————————————————————————————————————————

This Sicilian cultural exhibits has been realized thanks to the Membership fee (80 euro) of Laurent May, from both Sligo, Ireland, and Cambridge, MA USA.

Become a Sicilian, help us show the world how truly beautiful and fascinating Sicily and Sicilians are.: Join us!

————————————————————————————————————————

Testo in italiano

Civic museum of Natural History of Comiso
Text by Giovanni Vallone

Typology: Natural History, paleontology, zoology

Location: Via degli Studi 9, Comiso (RG)

We are in Comiso, one of the capitals of Sicilian Baroque, the architectural style that in Sicily has found a unique and ingenious location, so much so that it has become a world heritage site according to UNESCO.

The white stone of Comiso, which makes this part of Sicily a sort of outpost of the African continent enriched by cactus, sea and sun, keeps us company in this romantic part of Comiso.

We are welcomed by Gianni Insacco, Scientific Director of the Natural History Museum, a sort of child to him who has given birth, grown and become a stronghold of the Sicilian cultural scene.

Gianni Insacco: “Welcome to the Museum of Natural History of Comiso. The museum is divided into a paleontological section and a zoological one. The museum heritage is represented by over 14 collections and over 27,000 artifacts”

This museum is a unique place, absolutely amazing.

Sicily of the temples, the amphitheatres, the Baroque style, the Arab-Norman art, the 5000 tombs of Pantalica, the Phoenician settlements, the Byzantine rock caves … surprisingly, also gives us this wonderful museum, another Sicilian masterpiece, like many other museums on the island.

An infinite cultural heritage for this island desired, loved and often conquered by people from all over the Mediterranean.

The Director guides us through 500 million years old animals from various continents, one of the richest collections in the world.

From the first organisms, to the armored fishes of the Paleozoic, from the ammonites to the great reptiles that colonized the world during the Mesozoic, up to the mammals of the Quaternary, man included.

Museo Comiso 3 (3.03) “Those are Salamander footprints from 280 million years ago! ”

Museo Comiso 3 (3.30) Gianni Insacco: “These are the fossils found in Solomon’s Stone 260 million years ago”

Museo Comiso 3 (5.38) Gianni Insacco “These are beautiful Sicilian ammonites that also 180 million years ago were in the Mediterranean seabed and then were brought, by tectonic movements, to the surface”

Mamma Mia!

If these fossils came to life there will be a big fear in here!

Museo Comiso 3 (7.22) “Check out a flying reptile! “

Museo Comiso 3 (7.38) Gianni Insacco: “This is a dinosaur from Mongolia”

Museo Comiso 4 (0.20) “Fish and shark teeth to no end! “

Museo Comiso 4 (0.20) “This was a pliocene penguin from Peru”

Museo Comiso 4 (0.20) Gianni Insacco: “This rock in Ragusa was processed to make sidewalks, where portions of 18-million-year-old cetaceans have been found”

So be careful when you walk in Sicily: you will always be walking through history: whether it be in the form of a Greek coin, an Arab necklace, a Phoenician dagger or fossils of all kinds.

Here is a famous dwarf elephant of 600 thousand years ago!

This was little more than a meter high and Sicily was full of them!

This was one of their favorite places (si vedono le immagini della grotta di Spinagallo)

Up here the little elephant is with the giant swan, the giant dormouse, the giant turtle.

And these are the eggs of the giant turtle.

In Sicily, in more recent times, there were other elephants, always dwarfed, but larger than the first, and they shared territory with bears, deers, hippos, wolves and hyenas

A real forest!

Museo Comiso 4 (04.40) This is us! (si vedono le immagini dei teschi in fila al museo)

Museo Comiso 4 (04.40) Gianni Insacco: “This is a Sicilian giant turtl.”

Museo Comiso 4 (04.40) “Little fish and crab, let’s hope we never meet underwater! “

Museo Comiso 4 (04.40) “Snakes, crocodiles, iguanas, sharks, whales, fish … What a wonder this place! ”

Museo Comiso 4 (07.06) Gianni Insacco: “This is considered a very important living fossil, the Coelacanth, found in Madagascar, believed to be extinct but still swimming in the waters of the Earth”

Museo Comiso 4 (07.41) “These are the fish that live in the abysses, where there is no light. In the Strait of Messina there are many that emerge every now and then: they are really monstrous and fascinating”

This is a beautiful giant squid.

Quite unbelievable this museum, never ends.

Here we leave the sea, and say goodbye to that beautiful giant sunfish, the Mola mola, which weighs 900 kilos!

Now there are ostriches, giant eggs, penguins, the mythical Dodo, unfortunately extinct in 1600 because it was excessively hunted by the bad man!

It was really a wonderful experience visiting this Sicilian museum.

We stayed in a beautiful place and met another extraordinary Sicilian: Gianni Insacco, the father of all these bizarre and fascinating creatures.

————————————————————————————————————————

This Sicilian cultural exhibits has been realized thanks to the Membership fee (80 euro) of Laurent May, from both Sligo, Ireland, and Cambridge, MA USA.

Splendid Sicily is self-sustaining it depends on donations from those who love Sicily and Sicilians all over the world.

Splendid Sicily doesn’t receive government grants.

Splendid Sicily is a museum of Sicilian culture, and our aim is to represent the traditions, culture, art, the ethnic aspect, the monuments the landscape and the pure essence of Sicily through our audio and video productions, therefore with a mission to spread our “beauty” into the entire world.

Become a Sicilian, help us show the world how truly beautiful and fascinating Sicily and Sicilians are.: Join us!

————————————————————————————————————————