Entry # 1: Fondazione Dohrn - The First Public Aquarium in Italy

The historic public aquarium in Naples is the oldest still in operation, designed to showcase the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Gulf of Naples and the Mediterranean more generally, and their potential evolution in response to changing conditions, means crossing the threshold of time and immersing oneself in the dream of its founder, zoologist Anton Dohrn, to provide and disseminate knowledge of the underwater world.

The Aquarium was inaugurated in 1874, just two years after the founding of the Zoological Station itself, "the great hotel of scientists," as Benedetto Croce called it, in March 1872. Its purpose was to fulfill the triple purpose of direct observation of the sea, educational entertainment, and research funding.