The mineral collection started to take form in 1844, when Leopoldo Pilla brought from Naples the Vesuvian collection. The mineral collection remarkably enlarged among the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 1900 with the contribution of Antonio D’Achiardi and its son Giovanni. The mineral gallery was opened to the public in 1994, redisigned in 2002, after the aquiring of the Cerpelli and D’Amore collection, and set up again in 2014 including new collection.