The Museum, housed in the medieval fortress of Rocca Colonna, is located at an altitude of 933 meters on the Prenestini Mountains, and thanks to this very position, it’s designed to be a watchtower over the geological history of Lazio.

The exhibition itinerary, renovated in 2025, is organized in six thematic rooms, an internal courtyard, a terrace, and a tower with an observation deck. The new set up, experiential and accessible, takes visitors on a journey through time that touches the main stages of the territory’s geological history, from the development of the supercontinent Pangea to the Upper Cretaceous. The visiting experience, captivating and suitable for all kinds of audiences, unfolds between original findings, tactile models, three dimensional models, excavation sites, multimedia stations and audio narrations. On top of the tower, the Observatory is equipped with a new dome with a 356 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, while the nearby educational Planetarium has been recently equipped with a 10 m large dome with opto-digital projections, capable of reproducing up to 9000 stars and generating a fascinating view of the cosmos.

In 2021, the recovery of the first sauropod dinosaur in Lazio, known as “Tito”, who lived about 112 millions years ago, has further enriched the scientific heritage of the territory. Its full-scale model now welcomes visitors in the Paleobotanical Garden of the Planetarium, along with the models of a 20 meters long diplodocus and a 7 meters long saltriovenator.

The museum’s exhibition is flanked by a Natural Monument path known as the “fossil barrier reef”, a long route where visitors can observe emerging rocks that date back to a time between 140 and 65 million years ago, between coral, bivalve and gastropod fossils.
Thanks to the dialogue between the geological and astronomical assets and the synergy between technology and nature, the Museum intends to be an active scientific laboratory, capable of illustrating the Prenestino landscape and the history of our planet in a fascinating and accessible way.

Campagna fotografica realizzata nell’ambito del progetto “Oltre Roma” e finanziata dalla Regione Lazio, Avviso Pubblico “La cultura fa sistema 2021”