At the Specola Museum, an exhibition retraces Odoardo Beccari’s journey to Borneo

At the Specola Museum, an exhibition commemorates the figure of Odoardo Beccari, a Florentine naturalist who, in the mid-19th century, undertook an adventurous journey of scientific exploration in Southeast Asia.

The exhibition, entitled “In the Forests of Borneo. Odoardo Beccari’s Journey to the Lands of the White Rajah”, was inaugurated by Rector Alessandra Petrucci and by David Caramelli, President of the University Museum System.

Curated by Lorenzo Cecchi, Anna Donatelli, Stefano Di Natale, and Chiara Nepi, it retraces Beccari’s adventure through original specimens, unpublished photographs, and spectacular images—an experience first documented by him in a series of notebooks and later recounted many years afterward in his book “Nelle foreste di Borneo”, which gives the exhibition its title.

On view from 15 November 2025 to 15 February 2026 at the Specola Museum, via Romana, 17 - Firenze