PIAZZA Vittorio Emanuele TEL. 092575235 VISITING HOURS: Wed - Thu - Fri:10 am - 1 pm; Tue - Thu - Sat - Sun: 4,00 pm -9,00 pm FREE ADMISSION |
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ARCHAELOGYCAL SECTION 1) L. Morricone 2) T. Fazello 3) A. Bucolo - Amico |
MALACOLOGYCAL SECTION 1) R. Tucker Abbot 2) Marchese di Monterosato 3) Claudio Ebreo |
Inaugurated on 28 June 1997, the museum, at the first floor of the Institute, has two sections,one dedicated to the archeology and the other dedicated to the malacology, the last one titled to Vanna Rotolo. In the first room of the archeological section, L. Morricone, we can admire sea fossils aged between 1.760.000 and 800.000 years ago, coming from Ciavolara, Cava del Serpente. Show-cases contain interesting splintery stones from inferior Paleolithic (Pebble Culture), points, burin and scraper from superior Paleolithic and big fragments of elephant-tusk, some 50 centimeters long and with a diameter of about 10 centimeters. In the second room, T. Fazello, there are some very beautiful intact amphoras coming from Caparrina and Porto Palo sea depth and from excavations done near Montagnole in Belice, dated to bronze age. The section dedicated to the archeology closes with the room A. Bucolo - Amico, where coins are exposed. The coins are from the Sicilian - Punic serie, and are aged from 380 to 253 B.C. and coins from Syracuse mint from 342 to 339 B.C. Looking at the malacologycal section one feels a sense of marvelous, kindled from the beauty of the shells. The collection is divided in three rooms where there are explicative panels which explain and illustrate the importance that shell has had in economy, in art, in history, in architecture, in industry and in religion. There are also important notes about their biology. The malacologycal collection, the only one existing in Agrigento and its province, has been given free by Mrs. Vanna Rotolo, who took about 20 years to put together all these beautiful sea pieces. The most of the Mediterranean shells come from Porto Palo depth, other specimens come from all over the world. Some are very rare, as Conus Bengalensis, (exposed in the room "Claudio Ebreo"), whose there are only 500 coming from Bengal Gulf.