Museo della Didattica della Scienza Rome, Italy

A law set down in 1889 decreed that secondary schools were to be equipped with a natural history museum as well as chemistry and physics laboratories. Thus, this science museum was born, it was founded in 1870 and housed in rooms at the "E.Q. Visconti" secondary school. Amongst the objects on display there are several relics belonging to the Kircherian museum, which was situated in the palazzo, and closed down in the 18th Century. Much of its collection was divided amongst various museums, although the school still retains some very important pieces. The large rooms, which have been converted into a museum exhibit collections from the following scientific fields: mineralogy, zoology, botany, chemistry, geology and paleontology, as well as scientific instruments and a marvelous collection of around 100 items of scientific glassware, all totally handblown and hand-crafted. Admission: Free.