Il Leviatano e le Sirene

Venue: Museo Paleontologico Territoriale dell'Astigiano. Address: Corso Vittorio Alfieri, 381, Asti, AT, Italy. Organizer: Parco Paleontologico Astigiano. End: 18:00 The major temporary exhibition, which brings together one of the most important collections of cetacean fossils in Europe, with internationally rare finds that enrich the permanent display, has been extended until December 2026. The project tells of the Astigiano as a territory of geo-paleontological excellence, among the most significant in the continent. In the Pliocene era, between 5.3 and 2.6 million years ago, this area was partly covered by a sea that occupied the entire Po Valley, leaving behind remains of great fascination and interest. Among the terrestrial wonders of the time: rhinoceroses, mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, macaques, today associated with tropical environments such as Florida or India, yet they lived here. Fossil masterpieces The absolute protagonist is the Vigliano sperm whale, about ten meters long and the only Pliocene sperm whale specimen in the world, presented after ten months of restoration. When it was discovered in 1929 it was mistaken for the skeleton of a sea serpent. Alongside the sperm whale,