Varenna

Scanagatta Ornithological Museum, Varenna

Varenna's civic museum, born of a village schoolteacher's collection: more than eight hundred birds and mammals of the lake and the mountains, from the shore up to the pastures.

Visit duration: 30 min – 1 h
Booking: Not required
Area: Centro Lago

Brembilla.Roberto · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

The Scanagatta Ornithological Museum in Varenna holds more than eight hundred specimens of birds and mammals and a collection of land and freshwater mollusc shells.

It began with schoolteacher Luigi Scanagatta's collection, opened to the public in 1962 and became a civic museum in 1981. The displays occupy two levels: the lower floor presents habitats from the lake shore to mountain pastures, with a case devoted to birds of prey; the upper floor covers birds' diet, plumage and migration, ending with the shell collection. Display texts are in Italian and English. The entrance is through the Varenna Turismo infopoint at Via IV Novembre 7.

The birds of the lake and mountains around Varenna, habitat by habitat.
An indoor museum in the middle of the village, for a rainy day.

Highlights

The habitats from shore to pasture
Migration, plumage and diet upstairs
The shell collection

Getting there

It is at Via IV Novembre 7, in the centre of Varenna, a few minutes on foot from the ferry pier; the way in is through the infopoint.

Accessibility

The museum is entered through the tourist office, by an automatic door after a low threshold and a low step; a lift serves all three floors, and the adapted toilet is on the second floor.