Room 2: Minerals from Vicenza Province

This room exhibits the most significant samples of the mineral collection, disposed according to the type of rock in which they are usually found: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic.

1. Among igneous rocks, minerals can be grouped into three main groups:
   • Minerals found in Triassic volcanic rocks: e.g. red quartz from Campogrosso (Recoaro) and zeolites such as mordenite and ferrierite.
   • Minerals found in Cenozoic basalts. These minerals are found both in granular nuclei within the solid rock (such as olivine), or in the frequent cavities where often crystals are formed (zeolites, including the beautiful natrolites of Altavilla Vicentina and also quartz and calcite) .
   • Minerals from ore deposits, mixed sulphides of lead, silver, zinc, iron, copper, (more rarely antimony, bismuth) and their alteration products such as auricalcite of Mount Civillina (Recoaro); iron oxides; manganese silicates; clays from ceramics; barite; gipsum.
2. Among the minerals of sedimentary rocks, we highlight the celestite, often found associated with fossil corals in the area between Montecchio Maggiore, Priabona and Monteviale; the alluvial gold found in the sands of the river Brenta and nodules of amber from Monte di Malo.
3. The minerals of metamorphic rocks include the brucite from Monte Pasubio (Posina), the xonotlite and thomsonite of Spagnago (Cornedo Vicentino).