The Stazione Bacologica Sperimentale is an institution specialising in sericulture (silk-farming) in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, Italy. It was founded in 1871 by a decree of

Vittorio Emanuele II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was Kingdom of Sardinia, King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 Marc ...

. The actual founder was

Enrico Verson Enrico Verson (25 April 1845 in Padua – 15 February 1927 in Padua) was an Italian entomologist, A physician, Verson worked initially at the experimental station of Gorizia before founding the second research station on the silkworm in the w ...

. It is a section of the Institute for Experimental Agrarian Zoology of Florence. The current director is Dr. Luciano Cappellozza and the Institute building is owned by the Provincial Administration of Padua, which is planning a museum with live collections of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

. This will include exhibitions on sericulture,

apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

and a general display of

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

. The sericultural part will show the silk collections of the Section as well as old tools and machines used for the rearing of the silkworm and the reeling of the cocoon. The institute is involved in scientific projects on sericulture and moriculture, and contributes to the conservation of two germplasm banks of ca. 50 varieties of '' Morus'' spp. and ca. 120 strains of ''

Bombyx mori The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

''. The institution owns a mulberry field, also used for experiments, that provides the leaves necessary for the rearing and breeding of the various ''Bombyx'' strains.

Notable workers

* Mario Tirelli {{authority control Research institutes in Italy Sericulture Silk production Buildings and structures in Padua Educational institutions established in 1871 1871 establishments in Italy