The strange story of the Diplodocus of Capellini 1909 – 2019.
The University of Bologna, which has just unified, is distinguished by the precocity of the interest reserved for the North American Republic.
It is Giovanni Capellini, a young and brilliant geologist, who understands that the great paleontological deposits across the Atlantic represent an extraordinary opportunity for research and, at the same time, a resource to be valued: the Americans, with unquestionable ability, do so from the beginning century.
This is the origin of Capellini’s journey to the USA, in 1863, and the start of such solid relationships that led, in 1909, to the great gift of the Diplodocus model, by Andrew Carnegie.
In 1909 the copy of the Diplodocus of the Carnegie Museum donated to the King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele III was mounted in Bologna, in a hall of the geo-paleontological museum of the University, under the charge of Andrew Carnegie.
But why exactly in Bologna? The reasons are related to the name of Giovanni Capellini, professor of Geology of the Alma Mater and, for several years, his Magnificent Rector. Capellini had collected the largest Italian paleontological collection in a large European-level museum, the only one capable of hosting a 26-meter long exhibit! The very figure of Capellini, moreover, stood out clearly in the national and international panorama, especially after the Second International Geological Congress held in Bologna in 1881.
Capellini, who also embarked on a long journey in the American West in 1863, at the height of the Far West and the Civil War, brought paleontological finds to Bologna still preserved in the museum that bears his name.
The sample can be visited until Sunday 12 January 2020 at the “Giovanni Capellini Museum” Geology Collection, via Zamboni 63.
OPENING TIME:
from Tuesday to Friday: 9.00 am – 1.00 pm
Saturday, Sunday and holidays: 10.00 am – 6.00 pm
closures: 24 and 25 December, 1 January
TICKETS
Full 3 €
Reduced € 1: schools for independent visits (rate per person)
Free: children 0-6 years old; schools that have requested the guided tour / educational path (N.B. the service cost remains unchanged at € 2 per participant)
Initiative realized with the patronage of the U.S. Consulate General Florence.
