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Origin and History of the collections of the Geological Survey of Italy
In order to fully understand the significance of the cultural heritage represented by the Geological and Historical Collections of the former Geological Survey of Italy, now housed and managed by ISPRA, it’s necessary to describe the historical and socio-economic context in which they were conceived.
Beyond some private collections of international importance and of great scientific interest, which were donated or purchased, such as the Pescetto Collection (1870 approx), the De Santis Collection (before 1870), the Collection of building and decorative materials (1872-73), the Curioni and Sabatini Collections (end XIX century - beginning of XX century), the Zolezzi Collection (1922) - the establishment of the Collections of the former Royal Geological Office started de facto after 1870, when Italy was already a unified country and the city of Rome was designated capital on the newborn nation.
The huge work of reorganization of the country is a key issue, together with the will of a coherent industrial development of the nation, which needed a systematic study of the Italian territory and its raw materials. All this can be found within the ambitious project of the Geological Map of Italy. It was already conceived in 1861 by Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella, but because of the serious problems of public deficit (amounting in 1862 to 446.000 million lire) - due to the expenses incurred during the Third War of Independence and the annexation of the Veneto region- its realization had to be postponed after 1870, when it started a new period of adjustment in the country. In fact, on this date, Italy was united for the first time under one government after centuries, and Rome was designated secular capital of the nation.
Only then it could be undertaken a systematic legislative program aimed at strengthening the country at the industrial, economic and cultural level, in order to meet the standards of the great powers of Central Europe, a very hard endeavor considering the many foreign dominations and occupations that followed one another on the peninsular territory in the centuries.

One of the consequences was an irregular stage of development in the country: for example, if the Lombardo-Veneto had already had an agrarian reforms decreed by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in the XVIII century, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies didn’t have any topographic coverage still in the XIX century. In order to undertake a drastic reform program, it was necessary to start to work for a socio-economic alignment, which required a detailed knowledge of the territory, of its geological structure, raw materials and natural risk. This knowledge was of key importance to start industries, to build infrastructures and to understand which raw materials could have been extracted in the country and which ones instead needed to be imported.
A second key issue was related to the expansion of the national infrastructures: bridges, roads and above all railways, extremely deficient and obsolete throughout the country. Clearly in this vast reform process, the Geological Map of Italy had a significant role, expressed well by the Geological and Historical Collections, which represent strongly the national unity of the newborn country.

Highlights - From the Royal Geological Office to ISPRA

-     1861 - Unification of Italy, Turin capital of the nation.
-     1861 - Institution in 1861 by Royal Decree of 28 July 1861 of an Advisory Board to establish standards and methods for the realization of the Geological Map of the Kingdom of Italy.
-     1866 - Florence capital of Italy
-     1866 - Establishment of a Special geological section in Florence, within the Royal Council of Mines (Royal Decree of 18 February 1866)
-     1867 – Establishment, by Royal Decree 4113 of 15 December 1867, of the Royal Geological Committee at the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce (MAIC).
-     1868 -      Establishment of the Geological Map of Italy through the drafting of the Geological Committee Regulations
-     1870 - Rome capital of Italy

-     1872 - A committee, appointed by Royal Decree of 24 March 1872, collected the first group of samples of minerals and building materials: it’s the birth of the Collections.
-     1873 - Establishment of the Royal Geological Office
-     1875 – The Royal Geological Office was transferred to Rome


Almost all the specimen and samples, previously collected and deposited in the places of origin such as the Royal Application School in Turin, the Natural History Museum in Pisa, the Museum of Natural History in Florence, the Mining District of Caltanissetta and the Royal University in Rome, were transferred to Rome.
In a first phase they were stored in the convent of S. Maria della Vittoria (1874-75), then they were transferred to the Royal School for Engineers in the former convent of San Pietro in Vincoli.

