botanical structures while enhancing the existing spaces.

The intervention aims to guarantee maximum flexibility of use, which in the case of the 18th century Serre Ferdinandee will translate into the reconstruction of the roof and systems, the restoration of the historical glass windows and the recovery of the interior spaces, to be used mainly for the conservation of plants but also for educational and exhibition activities, maintaining flexibility for future changes. The greenhouse forecourt is preserved, preserving the existing vegetation, restoring the greenhouses, the characteristic balustrade and the warm beds intended for winter sheltering of the Parma Violet.

A new elevated walkway will be built, with a pergola to house new plant collections on the north side of the Ferdinandee greenhouses. The west end, a building erected in the 1960s next to the greenhouses themselves, will be rebuilt in a new contemporary look to house reception, cafeteria and bookshop activities. The structure will be characterised by green walls, which will also be placed along the eastern portion of the Serre Ferdinandee to screen the service rooms; the choice of the plants to be used, climbing and others, is the result of joint work between the Botanical Garden staff and the agronomist landscape architect Annachiara Vendramin.
The School of Botany, originally built in 1859, will instead undergo conservative restoration and consolidation; it will be refurbished to house a small botanical museum on the ground floor, dedicated to the collections of herbals, books, prints and other botanical objects belonging to the University of Parma and other institutions, in continuity with the cultural and popular line already set out in 2024 with the “Impronte – Noi e le Piante” exhibition. The upper floor will instead house the archive of herbaria and the rest of the historical book collections, allowing them to be consulted, which is currently precluded.
Finally, a technical room will be created in a portion of the basement of the Via Farini building for the district heating exchanger. The connection to the city grid replaces the construction of the originally planned geothermal plant, guaranteeing a significant reduction in interference with the existing vegetation, which is subject to protection.

The entire project is the result of the joint work of several competences present in the University, in total synergy with the lines that are inspiring the refurbishment of the Museum of Natural History. In both museum structures of the University of Parma, the intention is to express the depth of the relationship between people and nature in an integrated and user-centred key, amalgamating in a single voice botanical, zoological, naturalistic, landscape, cultural, historical, aesthetic and social aspects that are often illustrated and experienced separately. Once this intervention has been completed, the Botanical Garden will become a place of dialogue and aggregation, capable of hosting events and educational courses to raise awareness of environmental, cultural and scientific issues among the population.

The ultimate objective is to adapt the structure to the contemporary dynamics of scientific popularisation without losing its fundamental historical roots or botanical identity: from places for the mere conservation and exhibition of local and exotic plant species to platforms for communicating and discussing major issues with society, in a reciprocal growth, also through the dissemination of correct environmental education, seeking to attract audiences on both a local and national scale.

