Deeply rooted in its territory and steeped in the history of the city, the Museum takes you to a charming journey through geology and zoology, paleontology and current environmental topics. Dating back to the second half of the Nineteenth century it was originally related to the Mineralogy and Zoology course of the University of Ferrara. In the 1930s, the so called "Four-sided Area of Culture" was planned in the central area of via Palestro, via De Pisis and via Boldini, where the old complex of Sant'Anna was located, hosting the city hospital up to a few years before. With this new urban planning by Carlo Savounzzi from Ferrara, the new seat of the Museum was built and it opened in 1937. But it only started to thrive after World War II, when new items were added to the rich collection of recovered and restored material form the Nineteenth century, and the institute officially opened to the public again. Since the 1990s the Museum has gained momentum, especially in the fields of scientific education and research.