Museums and Culture in Terrasini

Terrasini is a city in which there are many cultural activities, that successfully coexist between tradition and innovation. The “historical” reference institutions are the Town Library and the Regional Museum.

“Claudio Catalfio” Town Library
Was born in 1972 thanks to the mayor Claudio Catalfio, that buyed the noble majestic building known as Palazzo Cataldi, also thanks to a “gentlemen agreement” signed by the mayor Catalfio and Cataldi family, that, although reiceved some considerable offers, has undertaken to sell the property to the Town Hall, only if it will be used as Town Library.
The agreement was kept, and now the library is a real source of pride of Terrasini, one of the best library in Sicily, with a book estate of about twenty-one thousand volume; a rich “children section”, a well-stocked newspaper and periodical library, a record library formed by some classical music works from Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninov and many others, but also a good jazz music collection in which there are kinds as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman or Tommy Dorsey; the video collection is formed of scientific videotapes and of an Eduardo De Filippo’s plays collection. Moreover there are multimedial spots, Internet points, cd and cd-rom collection.
The Town Library is really the city “social - cultural spirit”.

Palazzo d'Aumale - Regional Museum of Natural History and Permanent Display of the Sicilian Cart
This is really a incomparable and unique cultural resource, because the collections significance, a good position, a majestic building, ancient warehouse of the delicious Inzolia wines, produced in the Zucco enologic factory. Belonged to Louis Philippe’son, Henry D’Orleans, duke of Aumale, this building hosts a versatile museum system made of the ancient Terrasini Civic Museum collections, now located in a inestimable unicum.
The system is articulated in four basic sections, moreover there are temporary exibithions.
The first section is dedicated to the duke d’Aumale, with some work stage scenic images and video installations, by a virtual tour across the “roads of wine”, from Zucco to Praiola beach, where the barrels were taken aboard for the France Court’s demanding palade.
The archaeological section shows some finds from the sea in front of Terrasini: two shipwrecks evidences that may be dated to the I and III Century after Christ. A roman ship from Spain loaded with many garum amphoras (a special fish sauce), wine from Barcelona and copper buillions from Guadalquivir River, besides other various tools as gladius, tiles, jugs, cordages.

The ethno - anthropological section, permanent display of the sicilian cart, is the world most important display.
The sicilian carts collection was formed by the unremitting work of the Prof. Salvatore Ventimiglia, that make known the peculiarity of this charming means of transportation. Infact, the cart was surely a work tool, the decorations shows religious, chivalry, fairy, musical and realistic situations, performing many roles: protective, magic-religious, advertising and as status symbol. Moreover there is also a cartwright tools collection.

The naturalistic section includes various collections:
Teodosio De Stefani Collection: includes an immense naturalistic library, paleontological stuff, minerals and an entomological collection.
Carlo Orlando Ornithological Collection: 5000 examples representing the entire european ornithological fauna. The collection started in Palermo, in about the twenties.
Matteo Jannizzotto Ornithological Collection: formed by about two hundreds examples captured near Ragusa with some exotic fauna examples.
Antonino Trischitta Ornithological Collection: is a 2000 examples collection concerning the entire italian birds fauna.
Vitale Ornithological Collection: includes various north-west Sicily examples.
Mario Mariani Entomological Collection: 125 boxes containing sicilian fauna lepidopters.
Raniero Alliata Entomological Collection: formed between the twenties and the the sixties, shows all the sicilian entomological fauna orders.
.E. Orlando Malacological Collection: 60.000 lots arranged in families, representing genuses and species from the fossil till now.
Carapezza Entomological Collection: sicilian diurnal lepidopters, almost all the known sicilian species, kept in 72 boxes.
The museum is equipped with restoration labs, multimedial rooms, auditorium, library, conference rooms, coffee shop, book shop, teaching restoration labs.