The MIPAM network is born, with the University of Parma among its founding members
2025-07-14 08:00 - 2025-12-30 17:00
MIPAM – Musei Italiani con Patrimonio dal Mondo (Italian Museums with World Heritage) is officially launched. This national network brings together Italian museums, including the museum system of the University of Parma, committed to the conservation and enhancement of collections from around the world, with the aim of promoting dialogue, sharing best practices and transparency in the management and care of this heritage.
On 10 June, the final meeting to establish the network was held at the Stibbert Museum in Florence. The network was created after four preparatory meetings held between 2023 and 2025 in Milan, Parma, Turin and Florence, involving institutions from all over Italy. The new network aims to be a point of reference for directors, curators, conservators and archivists from state, municipal, university, missionary and private institutions.
Italy is home to a huge number of non-European works and artefacts, which have been arriving in the country since the 15th century. Many of these collections are housed in little-known institutions with limited resources, which today, thanks to MIPAM, can count on a network of specialists and inter-museum collaborations.
The network includes institutions that are very different from each other in terms of their institutional, historical and collection-related characteristics. In some cases, they operate outside traditional museum circuits, but together they share the mission of promoting research, increasing accessibility and supporting the enhancement of non-European heritage and its complex cultural contexts of reference and origin.
These different institutions now have a stable reference point for developing collaborative projects, strengthening dialogue between the national and international spheres, sharing common problems and comparing their respective best practices.
MIPAM will organise regular meetings and propose joint projects such as exhibitions, publications, training activities and public programmes that promote shared tangible and intangible heritage.
MIPAM brings with it a new awareness: that of a more connected, informed Italian museum sector that is ready to face contemporary challenges related to history, ethics and the preservation of global cultural heritage.
The network, whose foundation was promoted by MUDEC, is always open to new members.
Founding Museums:
CAM Cultures and Mission, Polo culturale dei Missionari della Consolata – Torino
Castello D’Albertis Museo delle Culture del Mondo – Genova
Centro di Ateneo per i Musei Università degli Studi di Padova
Fondazione MIC Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza – Onlus
Gallerie degli Uffizi, Firenze
MUCIV – Museo delle Civiltà, Roma
MUDEC – Museo delle Culture, Milano
Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia
Museo Civico di Modena
Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali “Enrico Caffi” – Bergamo
Museo Civico – Tortona (Alessandria)
Museo Civico Etnografico “Giovanni Podenzana” – La Spezia
Museo d’Arte Cinese ed Etnografico dei Missionari Saveriani – Parma
MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale (Fondazione Torino Musei) – Torino
Museo d’Arte Orientale, Venezia
Museo d’Arte Orientale – Collezione Mazzocchi – Coccaglio (Brescia)
Museo d’Arte Orientale “Edoardo Chiossone” – Genova
Museo di Antropologia ed Etnografia dell’Università degli Studi di Torino
Museo Egizio – Torino
Museo Etno-Archeologico Castiglioni – Varese
Museo Etnologico Missionario di Colle Don Bosco – Castelnuovo Don Bosco (Asti)
Museo Popoli e Culture PIME – Milano
Museo Stibbert – Firenze
Palazzo dei Musei – Varallo (Vercelli)
Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica (Fondazione Torino Musei) – Torino
Sistema Museale di Ateneo, Università di Parma
The board of directors is composed of: Marina Pugliese (director of MUDEC – Museum of Cultures, Milan), Davide Quadrio (director of MAO Museum of Oriental Art, Turin), Andrea Viliani (director of MUCIV – Museum of Civilisation, Rome), Enrico Colle (director of the Stibbert Museum, Florence), Fr. Enzo Oliviero Verzeletti (Director of the Museum of Chinese Art and Ethnography of the Saveriani Missionaries, Parma).

Collections and Museums: Summer Closures
2025-07-15 08:00 - 2025-09-02 22:30
During the summer break, the Collections will observe a few days of closure:
Crystallochemistry Collection: from 1 to 29 August. Regular reopening from 2 September.
Mineralogy Collection: from 4 to 25 August. Regular reopening from 26 August.
Palaeontology Collection: from 1 to 31 August. Regular reopening from 2 September.
L. Tenchini Biomedicine Collection: closed due to relocation.
Normal Veterinary Anatomy Collection: from 21 July to 22 August. Regular reopening from 25 August.
Macedonio Melloni Physics Collection: from 9 to 24 August. Regular reopening from 25 August.
Mathematics and Computer Science Collection: from 9 to 24 August. Regular reopening from 25 August.
CSAC (Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione): closed for flooding.
Botanical Garden: closed for restyling.
Museum of Natural History -MUST: closed for restyling.

Veterinary Anatomical Collection: new opening hours in September
2025-09-01 15:00 - 2025-09-30 18:30 | Private: Collezione Anatomico Veterinaria “A. Lemoigne”, Via del Taglio, 10, 43126 Parma, 43126, Italy
The ‘A. Lemoigne’ Veterinary Anatomical Collection extends its opening hours.
In the month of September, the Collection will be open from Monday to Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
Information and reservations.

