MUSA Anatomy Museum

MUSA (Museo Universitario delle Scienze e delle Arti, or the University Museum of Arts and Sciences) celebrates the marvels of the human form, inside and out at the historic Anatomy Museum. Science and art intersect to display all manners of human curiosities, medical marvels, and some dark Italian history.

Naples houses one of Italy’s most eccentric anatomy museums, with ancient Roman medical tools, the skulls of victims who died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii in the year 79 A.D., anatomical sculptures made from wax, and mutated specimens preserved in formaldehyde within its expansive holdings.

The MUSA Anatomy Museum is a site of convergence for art, history, and education. Learn about the processes of cremation and fossilization; the evolution of medical equipment and the modernization of Neapolitan hospitals; and the cultivation of studies in physiology and pharmacology.

After years of neglect, the Anatomy Museum (then referred to as the Anatomy Museum of the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) reopened to the public in 1997. In 2012, a rebrand re-presented the museum as part of the Museum of Arts and Sciences. A new museum director and a committee board transformed the space into an educational resource and concept museum that exhibits the university’s vast collection while delving into Italian medical history.