Museo Paleontologico 'Territorio Astigiano'

When Asti was under the sea, whales swam where the vineyards now climb. The Museo Paleontologico 'Territorio Astigiano', housed in the former monastery of Palazzo Michelerio, tells that story with more than 14,000 fossils and a celebrated series of Pliocene whale and dolphin skeletons, some described as unique in the world.

Why it matters

During the Pliocene, the Astigiano lay along the margins of the sea that covered the Po Plain. The fossils of the creatures that lived there — baleen whales, dolphins, sharks, untold molluscs — began surfacing in the local hills in large numbers from the 1960s onward, and Asti's museum became their home. Today it holds one of the most important collections of fossil cetaceans in Italy: the series of fossil whales and dolphins recovered in Piedmont over more than five decades. The marine fossils offer a striking counterpart to Asti's better-known wine landscape.

What to notice

The exhibition surveys geo-palaeontological events of the past 25 million years, from the Miocene into the Pliocene, with particular attention to molluscs. The shells and their locality-based cataloguing document the ancient sea and the Astigiano hills where specimens were found.

The cetacean collection includes the Valmontasca balaenoptera from Vigliano d'Asti (Balaenoptera acutorostrata cuvierii), the whale of San Marzanotto d'Asti known as "Tersilla", the whale of Chiusano d'Asti, the Settime dolphin (Septidelphis morii) and the Belangero dolphinid. These Pliocene finds represent both mysticetes (baleen whales) and odontocetes (toothed whales and dolphins); the museum describes some specimens as unique in the world.

An aquarium at the end of the exhibition evokes the subtropical ecosystem of the ancient Padan sea.

Beyond the displayed objects, the museum holds more than 14,000 state-owned fossil specimens from the Astigiano, catalogued by locality.

Context and history

The museum occupies the "Palazzo del Michelerio", originally a monastery of the mid-16th century, whose rooms were adapted for scientific display as Asti's natural-history collections grew. The fossils document the marine environments that once covered the Astigiano; over subsequent geological time the Po Plain emerged, and the hills that yielded marine fossils later became part of the Monferrato wine country.

The cetacean collection brings together finds recovered across Piedmont over more than five decades. Its locality-based catalogue preserves the provenance of the fossils. The museum was formerly housed at the Rotonda of San Pietro in Consavia before moving to Palazzo Michelerio.