Until 24 October: Giorgio Armani, a tribute by the University of Parma and CSAC
2025-09-22 00:00 - 2025-10-24 23:59 | Chiostro dei Paolotti, Strada Massimo D'Azeglio 85, Parma, Italia
The University of Parma and the CSAC (Centre for Studies and Archives of Communication) pay tribute to Giorgio Armani a few days after his passing.
From 22 September to 24 October, a selection of reproductions from the more than 8,000 drawings, sketches, and other material in the Giorgio Armani Collection, personally donated by the designer to the CSAC in the 1980s, will be on display in the Cloister of the University’s D’Azeglio Complex. The material selected covers the years from 1975 to 1980.
The title of this special initiative is a phrase that the great designer often used with his staff, and which he also repeated in several interviews: If I like it, you must like it too.
The inauguration was held on Monday 22 September, with speeches by Rector Paolo Martelli and Deputy Director of the CSAC Sara Martin.
Among those present was Barbara Lori, Vice-President of the Legislative Assembly of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
The reproductions, displayed in the cloister and accessible to all interested parties during the venue’s opening hours, offer a glimpse into the early stages of Armani’s creative process, highlighting the distinctive features of his style.
The original drawings, created using mixed techniques on paper and cardboard, are often accompanied by notes and fabric samples, and many bear the original stamp of the fashion house. This material is a valuable testimony to Armani’s working method and aesthetic vision.
The tribute celebrates the creative genius of one of the most iconic figures in Italian fashion worldwide. The slender, stylised female figures in the drawings recall the visual culture of the 1930s and the graphic inventions of artists such as Guido Crepax.
The representation of the female figure and the choice of materials express a new attitude, combining freedom of movement, elegance and awareness. Soft lines and flowing fabrics alternate with more structured materials, in a balance of contrasts that characterises the designer’s entire production.
The suit, reinterpreted through the famous unstructured jacket, becomes a symbol of contemporary feminine elegance, while the men’s proposals, far from classic rigidity, inaugurate an innovative vision of fashion, where gender codes intertwine and are redefined.
The inauguration on Monday 22 September was an opportunity to announce an exhibition of Armani’s original sketches, to be held at the University’s headquarters in the coming months.

26 September: Researchers' Night returns. Guided tours of the Collections
2025-09-26
Friday, 26 September marks the return of European Researchers’ Night.
The University Museum System Collections are also participating with numerous initiatives.
Mathematics and Computer Science Collection:
Visit to the ‘Interactive Exhibition on the History of Personal Computers’
for young people aged 15 to 19, adults
Activity by reservation only
Visit to the exhibition ‘Pythagoras and his Theorem’:
for children aged 12-14 and 15-19.
Activity by reservation only.
Crystal Chemistry Collection
Journeys into the nano-world of crystals: acrobatic geometries and splendid architectures
For everyone
The collection is a journey into the nano-world of crystals, where acrobatic geometries and splendid architectures are revealed.
“A. Lemoigne” Veterinary Normal Anatomy Collection
Guided tour of the “A. Lemoigne” Veterinary Anatomy Collection
For everyone
Activity by reservation only.
Reservations for events requiring registration for European Researchers’ Night are open until 24 September.
Promoted in the city by the University of Parma, co-organised and sponsored by the Municipality of Parma and Imem – Cnr, the European Researchers’ Night is the most important European event for scientific communication. This year it is scheduled for Friday 26 September.
The University will offer a wide range of events on that day: scientific games, workshops, experiments, demonstrations, guided tours, exhibitions and much more, for a broad and diverse audience aged 3 and above. The activities will take place from 5pm to 11pm at the Science and Technology Campus (with the usual evening Science Party) and from 3pm to 7pm at the Veterinary Campus in Via del Taglio.
Almost all activities are free to attend, but some require booking: this can only be done online until 24 September via the event’s official website.
Detailed information is published on the official website.
This year, the Parma event is once again part of the LEAF project, coordinated nationally by Frascati Scienza, with the participation of numerous Italian universities and research institutions. LEAF, which stands for “heaL thE plAnet’s Future”, is funded by the European Commission.
For further information, please write to comunicarelaricerca@unipr.it or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

