NOT TO BE MISSED

- Unique and very rare fossil finds

- Prehistoric part

- Stopover for a trip to Lessinia

Established in 1961 for the first time and featuring a new, more spacious site in 1998, the Paleontological and Prehistoric Museum of Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo is one of the most interesting collections of prehistoric finds in all of Italy.

In the paleontological part you will have the opportunity to admire extremely rare and other unique pieces in the world, thanks to the findings over the years during the extraction of the Lessinia stone in the nearby quarries of Monte Loffa.

An unmissable find is certainly the ginsu shark fossil from the Upper Cretaceous: in excellent condition, 5.5 m long and similar to today's white shark, it was found in 1975 by two quarrymen at work in their quarry.

What will most impress you will be to see closely the very long sharp teeth (up to 6 cm!) of this marine predator that once inhabited the Valpolicella and the Lessinia.

Another unique specimen is the Cretaceous sea turtle. This reptile, over 2 m long and unfortunately not in the same conservation conditions as the shark, is the largest of the turtle fossils found in the territory.

The third unique piece is the "small" 40 cm shark, in a perfect state of preservation, which according to scholars is similar in some ways to living species found today on the tropical seabed.

The museum also houses minor but equally interesting pieces, including marine reptiles, fish, echinids and ammonites.

Regarding the prehistoric part, instead, the Museum preserves finds found in the Grotto of Fumane and in the Riparo Tagliente of Stallavena.

Among the numerous artifacts we can mention flint artefacts, five stone ocher drawings and the Shaman, a stone depicting a human figure with a strange headdress and holding a sacrificial object.

Inside the Riparo Tagliente a burial was also found, of which the Museum preserves an interesting reconstruction.