A return to the Mesozoic in the heart of Sicily, with that sense of childhood wonder that resurfaces when you find yourself in front of creatures that dominated the Earth millions of years ago. From 2 December 2025 to 25 January 2026, the Civic Museum of Natural History of Comiso opens its doors to an exhibition that promises to attract scholars, families and enthusiasts: “Dinosaurs at the Museum”, an itinerary that combines scientific rigor and narrative charm.
The most striking element, which already generated a certain curiosity in the days preceding the opening, is the presence of the only Tarbosaurus skeleton on display in Italy (Tarbosaurus bataar), a tyrannosaurid about eight meters long, a predator that has its origins in the Asian terrain of the Cretaceous and which here becomes the absolute protagonist (in the image below you can admire the complete skeleton, belonging to a perfectly preserved specimen).
Inauguration and first day program
The public can enter the theaters starting from December 2nd, although the official inauguration took place on Sunday November 30th at 10.30am. Cutting the ribbon was the Mayor and President of the Free Consortium, Maria Rita Schembari, a figure who in recent years has supported the growth of the museum and its transformation into a cultural center of reference for the whole of Southern Italy.
At 12:00, the scientific director Gianni Insacco led a guided tour of contents and anecdotes. The route, with the eloquent title “The great rulers of the Mesozoic, discovering fossils and our past”, accompanied visitors among rock mirrors, footprints, reconstructions and finds that describe a remote era and the development of the Iblean territory (that relating to the Iblean Mountains, a limestone plateau that occupies the south-eastern part of Sicily), once populated by now extinct species.
A museum that grows and transforms
The Comiso structure, today considered the largest natural history museum in the South, has developed a solid reputation in recent years, thanks to the richness of the collections and a purchasing and lending policy capable of bringing to Sicily finds once visible only in the large centers of the North. The exhibition itinerary embraces millions of years of natural history, from the first forms of life to the dwarf elephants of the Hyblaean area, up to the most recent testimonies that tell of man’s adaptation in the region. The new exhibition further expands the offering, with a selection of fossils that are rarely found together under the same roof.
Beyond the Tarbosaurus: the other protagonists of time travel
The enormous predator is not the only attraction. The paleontological section offers pieces which, due to their rarity and state of conservation, deserve an in-depth look. Among the most anticipated finds we can mention:
The route is enriched by fossilized eggs, footprints and materials that allow us to reconstruct the movements, behaviors and dynamics of dinosaurs with a simplicity that will fascinate even the less experienced.
Useful information
When: from 2 December 2025 to 25 January 2026
Where: Comiso Civic Museum of Natural History
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9.00am – 5.00pm, Sunday 9.00am – 5.00pm, closed on Monday.
Tickets: can be purchased on ticketone.it
Official website: museostorianaturalecomiso.it
