What dinosaurs looked like. In Selva di Cadore an exhibition with reconstructions based on scientific studies

Dinosaurs are making a comeback this summer, and not just at the movies: the Vittorino Cazzetta Museum in Selva di Cadore, Belluno, is hosting the exhibition Dinosaurs in the Flesh from July 9 to September 11, 2022. Val Fiorentina - Dolomites ’The Origins, ’ which ensures close encounters with the giant reptiles that dominated Mount Pelmo and Val Fiorentina 230 million years ago. It consists of some 20 life-size models of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals reproduced to look as they must have looked in life, reconstructed based on scientific studies by an all-Italian team with the advice of professional paleontologists. The unique format aims to engage the public (children and adults) by transforming the visit into a real experience in the vast world of paleontology and in particular national paleontology.

The exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Selva di Cadore in collaboration with Trame di Storia Impresa Sociale (the managing entity of the Museo Civico Vittorino Cazzetta) and the Pro loco Val Fiorentina, under the patronage of the Veneto Region, the Province of Belluno and the Unesco Dolomites Foundation, is a unique opportunity to take a plunge into the remote past of our planet, going for theprecisely “to the origins,” when the Dolomite landscape must have been very similar to that of today’s Bahamas islands, where arms of the sea stretched inland, leaving, at low tide, shallow pools of water, and the slopes of today’s mountains were furrowed by the heavy footsteps of prehistoric reptiles. Their footprints are still visible today on Mount Pelmetto (the cast is kept at the Vittorino Cazzetta Museum).

The exhibition is organized into two sections, one inside the museum and one outdoors. In the indoor section, set up in the spaces of the Museo Civico Vittorino Cazzetta, one can meet twelve Italian dinosaurs including Tito, the titanosaur sauropod from Rome, the Lombard dinosaur Saltriovenator, and Ciro, the world-famous baby carnivore found in the province of Benevento. The open-air section, on the other hand, built in the hamlet of Santa Fosca and with free access, is dedicated to dinosaurs that witnessed the great extinction that marked the end of the Mesozoic Era and also allows for a nod to other mass extinctions, not least the one currently occurring at the hands of man. The exhibits also include the huge predator Tyrannosaurus, the horned herbivore Triceratops and the feathered dinosaur Anzu, related to contemporary birds to remind us that despite the extinction of many species, some dinosaurs are still among us.

“Know your history, respect your land, deliver it to the future. The event, of important scientific caliber and strongly contextualized to the Dolomitic reality, is not only an opportunity to take a dive into the Triassic, but also a way to awaken curiosity, the pleasure of discovery, and awareness of the fragility of the world we live in. To accompany the summer exhibition, a calendar full of related events has also been organized, for a summer in Val Fiorentina under the banner of history, culture and respect for the environment,” explains Luca Lorenzini, mayor of the municipality of Selva di Cadore.

Among the initiatives that will accompany the exhibition, scheduled over the summer are a guided hike to the boulder on Mount Pelmetto where Vittorino Cazzetta discovered Dinosaur Footprints, then the first find with these characteristics at the Italian level, and one to theplateau of Mondeval de Sora, where Valmo, the man of Mondeval, once lived and hunted, and where today you can visit the boulder under which the burial of Mesolithic man dating back more than 7,000 years was found and enjoy the unspoiled nature of the most authentic Dolomites. Still, you can take part in the evening tour of the exhibition’s outdoor trail and the discovery walk through the Florentine Valley (suitable for children and families), go “To the museum with the expert” with the possibility of being guided by a professional and participate in workshop activities related to dinosaurs and the geology of the Florentine Valley.

For all information, you can visit the official website of the Vittorino Cazzetta Museum.

What dinosaurs looked like. In Selva di Cadore an exhibition with reconstructions based on scientific studies

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