Gemmellaro Museum is one of the most important geological and
paleontologic institutions of Italy. It is the fruit of the
organizing and classifying efforts of Professor P. Calcara and
Professor G.G. Gemmellaro during the 19th Century, and nowadays
hosts more than 600,000 specimens, the most ancient of them from
Sosio Valley dating back 270,000 years. The Olphin Room, on the
first floor, has the didactical purpose of explaining the phases
of Sicilian geological history, showing representative fossils
and rocks. It also features specimens from Ferdinandea, a
volcanic island which emerges and sinks from erosion every once
in a while, the last recorded incidence being between 1831 and
1832. Upstairs the Room of Man hosts the skeleton of Thea, the
most ancient Sicilian woman ever found, whose face was
reconstructed using advanced technology. The Crystal Room shows
beautiful specimens of minerals like sulphur, gypsum and
celestine, which testify to the Mediterranean Sea’s closing
during the Messinian age and the r