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2025-10-20 08:00 - 17:00
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MUST, Italy's first Museum of Natural Historiography, opens its doors
2025-10-30 08:00 - 2025-12-30 20:00 | Main building, via Università 12, Parma, 43121, Italia
The MUST, the Museum of Natural Historiography of the University of Parma (Via Università, 12), has been inaugurated. Modern, immersive, sensory and inclusive: strongly desired by the University and financed by the PNRR of the Ministry of Culture, the new exhibition is the result of the redevelopment of the University’s Natural Historiography Museum – now housed in a single, fully accessible location – and is unprecedented in Italy, as the entire collection has been expanded and rearranged into a grand naturalistic narrative that, following a timeline, chronologically reveals its scientific, technological, historical and aesthetic development through the lives and collections of its protagonists. It is not a revolution, therefore, but a true evolution, since the exhibition is completely immersed in its historical context and, through evocative displays, shows how the vision of nature and, with it, the concept of exhibition design has changed over the centuries, from the first private collections to the museum as a public institution.
‘What we are proposing with MUST,’ explains Paolo Martelli, Rector of the University of Parma, “is not just a renovated museum but a new one: characterised by a new vision, a new approach, a new organisation of materials and a new underlying spirit. An inclusive, accessible, immersive space, not only for contemplation but also for interaction, not static but dynamic: a living space that aims to be a 360-degree cultural hub and an important point of reference for the city, the region and beyond. We strongly believe in this, not least because this museum is part of the city’s heritage and houses an extremely valuable cultural corpus: with this intervention, we have sought to enhance it to the fullest.
‘Rethinking the Natural History Museum was a fascinating challenge,’ says Davide Persico, Scientific Director of MUST. “The analysis of the collections and the continuous dialogue with the concept of time led us to favour a historiographical approach, capable of highlighting the protagonists who founded and transformed the museum. This vision gave rise to the Museum of Natural Historiography, a unique institution in Italy and abroad. The exhibition recounts the lives of the figures who have marked its history, the transformation of scientific knowledge throughout different eras and the evolution of natural history museums from their origins to the present day. The result is an innovative project that combines memory, research and dissemination, becoming a real feather in the cap for the University and a new cultural and educational destination for the city of Parma.”
The inauguration will take place on Thursday, 30 October. The first stop is in the Aula Magna, with speeches by Rector Paolo Martelli, Delegate for Museum Activities Donato A. Grasso, Scientific Director of MUST Davide Persico, and architect Maria Amarante, who curated the exhibition, followed by a lecture entitled “Uomini da quando? (Humans since when?)” by Guido Barbujani, geneticist and professor at the University of Ferrara. This was followed by the ribbon cutting and the inaugural guided tour.
Here is the programme for the coming days
31st October. This is an “educational day” dedicated to scientific dissemination and discovery at MUST, with a packed schedule of activities designed for students of all levels, but also open to the general public: meetings, conferences and guided tours taking place in the university classrooms and museum exhibition spaces, covering naturalistic, historical and museum-related topics.
1st November. The doors of MUST will open to the public with a day of free admission and guided tours available upon reservation: an opportunity to explore the collections and learn about the history, science and curiosities they contain.
The Museum of Natural Historiography
Contemplation, interaction, immersion and, above all, inclusion. These are the key principles that led to the creation of MUST, a lively space entirely geared towards visitors, capable of evoking the past as the cornerstone for the creation of the museum of the future. The term Naturalistic Historiography – most likely used for the first time – emphasises how, through a journey through time, it is possible to recount the protagonists, their work and their vision of Natural History in different eras. Thus, the intertwining stories of the figures who founded and contributed to the growth of the former Natural History Museum of the University of Parma, from the second half of the 18th century to the present day, and their collections are recontextualised and enhanced by a chronological, historiographical and sensory journey of great impact and modernity, in step with the evolution of knowledge and modern sensibilities. In a unique location at the University’s headquarters (the previous museum was fragmented into two locations), MUST also serves as a new space for scientific, anthropological and other types of research, with a focus on disseminating the principles of biodiversity, environmental protection and cultural exchange, and as a starting point for new intersections between museum collections and debates on sustainability and the role of the scientific community in relation to society.
From a museological point of view, this was made possible by comparing and implementing the different theoretical positions on exhibition design that have emerged in recent years, leading to the isolation and enhancement of three main values at MUST:

contemplation, guaranteed by the exhibition layout. The collection comprises around 6,000 items on display, many of which were previously inaccessible but have now been restored to their former glory and given new importance and prestige through their enhanced positioning;
Interaction, based on the presentation of concepts (display of knowledge, scientific approach, performance space, dialogic logic), with the introduction of multimedia elements that create a direct relationship between the visitor and the story being told. In this specific case, these are animated scenes, with the protagonists of the various sections – played by actors in costume – recounting their collections in the first person, but also describing the characteristics of the museum in its own era according to contemporary tastes and sensibilities;
the immersion, which stems from the exhibition of environmental installations, as is the case with the two spectacular wunderkammern, the salon of Maria Luigia of Habsburg and the studies of Pellegrino Strobel and Angelo Andres, capable of guaranteeing visitors a total aesthetic experience, catapulting them into the atmosphere of the time in a fascinating journey through the centuries.

