MUSEO ORNITOLOGICO SILVIO BAMBINI – PIETRALUNGA

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THE MUSEUM

The Silvio BambiniOrnithological Naturalistic Museum is located in the natural oasis of Candeleto. Characterized by extensive conifer and oak tree woods that alternate with rich grassland and cultivated fields, this beautiful natural oasis offers an extraordinary suitable habitat for many species of animals.

The history of the Museum begins in 1969when Silvio Bambini decided to embalm a pheasant which was given to him by a friend. After a few years, he gave life to what would soon become a real collection of the fauna present in the Umbrian territory. Silvio Bambini’s intention was to gather and keep samples of local game animals, whose history and memory could go lost over the years and managed in a short period of time to recover numerous specimens of different species thanks also to the collaboration with many hunters of the Upper Tiber Valley area. Most of these species are now protected by the hunting legislation in force today.

Almost all of the birds and mammals were purchased and embalmed by Mr. Bambini who also made the glass display cases for their preservation. At the beginning of 1976, the collection was so rich that the curator decided to exhibit for the first time the over 230 samples he had gathered over the years to the public in a dedicated space in via Albizzini, in the town of Città di Castello.

During the first half of the eighties, Silvio Bambini continued to increase and enrich his collection hoping one day to create a real ornithological museum.

In 1989, the Comunità Montana (i.e. mountain community: a local authority/government body composed by a group of towns located in the same mountain area) of the Upper Tiber Valley was awarded the purchase of the ornithological collection and its preservation as evidence of the Umbrian wildlife heritage.

Today the collection is housed in the former barracks of the Guardia Forestale (i.e. Forest Ranger) of Pietralunga, which has been recently renovated thanks to the funds provided by the Umbria Region and it has become the official seat of the Silvio Bambini Ornithological NaturalisticMuseum.

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Currently the Bambini collection consists of about 320 samples, 280 birds and 40 mammals. And it almost completely represents the ornithological heritage of the Umbrian Apennine mountains.

During its first period of development (1969-1978), the collection was enriched mainly bylocal species typically found inwoodland habitats, marsh, river and rural ecosystems and species that inhabited urbancentres of the Upper Tiber Valleyas well as some typical species of theUmbrian-Marche Apennine mountains ridge coming from the Bocca Trabaria and the Bocca Serriola passes.

During its second period of development(1980-1985), the number of samples in the collection increased thanks mainly to the acquisition of specimens of external origin, in particular of species typical of marine environments and of the Alps, and other species coming from Eastern and Northern parts of Europe.

As for the specimens collected locally, but coming from very distant regions, perhaps due to the negative influence of the atmospheric agents during long-distance migrations, the discovery, quite

random in Italy,of an Umbra or Chlamydotis undulata (i.e. Houbara bustard or African Houbara)that usually lives in North Africa and Asia,was very important.

There are also species that are unknown in this part of central Italy such as the pink flamingo which typically lives in Sardinia only, and the so-called anomalous species such as the white blackbird. The latter represents a typical example of albinism, i.e. the lack of natural pigmentation of the bird’s plumage which makes its entire body or parts of it white. Many of the birds that are collected in the museum show signs of marked sexual, seasonal or juvenile dimorphism,i.e. different forms of the same species depending on their sex, season or age of the specimen.Some of these species are represented by two or more specimens with diversified plumage: e.g. thecommon goldeneye, the sparrowhawk, the pheasant, the black-tailed godwit and the ruff.

Otherspecies of birds in the collection are those considered rare, for example the golden eagle, the Eurasian eagle-owl or the European roller.

As for the specimens belonging to mammals, the collection consists of 40 samples and the most important are the following: a roe deer and a wolftogether with a badger and aporcupine which are typical of thecentral Apennine mountains area.

The Silvio Bambini collection is important for various reasons: from a scientific point of view it provides an almost complete picture of the birds and mammals present in theUmbrian territory, thus constituting an indispensable reference tool for the knowledge and study of the fauna of the central Apennine mountain area; from the environmental point of view, the Museum and its collection represent an important tool for carrying out activities to protect the environment and raise awareness onthe environmental issues promoted by the Comunità Montana(i.e. Mountain Community) and the State’s Guardia Forestale (i.e. Forest Ranger). The State’s Guardia Forestale is currently managing the Museum and its staff,who is on duty at the Candeleto Station Command, is available to visitors who want to take guided tours of the Museum and the Candeleto natural oasis.