A significant marriage for the fate of the future Museum was the one celebrated in 1785 between Marcantonio Miniscalchi and Teresa Moscardo.
Teresa Moscardo, daughter of Alfonsa d'Este and Moscardo Moscardo, inherited part of the Wunderkammer of the Veronese scholar Ludovico Moscardo, which merged into the family collections.
Born in Verona in 1611, Ludovico Moscardo belonged to a family of the Veronese nobility. Driven by a vocation, in his early twenties he began to take an interest in everything that was Art and Nature and that aroused wonder.
L. Moscardo’s WunderkammerFondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
During half a century he brought together antiquities of all kinds at his home:
The Holy Water Stoup (VI d.C.)Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
coins, medals, epigraphs, natural finds, over a hundred paintings and an unspecified amount of drawings, musical instruments, weapons and scientific instruments.
AstrolabeFondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
Canopic jarFondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
He wrote and had two editions of the Museum's catalog published, and thanks to the fame achieved, the Moscardo Museum became a destination for illustrious Italian and foreign visitors.
Ludovico Moscardo died in 1681, and for some generations the collections remained united and were enriched, in particular the numismatics section by his son Francesco.
Archaeological RoomFondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
With the death in 1799 of Moscardo Moscardo, the last descendant of the family, the daughters Marianna, Isabella and Teresa sold the most marketable parts of the museum on various occasions, in particular the old paintings and drawings. What remained unsold was divided between them, except for the collection of ancient epigraphs, donated in 1817 to the city of Verona, which flowed into the Maffeiano Lapidary Museum.
L. Moscardo’s WunderkammerFondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo
With the marriage between Marcantonio Miniscalchi and Teresa Moscardo, what remained of the Moscardo Museum arrived at Palazzo Miniscalchi, and still today constitutes the main nucleus of the collections in our museum.
