Lithological finds

The Collection includes about 40,000 finds, collected during surveys for the preparation of the Geological Map of Italy. It is therefore the result of a project that was carried out in different stages for over 130 years. Indeed, the first group of finds were collected as early as the 1860s, during surveys conducted in some areas of industrial and mineral interest (Western Alps, Apuan Alps, Elba and Sicily). With effect from 1870, the Geological Committee identified some areas where surveys were intensified. These were the Alps, Florence, Rome and Calabria. Later, groups of finds belonging to the same geological map were grouped in order to create documentary evidence of the official map on a scale of 1:100,000. The Collection was further expanded to include specimens originating from surveys for the realization of the Geological Map on a scale of 1:50,000.
Lithological finds of the “Collection of the Geological Map of Italy” are also related to several thousands of thin sections. Most of them are petrographical and originate from igneous and metamorphic rocks of the central and western Alpine Arc (which were collected at the beginning of 1900) or by sedimentary rocks coming from various Italian locations (which were collected between the 1950s and the 1970s). There are also more recent sections prepared for micropaleontological analyses.

Curioni Collection
This was realized and subsequently donated by the geologist of Milan, G. Curioni. It includes 946 specimens of lithotypes from Lombardy.

Sabatini Collection
This Collection is named after the geologist who realized it. It originally counted about 1,000 specimens of lithotypes from the volcanic structures of Lazio. Subsequent acquisitions, from surveys for the Geological Map of Italy on a scale of 1:100,000, increased the number of specimens to a total of 2,445.

Collection of the former Italian Colonial Africa
This Collection includes over 650 specimens originating from surveys conducted in the former colonies of Abyssinia, Cyrenaica, Eritrea and Somalia. Among these, of considerable importance are fragments of stone material coming from Roman archaeological sites in Libya (50 finds).

Foreign Collections
These Collections include over 800 specimens. In general, Foreign Collections are quite heterogeneous. They have specimens of different type and preservation conditions and the quality of information on them is also varied.  Countries that are represented are: Argentina (16 specimens), Canada (68), Egypt (30), France (9), Germany (144), Greece (64), Yugoslavia (281, among which 173 specimens from Istria), Madagascar (17), Malta (13), Spain (70), United States (69), Switzerland (5) and Venezuela (48).

Systematic Collection of Rocks
This Collection has 785 specimens of rocks arranged in systematical order. It includes specimens  that are not very georeferenced but their value is considerable from an educational point of view since they are used for the identification of rocks.

Collection of Geological Phenomena
The first group of this Collection dates back to 1894 and is composed of specimens mainly originating from the Alpine region, which have particular textures, both due to phenomena related to the rock’s genesis and due to subsequent phenomena of erosion or tectonic stress.  For this reason, the Collection was initially named “Geophysical Collection”. Later, it was increased with several other finds that were particularly significant from a mineralogical, sedimentological, biological or environmental point of view. Today, the Collection counts 261 specimens.

Other Collections
Bonarelli Collection (31 specimens)
Collection Gallery of Colle di Tenda (56 specimens)
Collection of the Monte Bianco Tunnel (1962) (66 specimens)
Collection of bauxites from Puglia (24 specimens)
Collection of Incoherent Material from Abruzzo (68 specimens)
Collection of Incoherent Material from Lazio (42 specimens)
Collection of Incoherent Material from Campania (53 specimens)