In terms of accessibility, MUST far surpasses the previous museum, removing physical, cognitive and sensory barriers to allow all types of visitors to enjoy a fully independent visit. This has been made possible by creating a barrier-free access route on both levels of the museum building: on the ground floor, the single entrance, marked by a tactile floor path, benefits from a new ramp and lift adapted to the needs of visitors with motor and sensory disabilities; on the first floor, sensory and cognitive accessibility to the collections is guaranteed by the installation of new display cases at a height suitable for children and visitors in wheelchairs, the introduction of tactile maps and detailed audio guides for the visually impaired, and the use of digital explanatory aids that allow the deaf to enjoy videos in Italian Sign Language (LIS).
The stages of wonder
The extraordinary journey of MUST begins on the ground floor of the main building of the University of Parma and takes place on two levels. The collection is revealed to visitors through seven themed display cases dealing with highly topical naturalistic issues – anthropogenic and climatic extinctions; environmental protection and sustainability; museums and biodiversity; CITES and illegal trade; private collecting; geographical expeditions; evolution – which aim to introduce visitors to the more immersive and structured tour of the upper floor. Also on the ground floor is a palaeontology section, with significant and impressive finds, including a dolphin bearing the marks of predation by a great white shark – the only one of its kind in the world – and the extraordinary, almost complete skeleton of an eight-metre whale, both dating from the Pliocene epoch (2.6-5.3 million years ago), fossils from the Po floods and Pleistocene mammals.
On the upper floor, the promise of a primarily sensory journey through the past, present and future is revealed with incontrovertible clarity to visitors, who immediately enter a huge, spectacular purple wunderkammer, the historical ancestor of every natural history museum, created in classic Renaissance style with objects from the University’s various historical collections. Crocodiles, sea turtles, leopards, giant shells, colourful birds, strange deformed creatures, corals, sponges, skeletons, skulls… everything in this environment – where the exhibition space is maximised to occupy every surface of the room, from the walls inside the cabinets to the barrel ceiling – contributes to creating wonder and curiosity.
Proceeding on the left, the wunderkammer offers a digression – access is not mandatory, due to sensitive content – in favour of Lorenzo Tenchini‘s anatomical-clinical collection of wax models dating back to the late 19th century. Tenchini was a highly skilled physician who produced facial masks of criminals following the physiognomic and criminological theories of Cesare Lombroso, to whom he supplied them. At the end of the hall of wonders are the famous glass ampoules with stems by Father Jean Baptiste Fourcault, dated between 1760 and 1770: a collection of taxidermied animals, placed in bottles with necks too narrow to insert them, whose creation has remained a mystery for almost three centuries. It is the friar himself – the first founder of an ornithological cabinet in Parma commissioned by the Bourbons – who tells visitors his story from an animated painting, as does Maria Luigia of Habsburg in the next room, who expertly and elegantly introduces her delightful “period salon”, a room decorated in shades of blue, like a noble house, populated by the enormous quantity of artefacts that characterised her reign and her prolific acquisition work (1816-1847), of which the Egyptian goat, the narwhal tooth and the Borgo San Donnino meteorite, which fell in Fidenza in 1808, are particularly noteworthy. The largest section of the MUST collection dates back to the Louis period: crossing the threshold at the exit of Maria Luigia’s drawing room, visitors enter the ancient gallery of the Natural History Museum, a vast and dense exhibition of artefacts, including a section dedicated to comparative anatomy, which bears witness to a historical moment already characterised by a precise division of the sciences, but also by a display method that still reflects a strong aesthetic component.
The layout of the exhibition underwent a significant change in 1859, the year Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published and Professor Pellegrino Strobel arrived in Parma as a lecturer at the University and director of the Natural History Museum. A progressive and visionary figure, Strobel immediately understood Darwin’s evolutionary theories and applied them to the exhibition system of his museum, giving it a completely unexpected modernity. The MUST recounts the stages of this process through the specimens collected and observed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, the zoological illustrations of Ernst Haeckel and the meticulous installation of Strobel’s own study. Turning right in the gallery, the MUST offers a substantial zoological and ethnographic collection – also created under Strobel – which recounts colonialism and ethnography thanks to collections from the Congo belonging to the soldier Emilio Piola and the magistrate Temistocle Ferrante (first room) and the section dedicated to Vittorio Bottego (second room), with a vast taxidermy collection from Eritrea and a documentary film that contextualises Bottego as a military man in the service of science, rather than the heroic explorer of the African continent historically portrayed by Italian regime propaganda.
Leaving this section, visitors return to the main gallery to view the Alberto Del Prato collection, a sort of flashback to the biodiversity of the province of Parma in the second half of the 19th century, with a rich series of vertebrates from the Parma area, some of which are very curious because they are now extinct. The exhibition then reaches its penultimate stage with a reconstruction of the study of Professor and Director Angelo Andres, who in 1925 was the architect of the last museum revolution before the birth of the MUST. a great expert in biology and marine fauna – whose photographs and coral collection can be admired – it is with him, through the canonical animated picture, that visitors take stock of the itinerary they have just completed.
The final act of the journey is a sort of abrupt and dreamlike return to the future, an intelligent circularity. An enormous Kubrickian monolith stands out in front of the visitor, inviting them to enter what is effectively a second wunderkammer, hypermodern and futuristic, where, free of any classification or information, in a riot of colours, there are almost three hundred entomological boxes: this is the collection of local and exotic lepidoptera and beetles created by Don Ezio Boarini and acquired by the Museum in the 1990s, now on display for the first time in all its spectacular entirety.

