spinner-caricamento
Share

University Museum of Earth Sciences verified

Rome, Lazio, Italy closed Visit museumarrow_right_alt

fullscreen
Beryl
fullscreen
Sodalite
fullscreen
Sulfur
fullscreen
Imperial topaz
fullscreen
Sicilian amber
fullscreen
The Eagle, meteorite di tipo condrite L
fullscreen
Garnet
fullscreen
Renazzo, chondrite type meteorite
fullscreen
Monte Milone, L-type chondrite meteorite
fullscreen
Diamante
fullscreen
Axinite
fullscreen
Magnesite
fullscreen
Dactyliotheca
Beryl
Sodalite
Sulfur
Imperial topaz
Sicilian amber
The Eagle, meteorite di tipo condrite L
Garnet
Renazzo, chondrite type meteorite
Monte Milone, L-type chondrite meteorite
Diamante
Axinite
Magnesite
Dactyliotheca

Other works on display

Description

A highlight of the meteorite collection of the Museum of Mineralogy is undoubtedly this 38.1 g fragment of the Renazzo meteorite. At 8.30 pm on January 15, 1824 fragments of a meteorite, weighing about 10 kg, fell near the town of Renazzo, in the province of Ferrara. It is said that this meteorite broke into 3-4 main fragments, because a woman at the time of the fall said she heard a triple noise. The people of Renazzo were frightened by noises, such as cannon shots, and wondered where they could come from since the sky was clear that evening.

A few years later some specimens of this meteorite were donated, within the Spada collection, to the Museum of Mineralogy which still preserves them and exhibits them to the public.

The importance of this fall is that this meteorite, at the time it was discovered, represented a unicum in the meteorite panorama, to the point that it became the progenitor of a group of carbonaceous meteorites (discovered later) called precisely CR (the R sta for Renazzo). Renazzo is therefore one of the meteorites of greater historical and significant importance for meteoritics. Due to its importance it is one of the most desired meteorites by collectors and enthusiasts which, given the rarity and inalienability of many collections, is often destined to remain an object of desire and to be observed exclusively in publicly accessible collections. Given its uniqueness, the Renazzo meteorite has received various international "awards": in 1962 Mason and Wiik published the historic article "The Renazzo Meteorite" - where they detect the uniqueness of the Italian meteorite - in the American Museum Novitates of the Mineralogy Department of American Museum of Natural History in New York; in 1964 the article "Rare Gases in the Chondrite Renazzo" by Reynolds and Turner, of the University of California, appears; in 2000 the article 'Star dust' by Russell and Alexander was published in the prestigious periodical New Scientist, indirectly dedicated to Renazzo, where it speaks of "diamonds forged inside long-extinct stars (giants red) that are providing us with important information on our origins ”, in particular an unusual abundance of diamonds is discovered in Renazzo, identified so far with the same high values only in the Leoville meteorite.


Discounts and prices’ reductions with the Artsupp Card

With the Artsupp Card you can get, for the first time, discounts and reduced entrance tickets for Italian museums .

Discover more

Other artworks in Roma

What you can find on Artsupp

Artsupp is the museums’ portal through which it’s easy to discover art, exhibitions and artworks. Now museums in France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain can also share their activities with users

About us