Mushroom and Natural Science Museum

The Mushroom and Natural Science Museum was founded in 1982, as a result of donations by Dr Mario Strani (1907-2000) from Pinerolo, a dentist with a passion for nature, especially mushrooms.

Dr Strani manufactured plaster and resin casts of mushrooms out of natural specimens by using techniques he himself invented and refined over the years.

Each pattern was crafted and coloured by hand.

He thus created a polished and unique collection: 1,100 models are displayed at the Mushroom and Natural Science Museum in Boves and 3,000 of them at the Mario Strani City Museum of Natural Sciences in Pinerolo.

The collection housed in the Boves Museum is made up of 250 species of mushrooms, stored in 18 showcases displayed in a large hall.

Each mushroom is provided with a descriptive plate, stating the genus and species to which it belongs, its discoverer, who studied it, the common and dialect names it is known by, as well as its habitat, features and edibility.

The mushrooms on display include rare ones:

• yellow cep;
• mushrooms only poisonous if consumed with alcoholic beverages;
• extraordinarily tall morels;
• Lycoperdon giganteum, as large as an entire table and weighed 4.5 kilograms when picked up.

A second hall exhibits fossils, minerals, shells, crustaceans, reptiles, taxidermied animals and a collection of over 130 species of butterflies from the Cuneo plain and valleys. 

A section is dedicated to the processing of exotic fibres, silk and ceramics. 

A thermometer, a telephone and a vertical steam engine are stored in the intriguing Inventions Corner.

The museum is enriched by an exhibition of quarries and kilns.

Duration of visit: about 30 minutes.

The Museum provides:

• guided tours on request for individuals, groups and schoolchildren;
• cooperation with the Associazione Micologica Bovesana e delle Alpi Cuneesi Ugo Maria Cumino (Ugo Maria Cumino Bovesana and Cuneo Alps Mycological Association), so named after the first mycologist in the province of Cuneo, Ugo Maria Cumino, a monk of the Certosa di Chiusa Pesio born in Revello in 1762;
• promotion of the scientific, informative and popular periodical Il Micologo (The Mycologist), published by the Associazione Micologica Bovesana e delle Alpi Cuneesi Ugo Maria Cumino (Ugo Maria Cumino Bovesana and Cuneo Alps Mycological Association)
• educational and informative activities during local festivals and fairs.