Large crowds at MUST: record-breaking debut for the University's Museum of Natural Historiography
2025-11-03 08:00 - 2025-12-30 17:00 | Main building, via Università 12, Parma, 43121, Italia
A truly grand debut for MUST, the Museum of Natural Historiography of the University of Parma. After the first two days by reservation only, today’s free admission opening was sold out. Large crowds gathered from the opening at 10 a.m. and remained throughout the day. Visitors greatly appreciated the new museum, which combines historiography and the natural world in a modern, immersive, sensory and inclusive approach: a great naturalistic narrative that follows the timeline through the lives and collections of its protagonists.
MUST is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday, 16 November: second event in the series “Oltre le Opere / Dentro alla Musica” at the CSAC
2025-11-16 - 2025-12-07 | CSAC, Strada Viazza di Paradigna, 1, PARMA, 43022, Italia
Following last Sunday’s event with Museo svelato (The Museum Revealed), the CSAC continues its Oltre le Opere / Dentro alla Musica (Beyond the Works / Inside Music) series with three chamber concerts and narration, a project in which music meets
On Sunday, 16 November, at the Abbey of Valserena, starting at 10:30 a.m., the second event is scheduled, with free admission: Intrecci / ‘Le parole ivi raggrumate’ (The words gathered there), a concert performed by the Quartetto Dedicato, formed by Daniele Ruzza and Camilla Mazzanti on violins, Behrang Rassekhi on viola, and Adan Alejandro Gomez Dominguez on cello, with narration by Faustino Stigliani.
A highly regarded theatre actor and beloved radio voice, Stigliani will give voice to Luigi Magnani, here in the role of scholar of the Conversation Notebooks (the writings Beethoven used to communicate despite his deafness), which he himself commented on in the book Beethoven nei suoi Quaderni di Conversazione (Beethoven in his Conversation Notebooks, 1975). Part of these writings, with Beethoven’s reflections, will be read by Stigliani, particularly those relating to the music in the programme: the Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, and Große Fuge in B flat major, Op. 133, composed by Beethoven in the last years of his life, when he definitively chose the quartet as his privileged and exclusive means of intimate expression, experimentation and constant formal work. Beethoven entrusted these quartets with his most extreme thoughts, his anxieties, his deepest reflections, and a humour that was at times dark and sardonic, at times genuine and good-natured.
In Op. 132 in particular, he manages to reconcile sonata form, Gregorian chant (the Lydian mode of the Canzona di ringraziamento, the evocative title of the third movement), variation, folk dance (in the formidable trio of the second movement), march and rondo. The Fugue Op. 133, on the other hand, is an extraordinarily complex, even mysterious piece: ignored for a century and rediscovered in the 20th century, it is now considered one of the greatest and most surprising musical creations of all time.
The musical event will be preceded by a meeting dedicated to the venue, Intorno allo CSAC (Around the CSAC), curated by Mariapia Branchi, head of the CSAC’s Archival and Museum Unit. The topic will be Migliaia di Collezioni (Thousands of Collections), closely linked to Luigi Magnani, a great collector.
Info: csac@unipr.it ; tel. 0521.903649

Info: www.csacparma.it, csac@unipr.it, servizimuseali@csacparma.it