-     1885 - Inauguration of the Royal Geological Office and of the Agrarian Geological Museum, with the participation of King Umberto I. The project of the building was by engineer Raffaele Canevari (1828-1900) specifically to exhibit the litho-mineralogical and paleontological collections of the Royal Geological Office (later Geological Survey of Italy), which were displayed here and preserved for over 100 years.
-     1986 – Law n. 349 of 8 July 1986, art. 17 <... the Geological Survey of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts is transferred to the Ministry of the Environment>.

-     1987 - Decree of the President of Council 15 January 1987 regulates the transfer of functions, assets and staff of the Geological Survey of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts to the Ministry of the Environment. The Geological Survey of Italy maintains among its functions the <c) to collect materials, documentation and information related to the earth sciences, also in order to build collections and national databases>. Article 2 provides: 'The Ministry of the Environment receives the laboratories, collections and other assets belonging to the State and used by the Geological Survey, to carry out the functions transferred>.

-     1987 - Law n. 59 of 3 March 1987  (art. 5) allocates 9.75 billion lire for 1987 in the budget of the Ministry of Environment, to provide for the renovation and expansion of the seat of Largo Santa Susanna and the upgrading of equipment of the Italian Geological Survey.
-     1988 - Decree of the President of Council of 28 October 1988 (Organization of the Geological Survey of Italy), art. 2 sets the maintenance among the tasks of the Italian Geological Survey <e) the collection and cataloguing of study materials and samples, as well as the editing of publications relating to Earth sciences and the displaying of the collections>.

-     1989 - Establishment of the National Department for Technical Services (Law n. 183 of May 18, 1989), under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in which is placed the Geological Survey (with the Hydrographic and Tidal Service, the Seismic Service and Dams Service)

-     1991 - Establishment, within the Geological Survey, of the Area 3 "Documentation" (DPR Jan. 24, 1991, n. 85), within which are placed the Collections.

 

- 1993 - Decree of the President of Republic of 18 April 1993, n. 106 (art. 5): the Area 3 "Documentation" will assign to the Unique Information Service (SIU).

 

- 1995 - The Geological Survey of Italy and its huge Collections leave the historical site due to the need to restore the building. The Collection are finally closed to the public and the collections are stored in the hangars of civil of Civil Protection in Castelnuovo di Porto (near Rome); only a small portion of finds remained on display (for internal use only) in the new site of Via Curtatone, 3 in Rome. Here it will remain until 2012.

 

-        1999 The establishment of APAT (Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services), with Legislative Decree no. 300 of 30 July 1999 (article. 38), in which merged the Department for National Technical Services and the ANPA (National Agency for Environmental Protection), resulted in the definitive loss of the historical site owned by the state (the Palace of Largo Santa Susanna).

- 2002 -  Presidential Decree 207 of August 8, 2002  marks the merger of ANPA and the Department for National Technical Services according to what is already contained in the Decree N. 300 of 30 July 1999 (art. 38). Article 8 of the Decree establishes, among others, the Department for soil conservation entrusting the Collections. The historical site of Largo Santa Susanna will be securitized in 2003 and alienated December 29, 2005.

-        2005 Institution in APAT of the Museum Service (DG 173/2005 of 30 November 2005) within the Department for Documentation and information activities and Library

 

-        2008 Establishment of ISPRA (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research - Law 133 of August 21, 2008), in which merged APAT, ICRAM (Central Institute for Scientific and Technological Research Applied to the Sea) and INFS (National Institute for Wildlife)

-        2012 Closing of ISPRA’s offices in via Curtatone, 3. Definitive packaging of the collections and storage in two ISPRA’s deposits, in Via Vitaliano Brancati 60 and Via Paolo di Dono 3a, in Rome.

-        2013 The Collections are still packed and stocked waiting to return to public display. The empty building in Largo Santa Susanna, now owned by the Residenziale Immobiliare 2004 Spa, is under an architectural constraint since 1991 and under archaeological restrictions since 2004.