Commissioned by the wealthy Lavezzola family between 1530 and 1550 to the brilliant architect Michele Sanmicheli, it later became the property of the Pompei family and in 1833 Count Alessandro Pompei donated it to the Municipality of Verona to host exhibitions, art collections, and scientifically significant and prestigious collections of the city. The original core of the palace was expanded, starting from 1858, with the progressive annexation of adjacent spaces and houses.
In the large rooms of the Palace today are located fourteen exhibition halls, the library, laboratories, collection storage, and the offices of the Museum.
The Civic Museum of Natural History of Verona hosts scientific sections dedicated to the study of minerals and rocks, paleontology, and zoology. The sections of prehistory and botany are hosted in the Command Villa of the Austrian Arsenal of Verona.
The scientific material collected by the Museum’s researchers and many naturalists over almost five centuries is now meticulously prepared and cataloged, studied and then preserved in collections or exhibited to the public in the rooms.
The Museum thus plays a central and decisive role in scientific research and in the publication of essays and educational texts. The educational and communication section is also very active, aiming to spread naturalistic culture among various public groups (schools, adults, families, associations, etc.).
A section of the Civic Museum of Natural History of Verona is dedicated to the fossils of Bolca: the most extraordinary testimony of Earth’s evolution imprinted in rock as if on the pages of a book. From the locality of Bolca in the Lessini Mountains, 50 km from Verona, come fossil specimens of over 250 animal species and 200 plant species, a fascinating snapshot of life on Earth 50 million years ago.
